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On behalf of the Lagos State Chapter of the Labour Party (LP), I wish to state as follows:
1. The Presidential and National Assembly elections which took place across the country on Saturday, February 25, 2023, as it pertains to our state, Lagos, was characterised by inadequate security to safeguard voters who trooped out in their numbers; voter intimidation and suppression in areas deemed to be LP strongholds; late arrival of INEC officials which led to late commencement of voting; and above all the apparent deliberate compromise of the INEC BVAS machine which made it impossible to upload the election results from Polling Units as required by law.
2. Despite repeated assurances by the INEC leadership for a free, fair, credible, and transparent election, the election was seriously marred by errors and infractions which led to the disenfranchisement of many voters in large parts of the state.
3. In utter violation of relevant sections of the nation’s Electoral Act of 2022 (as amended), INEC has not deemed it fit to comprehensively upload results of the February 25, 2023 election but has since gone ahead to collate and announce what it has termed the final results of the Presidential election in Lagos State.
4. In the results announced by the collation officer in Lagos State, Prof Adenike Oladiji, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, our party’s Presidential candidate, Peter Obi polled a total of 575,735 votes while APC’s candidate, Bola Tinubu garnered a total of 573,001 votes, Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar had a total of 75,750 votes while the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, had a total of 8, 8442 votes.
5. It is on record that at one of the collation centres in Lagos, I raised objection to the votes ascribed to our party while alerting the nation and the world at large that our party agent was made to sign the result sheet while a gun was put to his head.
6. I am therefore reasonably alarmed to notice that the questionable result which I, as the Lagos State Party Chairperson refused to sign (because the votes recorded for our party are at variance with the actual scores recorded by our agents at the polling units) is now being presented at the INEC National Collation Centre in Abuja.
7. Let it be put on record that I did not sign the result of the Lagos State Presidential election which the Lagos State Residential Electoral Commissioner, Segun Agbaje, and the Collation Officer are currently presenting at the INEC Collation Centre. They do not represent the correct and accurate votes cast by voters in Lagos for our party, and thereby negates the commitment of the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, to conduct a free, fair, credible, and transparent election in 2023.
Thank you.
- Dayo Ekong (Mrs)
Chairperson
Labour Party
Lagos State
