Dr. Olusegun Mimiko

Ondo LP candidate claims senatorial victory. By Julius Alabi, Guardian

SENATORIAL candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Ondo-South Senatorial District, Boluwaji Kunlere, has petitioned Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Maurice Iwu, to declare him as the winner of the senatorial election in the area in accordance with the law.

The results from the area indicated that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had fielded no candidate for the elections, had been declared winner while the LP candidate, Kunlere, was adjudged second in the elections with 13,333 votes.

In a petition to the INEC chairman dated April 28, Kunlere, who relied on Sections 133, 134 and 179 of the Constitution, argued that the votes should be counted for the candidate who received the highest number of votes and who should, therefore, be declared winner.

He further argued that he had scored more votes than any candidate who contested that election and, therefore, is the duly-elected candidate.

It would be recalled that Ondo State INEC had, while releasing the results of the Senate and House of Representatives, indicated that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the Senate seat in Ondo-South District in absentia.

The results released by the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Olabimpe Awoniyi, on behalf the state Resident Commissioner indicated that the PDP had won all the seats, both at the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In Ondo-South Senatorial District, the PDP was declared winner of the elections with 318,153 votes but without having presented any candidate.

Kunlere said: “It will be apt to state that since the PDP did not field any candidate for the election as shown in the results released by INEC, it would be out of place for the commission to have declared PDP elected, even as it is obvious for everyone to know that such is contrary to the spirit of the Electoral Act 2006 and the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The call was coming on the heels of protests by Alliance for Democracy (AD) that their names and logo were omitted from the ballot papers by INEC.

In a statement yesterday, the state chairman of the party, Sola Iji, said it was glaring that people voted massively for the AC senatorial candidate, Bola Ilori, but that the PDP’s “fake soldiers were all over the district snatching boxes and forging results”.

The AC vowed to “take INEC to task and report the body to the whole world should they compromise their stand on the matter by trying an under-the-table deal”.