Ondo guber: Obi, NLC, reason for my defeat – LP candidate

Ayodele Olorunfemi, the reinstated Labour Party governorship candidate in Ondo State, has expressed his disappointment over his defeat in Saturday’s election, attributing his loss to former Anambra State governor Peter Obi and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Governor Lucky Ayedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner, having secured 366,781 votes across all 18 local government areas. Agboola Ajayi of the PDP followed with 117,845 votes.

The State Returning Officer, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi, announced, “Ayedatiwa Lucky Orimisan of APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law, is hereby returned elected.”

Olorunfemi’s campaign was fraught with legal battles, as his name was only reinstated on the ballot days before the election, following a Court of Appeal ruling overturning a prior judgment that had favored Olusola Ebiseni, the candidate endorsed by Peter Obi. The protracted legal tussle and lack of adequate preparation hindered his campaign efforts.

In an interview with newsmen, Olorunfemi admitted that his last-minute campaign was poorly organized and ineffective.

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 spoilt 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 capitalised 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 Can you imagine that Ebiseni wrote a letter to the court in my name without my knowledge, saying I have withdrawn from the race? They cannot exclude me from such a position.”

While accepting that he knew his chances at the poll were slim after his reinstatement a few days to the poll, Olorunfemi vowed to get his pound of flesh.

The LP deputy chairman for South also threatened to petition police authorities to investigate how his name and signature were forged by Ebiseni and the NLC.

“Thank God we got an appeal judgment and my name is back in 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 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.

When called to defend the allegation levelled against the workers’ union, acting Chairman of the NLC Political Commission, Prof Theophilus Ndubuaku, described Olorunfemi 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, the Abure’s camp started working to ensure INEC didn’t upload his name because of the Kagaroo judgment they went to secure.

“The only challenge we have 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.”

As of the time of filing this story, efforts to reach both Obi and Ebiseni for reactions were unsuccessful.