Governorship aspirant in the Edo State gubernatorial election on the platform of the Labour Party, Olumide Akpata, has petitioned the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the party’s, lack of preparation for the election.

In the petition, he signed, Akpata said the purpose of the letter is to bring INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu’s attention to the lack of transparency surrounding the Labour Party’s forthcoming primary elections.

The Edo governorship primaries is billed to hold on Friday, February 23, 2024.

“As you are aware, the Electoral Act 2022 mandates political parties to conduct transparent primaries to produce candidates and mandates the INEC to stipulate timelines for conducting these primaries,” Akpata said in the petition.

“As of the date of writing this letter, the dearth of information and transparency surrounding the primary election process has cast serious doubts on the sincerity of the Labour Party in conducting a fair, credible, and democratic primary to produce a gubernatorial candidate.

Akpata stated that numerous aspirants, including himself, have observed with dismay the conspicuous absence of transparency, which has led to a mass exodus of aspirants from the race.

“This departure of aspirants is not merely a loss to the democratic process, but also a testament to the erosion of trust and confidence in the integrity of the Party’s leadership.”

The former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) explained that all aspirants who had withdrawn from the LP primaries had cited indications of substantial manipulation of the process.

He added that there was a complete blackout of specific information on venues for the 192 Ward Congresses scheduled to hold on Tuesday. (The Guardian)

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