The Ogun State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has commenced contempt proceedings against the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) before the Local Government Election Petition Tribunal sitting at Abeokuta, the state capital.
LP is challenging the commission for its alleged failure to obey the orders of the tribunal directing it to grant unfettered access to the the party to inspect all the electoral materials and documents used in the last local government election.
According to a statement in Abeokuta on Thursday by LP’s Publicity Secretary, Mr Tokunbo Peters, the party had filed a petition at the tribunal last 29 November, challenging the conduct and results of the local government election conducted on 16 November, and called for the nullification of the entire exercise.
Subsequent upon a motion filled on 6 December by LP counsel, Barrister Oluwafemi Ibiayo, the tribunal granted an order five days later, directing OGSIEC to grant the party unfettered access to inspect all electoral materials and documents used in the conduct of the election, including but not limited to, documentation of the details of distribution of electoral materials deployed to all polling units, the voter registers, the ballot papers, Forms EC8A and EC8A(1); Forms EC8B and EC8B(1); and Forms EC8C, EC8E and EC8E(1) which were utilised for the conduct of the election.
The statement further read: “Rather than comply with the order of the Tribunal, OGSIEC filed an application seeking to set aside the said Order of the Tribunal, and claiming that Labour Party did not participate in the election as a result of which they cannot allow them access to the election materials and documents requested. It should be recalled that during its media briefing before the election, OGSIEC had listed the Labour Party as one of the parties participating in the election.
“It is also on record that the Labour Party fielded 14 Chairmanship candidates across 14 Local Government Areas and 110 Councillorship candidates for the said election held across the 20 local government areas in Ogun state. As a matter of fact, the Labour Party was one of the sixteen political parties that instituted a suit against OGSIEC challenging the legality of the Administrative Fees imposed on candidates by OGSIEC for the election.
“The parties got judgement against OGSIEC, thus leading to a refund by OGSIEC to the Labour Party, for fees paid by the Party on behalf of its candidates who contested the local government election. It is therefore inconceivable and preposterous that OGSIEC can turn around to claim that the Labour Party did not participate in the election.
“The Labour Party views the actions of OGSIEC as an attempt by the Commission and its Chairman Mr Babatunde Osibodu to cover their tracks in the rape of democracy and electoral fraud committed against the good people of Ogun state in the sham election held on the 16th of November, 2024.
“The contention of the Labour Party is that no lawful election was held anywhere in Ogun state on the 16th of November, 2024. OGSIEC officials who were meant to be unbiased umpires in the election merely sat in their offices and awarded results in favour of the ruling party. This perhaps explains their inability to make available the election materials for inspection as directed by the Election Petition tribunal”.
