Olumide Oworu says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) “is to be blamed” for the controversy surrounding his candidature at the recent Lagos state assembly election.
On March 18, the governorship and state assembly elections were held across 28 states, including Lagos.
Oworu, the actor, had in February announced his intention to contest the Surulere Constituency 1 seat at the Lagos assembly under the Labour Party (LP).
His announcement came eight months after the deadline for the submission of nomination forms had elapsed.
Candidates for the state assembly polls were expected to have turned in their forms by August 18, 2022.
There was, however, confusion after Bode Adebayo, another LP member, was mentioned in INEC’s result sheet, instead of Oworu.
The bone of contention became whether or not Oworu is the bonafide LP candidate in the Lagos assembly election.
In his social media post, Oworu claimed INEC failed to obey a court directive that was to ensure he was listed among the candidates to contest for the aforenamed seat at the Lagos assembly election.
“That is a situation that came about due to the failure of the INEC to comply with the subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on the 2nd of February 2023 in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/2115/2022,” he wrote.
“INEC was ordered to open her website to allow the labour party to submit the list of her candidates or accept the same manually immediately.
“INEC failed to upload the names on the list sent by the Labour Party in October 2022. I assure you that this endeavour was not one for clout but was borne out of a genuine desire for change.”
Checks on INEC’s platform had shown Oworu’s name didn’t make the list of candidates for the state assembly polls.
Dayo Ekong, the Lagos chairman of the LP, in a chat with TheCable Lifestyle, had insisted that Oworu is the bonafide candidate of the party.
At the state assembly polls, Desmond Elliot, a candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), knocked out the LP.
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