The Labour Party Digital (LPd), a vast political group within the Labour Party, through the Mainstream Director of Media and Publicity, Comrade Olumide Adebayo, has taken a bold stance against electoral irregularities in Ogun State at the just concluded Local Government polls across the state.
LPd alleged that the elections hardly took place and instead, the Chairman of OGSIEC, Mr. Osibodu Babatunde, appeared either compromised or incompetent, declaring all 20 chairmanship seats and 236 councillorship positions won by the APC while voters awaited essential materials.
LPd accused OGSIEC of intentionally withholding crucial election materials, such as ballot boxes and result sheets, rendering the electoral process nonexistent, comatose and completely bastardized.
This election follows the same trend as every other activity carried out by this State Government; fraud, scam and outright incompetence.
Furthermore, the organization claimed OGSIEC imposed unlawful fees on candidates despite being state-funded. Chairmanship candidates were required to pay ₦200,000, and councillorship candidates ₦100,000. How do we describe this?
The organization also raised concerns about the APC’s government’s approach to internal democracy, alleging candidates were handpicked by the governor rather than chosen through democratic primaries. This lack of internal democracy poses a significant threat to the democratic process which spills over to the general elections hence we get the sham we just witnessed. It reaks of dictatorial tendencies.
Labour Party Digital (LPd) demands the election results be nullified, an investigation into the unlawful fees, and a fresh election conducted under free and fair conditions. The organization urges the judiciary to uphold justice for violated rights and plans to file a lawsuit challenging the results’ legitimacy.
We shall also be filing criminal charges against all electoral Officers involved in this Electoral
Fraud. Those that aid and abet the stealing of the peoples mandate are no different from armed robbers.
A comprehensive public awareness campaign including peaceful protests will be launched to inform citizens of their rights and protest electoral malpractice.
He said “we have evidences from time dated videos with proper location tagging. The videos are disgraceful and everyone involved in organizing this election from the top down to the Electoral Officers should cover their faces in shame. The New Ogun we are trying to build does not have space for such fraudulent and incompetent characters.”
LPd calls on civil society organizations and international bodies to condemn OGSIEC’s actions and advocate for immediate electoral reforms to prevent further erosion of democratic values in Ogun State. The organization warns that if this decay within the political system is not addressed, it risks consuming not only Ogun State but also Nigeria as a whole by 2027.