In Ogun State, it has been claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) issued a Certificate of Return to the incorrect candidate.
The Certificate of Return in the Ikenne State Constituency was given to a candidate who withdrew from the contest before the March 18 election, according to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State.
Voting en masse for the PDP and its candidate, Sulaimon Badmus Adeniye, the residents of Ikenne allegedly showed extraordinary bravery in the face of the destructive and disruptive inclinations of thugs.
However, the PDP expressed shock that Babajide Owodunni, who withdrew from the race on March 6, received Adeniye’s certificate from INEC.
“Member of the public are humbly requested to note that Mr. Owodunni, immediately after relinquishing our party’s candidacy, defected to the ruling APC on March 9, 2023 in an open ceremony which was arranged and supervised by Prince Dapo Abiodun.
“We, therefore, wonder the rationale behind INEC issuance of PDP’s certificate of return to Owodunni, an impostor who never participated as a candidate of any known political party in the election,” Ogun PDP spokesman, Akinloye Bankole, told PULSENETs.
According to Bankole, the APC lost in Ikenne Local Government, where Abiodun Ladi Adebutu come from, “saying such electoral coup can only be carried out by the APC, in satanic connivance with Ogun State INEC.”
At Ikenne, where the APC was soundly crushed by the opposition party, Bankole insisted that the PDP will not allow the APC to declare triumph.
He claimed that Owodunni’s Certificate of Return is only for show and comedic relief to calm a sobbing child, and that it won’t hold up over time.
The PDP spokesman recalled that Owodunni had gone to the Sagamu High Court on February 17, 2023, to make a declaration that he was voluntarily withdrawing as the PDP candidate for the Ikenne State Constituency and would no longer be running in the 2023 elections.
Owodunni informed the PDP national office of his voluntary withdrawal from the race in a letter dated March 6, 2023, according to Bankole, who questioned how INEC could have continued to grant the PDP certificate to someone who was no longer a candidate.
“What we are saying is that the mandate which was freely and democratically given to the PDP by the courageous people of Ikenne State constituency is not to Babajide Owodunni; it is for our party, the PDP and we are determined and prepared to claim it by all means lawfully possible for our candidate, Dr. Adeniye,” Bankole submitted.
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