According to Hon. Adekunle Akinlade, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deputy governorship candidate in Ogun State, the party would run in the general elections there in 2023 as a consequence of the new electoral legislation.
Akinlade claims that if it weren’t for the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act, PDP candidates in Ogun who were ousted by an Abeokuta Federal High Court on September 27 would not have been eligible to run in the 2023 elections.
Akinlade urged the people of Ogun to prepare for a big turnout in the elections in 2023, claiming that the new legislation will make it difficult for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to manipulate the results.
The disclosure was made by the former member of the House of Representatives while addressing PDP supporters in his ward’s Agosasa meeting in the state’s Ipokia Local Government Area.
He said that the APC should start preparing its handover notes since the PDP will be back on the ballot for the Ogun election in 2023.
Akinlade said that the 2019 governor’s race in Ogun, which he ran in as a member of the Allied People’s Movement, was rigged against him due to errors in the previous electoral code.
With the new electoral legislation signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, he expressed confidence that “rigging is now impossible and it is time for the PDP to oust the APC in 2023 across the nation.”
Akinlade, who is the Director-General of the Atiku/Okowa campaign in Ogun, said, “I want to appeal to everyone to collect and keep their Permanent Voter’s Cards ready. We were rigged in the last elections at the collation centres. If not for the new electoral law, PDP would not be on the ballot for the 2023 poll in Ogun State. We relied on the new electoral law for our litigation and it gave us victory at the appellate court after the lower court had removed us from the ballot.
“I implore you all not to fall for the gimmicks of the APC. We must reject them with our votes in 2023. We must vote PDP from top to bottom in 2023 in Ogun State.”
According to PulseNets, the high court nullified all of the PDP’s primary elections in Ogun on September 27 in order to remove the party off the ballot.
However, the Ibadan Appeal Court overturned the lower court’s decision on November 28 because Samson Bamgbose, Segun Seriki, and other plaintiffs’ allegations did not follow the new election laws.
