The reinstated Labour Party Governorship Candidate in Ondo State, Ayodele Olorunfemi, has lamented his failure to win Saturday’s election, attributing his loss to former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after securing victory across all 18 Local Government Areas in the state.
In the final declaration of results by the State Returning Officer, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi, Aiyedatiwa polled a total of 366,781 votes, defeating Agboola Ajayi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 117,845 votes.
The Returning Officer stated, “That Aiyedatiwa Lucky Orimisan of APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law, is hereby returned elected.”
Olorunfemi’s defeat follows a last-minute court decision by the Court of Appeal that reinstated him as the Labour Party (LP) flag bearer just days before the November 16 poll. The ruling reversed an earlier Federal High Court judgment that ordered INEC to recognize Olusola Ebiseni, Obi’s preferred candidate, as the LP standard-bearer.
Reacting in an interview, Olorunfemi vowed not to forgive Obi and the NLC for allegedly sabotaging his campaign.
When asked if he managed a last-minute door-to-door campaign after the appeal court ruling, the visibly disheartened LP candidate admitted his campaign was disorganized.
He said, “I have Peter Obi and the NLC to thank for that. They have scuttled my aspirations and chances to win this Ondo election. These people spoiled things for us with that PDP reject they wanted to force on the party. Their insistence on having Ebiseni on the ballot ruined everything for me.
“They just capitalized on the crisis between the Labour Party and the Nigeria Labour Congress to create problems. Can you imagine that Ebiseni wrote a letter to the court in my name without my knowledge, saying I had withdrawn from the race? They cannot exclude me from such a position.”
Acknowledging that his chances were slim after being reinstated just days before the poll, Olorunfemi vowed to take action.
The LP Deputy Chairman for the South also threatened to petition the police to investigate how his name and signature were allegedly forged by Ebiseni and the NLC.
“Thank God we got an appeal judgment, and my name is back on the INEC portal. The good thing here is that the truth has prevailed. Withdrawal must be voluntary. You cannot force someone to withdraw. What they have done was an attempt to force me out behind my back.
“Again, it wasn’t the party that submitted it. It was the handiwork of the former President of the NLC and head of the National Transition Committee, Abduwaheed Omar. What they did is criminal.
“In fact, I am planning to petition the Inspector General of Police to probe how they wrote that letter, put my signature, and presented it before the court. We will deal with that later. For now, we are still doing our underground work and doing our best for this election,” he stated.
Responding to the allegations, the acting Chairman of the NLC Political Commission, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, dismissed Olorunfemi’s claims, describing him as a “very funny character.”
“He is one human being you should never take seriously. As a result of this crisis between us and Abure, Olorunfemi became the Deputy to Abure, and he was given the ticket.
“Before this election, he was a placeholder. So what did he do? He now started shopping for who would buy the ticket from him.
“In the process, they asked Ebiseni to pay N20m to get the ticket. He paid and even added another N5m, which they claimed was for expenses. When they refused to give him the ticket, Ebiseni went to court.
“In retaliation, Abure’s camp started working to ensure INEC didn’t upload his name because of the kangaroo judgment they went to secure.
“The only challenge we had was that before the judgment, INEC had already given the code for uploading the names of agents to Olorunfemi. We know he would have uploaded the names of suspected APC agents there. We know he is obviously working indirectly for the APC.”
Efforts to reach both Obi and Ebiseni for their reactions were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this story.
