Labour Party Wednesday reiterate its demand for the re-assignment or sack of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Lagos State, Mr. Olusegun Agbaje.
Recall that Mr. Agbaje had in an interview with Channels Television on why many residents in the Okota and Oshodi axis of Lagos State (mostly occupied by Igbos) could not get their Permanent Voters Card (PVC), referred to the Igbos as “immigrants” in the state.
He was also alleged to have sympathy for the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and to have taken part in profiling, voter suppression, and inciting violence against those he referred to as “immigrants” in the state.
Mr. Agbaje was also accused to be responsible for engaging the Lagos State Parks Management Committee led by Musiliu Akinsanya, (alias MC Olumo), an ally of the APC’s Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, to convey sensitive election materials in the run-up to the February 25, 2023 elections.
While INEC had refused to heed to re-assign or sack Mr. Agbaje, it took an order of interlocutory injunction obtained by the LP and five orders from a Federal High Court in Lagos to stop INEC from using the MC Oluomo-controlled Parks Management to convey sensitive electoral materials.
LP in insisting that Agbaje should have nothing to do with March 11 poll, especially in Lagos state, made their position known in a statement by Akin Osuntokun, the Director-General, Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council.
The party stated: “Given the increasing ethnicisation of the forthcoming Governorship and State Assembly elections in the state, we are reiterating our calls for the sack or re-assigning of Olusegun Agbaje because we have every reason to doubt his neutrality.
“In particular, given how desperate our opponents have become since the outcome of the last Presidential election (despite the obvious manipulations), we fear that his continued stay as Lagos REC during the forthcoming elections will further weaponize both ethnicity and violence in the state.
“INEC, which bungled the February 25, 2023 elections and disappointed most Nigerians, needs to redeem its image in Lagos State”.
