Rotarian Francis Sonubi, the AAC Senatorial candidate for Lagos East protesting the omission of his name at polling unit 010, Offin/Oreta road in Igbogbo on Saturday
Rotarian Francis Olanrewaju Sonubi is the Lagos East Senatorial Candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) for Lagos East. In this interview with Kunle ADELABU, the Publisher/Reporter-in-Chief, THE IMPACT, during the Presidential/National Assembly elections, he stated that his party logo was not included on the ballot paper and described the election as unacceptable and unfair .
IMPACT: So far, what is your assessment of the election?
Sonubi: So far, I will say that INEC has been compromised. It will surprise you to hear that my party logo is not on the ballot paper for Lagos East Senatorial election which shows that INEC has been compromised.
IMPACT: What step are you taking to ensure that your supporters have the opportunity to vote for you?
Sonubi: I am just coming from the INEC office and I was asked to contact my party which is expected to take the matter up. They also explained that they were not the ones that printed the ballot paper and that they are also shocked about the development.
IMPACT: Does that mean there was no interaction between INEC and all the parties because it is expected that the electoral umpire ought to have shown the specimen of the ballot papers to the parties for verification?
Sonubi: Actually, we were shown the paper when we had interactive session with INEC and my party’s logo was there but it was surprising that when we got here this morning, our name was omitted on the ballot paper. What I did was to have the ballot paper as my evidence and I had also gone to the INEC office to snap the wall where the names of all the candidates are pasted. My name is number 2 on the list.
IMPACT: As a candidate, what is the next line of action for you and your party?
Sonubi: My party, African Action Congress, has taken it up and on Monday, we shall be addressing this issue at the tribunal. We are going to write officially and submit that to the INEC on Monday.
IMPACT: Your party is also fielding candidates for senatorial offices in other districts , are the other candidates also facing same problem?
Sonubi: My party is fielding two senatorial candidates in West and East Senatorial Districts of Lagos State. Fortunately, there is AAC name and logo on the Lagos West Senatorial ballot paper. Why is that of Lagos East missing? Funny enough, we don’t have any candidate for the House of Representatives but interestingly, our party name and logo was on the ballot paper for the House of Representatives. It is also on the Presidential ballot paper but it is missing on the ballot papers for Lagos East. I have been telling my party faithful, supporters and electorates that they should shun violence and that we are going to address the matter in court.
IMPACT: You have been here since morning, how will you assess the election generally in term of the arrival of the INEC officials, accreditation, voting and general conducts?
Sonubi: Considering the guidelines that INEC gave us, what we have here is totally not acceptable to me. It is not a secret balloting here as the regulation stated. Peole are just making it an open ballot because they do not provide them with cubicle for them to cast their votes. People are being intimidated because those that are not supposed to see which party they are thumb printing for are having access to what they are doing. To me, the election is not acceptable and not well organized.
