By Bilesanmi Abayomi
Mr. Akinwande Osikominu, the Labour Party Candidate for Lagos State House of Assembly Kosofe I, has alleged overvoting across Kosofe at the gubernatorial and house of assembly elections.
He made this known to newsmen after the Kosofe House of Assembly I results were announced in Lagos on Sunday.
According to the results announced by the Returning Officer for Constituency I, Prof. Ismaila Adeleke, the incumbent lawmaker and APC Candidate, Kosofe I, Hon. Sanni Ganiu emerged the winner with 11,649 votes. Mr. Oshikominu of Labour Party came second with 11,563 votes while Owoaje Babasola of PDP secured 1,253 votes.
However, Mr. Osikominu alleged that there were several incidents of electoral malpractice in Kosofe, including overvoting in various polling units across ward D and ward A, as well as incidents of intimidation. He assured the people of Kosofe that he would claim their mandate through the normal channel, which was the court.
“We noticed a grand abuse of power, a grand abuse of use of public resources and a grand abuse of electoral powers along party bias. Our party believed that all these are put together as tunneled into the result that we’ve seen today. So the Labour Party is not party to it. And we have made sure that we didn’t sign it and we didn’t put our hands or desire onto the paper,” he said.
Mr. Osikominu added that he had several objections regarding the result that was collated and announced, and that the party and the electorate were not happy with what INEC had done, saying that they had not adhered strictly to due diligence.
He thanked the people of Lagos, especially the Labour Party supporters, for their efforts, time, and resources. He further assured them that the party would claim their mandate through the normal channel, which is the court.