The Labour Party has called for the postponement of Saturday’s elections in Ondo State due to the absence of its logo on ballot papers distributed in some areas of the state.
WITHIN NIGERIA previously reported that the Labour Party logo was missing from ballot papers sent to Ondo State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, in its response, the party revealed that its logo was missing from the ballot papers for the Ondo Central Senatorial District and five House of Representative seats.
Abiodun Agbaje, Secretary of the Ondo Labour Party (LP), stated that the affected Houses of Representatives were Akoko Southwest/Akoko Southeast, Ondo East/Ondo West, Akure North/Akure South, Okitipupa/Irele, and Ese-Odo/Ilaje.
He claims that the party discovered the error when representatives went to INEC to sort out electoral materials to be distributed to various wards.
He expressed surprise that the party’s logo was missing from the ballot papers despite the fact that it had sent the names of its candidates to INEC.
Agbaje stated that;
Our representative went to INEC for sorting out electoral materials to be sent to various wards. LP logo was missing for the Senatorial and House of Representatives where we have candidates. INEC should give us an opportunity to participate or postpone the election.
Our candidates should be given an opportunity to exercise their rights. We are here to express our displeasure. We expect INEC to do the needful. It was a deliberate act. I do not think if any agency of government supersedes the judiciary that gave us judgment.
Our party primary was conducted across the federation. INEC acknowledged the letter from our party in October last year. You cannot vote without the logo of the parry.
Logo of the party appeared in Ondo North. Our candidates wer3 not initially uploaded on the portal at the fault of INEC and not the party. Names of all the candidates were forwarded to INEC.