The Labour Party (LP), in Lagos State, on Thursday, condemned INEC for omitting the party’s logo from the Senate and House of Representatives ballot papers ahead of Saturday’s general elections.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC took delivery of sensitive materials for the presidential and national assembly elections scheduled for Saturday on Wednesday.
At a news conference in Ikeja, Lagos State, LP Chairperson Pastor Dayo Ekong called on INEC to reschedule the election until the party’s candidates were included on the ballots.
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According to her, as Nigerians prepare to go to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president and members of the Senate and House of Representatives, the LP is decrying the flagrant exclusion of the candidates of the Labour Party National Assembly from the ballot papers.
Ekong called out INEC to either correct what she described as an anomaly or reschedule the National Assembly elections.
“This malicious ‘error’ was found out this morning in Lagos by me and my team of executive members during the routine inspection of election materials.
“It was at the time of inspection that it was discovered that the Labour Party was not listed for the election for the Senate and House of Representatives in Lagos State. This is unacceptable and a wicked way of disenfranchising Lagos electorates.
“It is unimaginable that for the elections slated for Saturday, Feb. 25, the Lagos electorate will only vote for the Labour Party presidential candidate 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 by INEC at disenfranchising our Supporters from exercising their civic rights which is unacceptable,” Ekong said.
She added that further checks on the INEC website revealed that the list of names of the members of the Lagos Labour Party National Assembly was not uploaded “even as the list and court orders for same were duly submitted to INEC and acknowledged.”
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“You will all recall how we have severally pointed out the bias displayed by the current INEC REC in Lagos State towards our Party and his increasing attacks on our leaders that have constantly pointed out these biases in the past and current onslaught on our Party.
“Is this the result of the culmination of those attacks?
“We call on all stakeholders, foreign observers, lovers of democracy, and the international community to quickly wade in and call INEC to do the needful,” Ekong said.
NAN reports that the event was attended by the party’s governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, other candidates, and state executive committee members.