Ayodele Olorunfemi, the reinstated Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Ondo State, has lamented his failure to win Saturday’s election, blaming former Anambra State governor Peter Obi and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for his loss.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the ruling All Progressives Congress as the winner after sweeping the 18 local government areas in Ondo.
Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi, the State Returning Officer, announced the final results, stating that the APC’s Ayedatiwa received 366,781 votes to defeat the PDP’s Agboola Ajayi, who received 117,845.
The returning officer said, “That Ayedatiwa Lucky Orimisan of APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law, is hereby returned elected.”
Olorunfemi’s defeat comes just days after INEC reinstated his name as the LP’s flagbearer for the November 16 election, following a Court of Appeal decision.
Following weeks of anxiety, Olorunfemi breathed a sigh of relief when the Court of Appeal in Abuja overturned a previous Federal High Court decision ordering the electoral umpire to acknowledge Obi’s chosen candidate, Olusola Ebiseni.
In an interview, Olorunfemi pledged not to forgive the former LP presidential candidate and the NLC for their roles in sabotaging his Ondo governorship campaign.
Speaking on whether he succeeded in having a last-minute door-to-door campaign with his supporters after winning his appeal, a saddened LP flag bearer confessed that his campaign for the election was neither here nor there.
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 rejection 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 Can you imagine that Ebiseni wrote a letter to the court in my name without my knowledge, saying I have withdrawn from the race?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 admitting that his chances at the polls were bleak following his reinstatement a few days before the election, Olorunfemi pledged to grab his pound of flesh.
The LP deputy chairman for South has also promised to urge police to investigate how Ebiseni and the NLC falsified his name and signature.
“Thank God we got an appeal judgement, 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.
