Emeka Okoroanyanwu
Reports reaching The Nigerian Xpress this morning said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) omitted the Labour Party (LP) logo on Lagos State ballot papers for this Saturday’s National Assembly election.
The Party’s chairman in the state, Madam Dayo Ekong, in a statement, called on INEC to either correct the mistakes or reschedule the National Assembly election. This report has not been confirmed, though.
In the words of Ekong, ”As Nigerians prepare to go to the polls to vote a new president and members of the Senate and House of Representatives on Saturday, the LP is decrying the flagrant exclusion of its National Assembly candidates on the ballot papers.
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“This malicious ‘error’ was found out in Lagos this morning during the routine inspection of election materials by my executive members. It was at inspection that it was discovered that the L P was not listed for the election for the Senate and House of Representatives. This is unacceptable and a wicked way of disenfranchising Lagos State electorates.
“It is unimaginable that the Lagos electorate will only vote for the Labour Party Presidential Candidate for the elections slated for Saturday, Feb. 25, as INEC made no provision for the election of the Party’s Senate and House of Representatives Candidates. We cannot accept this as we do not believe that INEC made a mistake but rather a deliberate, malicious and intentional act to disenfranchise our supporters from exercising their civic rights, which is unacceptable.
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“Further checks on the INEC website revealed that the names of Lagos LP candidates were not uploaded even as the list and court orders for the same were duly submitted to INEC and acknowledged. We have severally pointed out the bias displayed by the State INEC REC towards our Party and his increasing attacks on our leaders.”
The Party, however, called on all stakeholders, lovers of democracy, foreign observers and the international community to quickly wade into the case and restore sanity.
Efforts by The Nigerian Xpress to get the INEC Lagos office to react to the statement from the LP proved abortive as nobody answered the call put through to it’s office.