Labour Party withdraws from controversial Osun LG poll, cites reasons

The Labour Party (LP) in Osun has announced its withdrawal from Saturday’s local government election in the state.

The chairman of LP in Osun, Adebayo Bello, made the announcement while speaking with journalists on Friday in Osogbo.

Mr Bello said that the party was withdrawing from the election because the State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) did not make adequate security arrangements to ensure the peaceful conduct of the poll.

He, however, called for the postponement of the election for one or two months to enable OSSIEC to adequately prepare for the poll.

Mr Bello said that the postponement would also allow the electoral umpire to resolve the legal issues surrounding the election’s conduct.

Also speaking, Oyebode Babalola, the party’s chairmanship candidate, said that LP would not participate in the election due to security concerns.

Mr Babalola, who noted that the party was not too sure of the security arrangement for the election, called for the postponement of the election.

“Although we are ready for the election, we are not going to participate due to security concerns.

“We have seen some traces that the election might be disrupted tomorrow, and we are not ready to put the lives of our people in jeopardy,” he said.

Mr Babalola also berated OSSIEC for shoddy preparations for the conduct of the election.

According to him, before the party decided to withdraw from the election, the electoral commission was contacted for accreditation tags for its agents but was not provided.

Similarly, the chairman of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Adewale Adebayo, expressed disappointment over the preparations of OSSIEC for the election.

Mr Adebayo, who noted that the party would not participate in the election, said that when he attempted to officially deliver the withdrawal letter to the OSSIEC office on Thursday, no commission official was present.

“We want to confirm that we are not participating in the illegal local government election slated for Saturday.

“We are very disappointed that all OSSIEC staff, including its chairman, have absconded from their headquarters since Wednesday,” he said.

Meanwhile, the OSSIEC office was under lock and key on Friday.

Journalists who went to the commission’s office to collect accreditation tags were turned back by security men stationed at the entrance of the office.

One of the security men at the entrance, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that nobody had been allowed into the premises since Wednesday.

Efforts to speak with OSSIEC chairman Hashim Abioye proved abortive, as calls to his mobile phone did not connect.

NAN