The Ondo State chapter of the Labour Party has cried out over the omission of its logo on the ballot papers used for the election on Saturday.
Agbaje Abiodun, the state secretary of the Party, made the disclosure at a press briefing in Akure, the state capital on Friday .
The Party while accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of deliberately omitting the logo on the ballots, demanded that the Commission should postpone the Senatorial and House of Representatives elections till another date or “do the needful”.
He however did not complain about the logo on the ballot for presidential election.
According to him, the party was fielding one senatorial candidate for Ondo Central and six for house of representatives poll in the Akoko North West / North East, Akoko South-West/South-East, Akure North /Akure South, Okitipupa/Irele, Ilaje/Ese Odo and Ondo East/Ondo West Federal Constituencies but that with the current development, their supporters in the concerned constituencies would be disenfranchised.
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Abiodun said, “The deliberate act by the Independent National Electoral Commission is aimed at disenfranchising us.
“On February 2, 2023, Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court in Abuja had ordered the INEC to accept the nomination of candidates of the Labour Party in 24 States. The court further ordered that the commission must accept the list of senatorial and House of Representatives candidates particularly in Ondo State, either manually or through its electronic nomination portal.
“Why the flagrant disobedience to court order? Unequivocally, this distasteful act which was purposely carried out and became the cynosure of all eyes yesterday (Thursday) was targeted at states with die-hard fans of our great party.”
He said the omission by INEC was embarrassing, “and it is a testament to the calls by concerned Nigerians over INEC’s honesty in the February 25 general election. We hereby urge the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the upper and lower chamber election until the needful is done,” he added. “Furthermore, we remain undeterred as we urge our esteemed supporters to remain focused and stay away from unnecessary distraction, as we shall lawfully pursue the course until victory is ascertained.”
The Party threatened to take legal action against INEC if it went ahead to conduct the election on Saturday.
