Kunle Adelabu
Mr Oluwatosin Onamade, an aspirant in the last primary election for the Ikorodu Constituency II seat in the Lagos State House of Assembly, has approached a Federal High Coury sitting in Lagos to stop the All Progressives Congress (APC) from recognising Mr Aro Moshood Abiodun (AMA) as the party’s candidate.
The Motion on Notice was filed on Wednesday, June 8, 2022 and the matter adjourned till Friday, June 17
In the Suit No: FHC/L/CS/1006/22, in which the All Progressives Congress (APC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Mr Aro Moshood Abiodun (AMA) as first, second and third Defendants respectively, Onamade is seeking for:
“An order of interlocutory injunction restraining the 3rd Defendant from parading himself as the winner of the 2022 Lagos State House of Assembly Ikorodu Constituency II primary election pending the final determination of the substantive suit.
“An order of Court restraining the 1st Defendant from declaring, announcing or passing, posting electronically on any media platform in the name of the 3rd Defendant in any manner as the winner of the 2022 Lagos State House of Assembly Ikorodu Constituency II primary election held on the 27th of May, pending the final determination of the substantive suit.
“And for such further order or orders as this Honourable court may deem fit to make in this circumstance”.
In a phone conversation with THE IMPACT, Mr Onamade said that he approached the court for redress after the party failed to respond to his appeals.
He added that the law of the party empowered him to seek redress at a Federal High Court after 7 days if he does not hear from the party.
“I submitted an appeal to the party after the election and based on that, they invited Daini (Builder Sesan Daini, Chairman, Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA) and AMA (Mr Aro Moshood Abiodun), but nothing has been heard since then”, he said.
“We complained and we were told that members of the appeal usually come from Abuja and had to write another appeal against the election and yet nothing”, he added.
“This is why we have approached the Federal High Court to seek redress against the primary election. What the law says is that you can approach the court after seven days of filing an appeal and there is no communication”, he explained.
Why explaining the issues surrounding the primary election which he is challenging, Onamade said that the election went well inside the hall, took exception to the failure of the election committee to announce the results before allegedly going away with the Builder Sesan Daini and others.
He also condemned the prevention of journalists from covering the primary election.
“The election went well inside the hall but why did they failed to announce the results? And when we queried them, the electoral officers said that they are going outside to address you journalists and others.
“Unfortunately, they did not announce the results but Mr Adesegun Adeoye (Chairman, Ikorodu Constituency II Lagos State House of Assembly primary election was taken away by Daini and they went to an hotel (name withheld) to write the results”, Onamade alleged.
“We are still going to call a press conference to show you pictorial evidences of what transpired inside the hall because I was able to take pictures of the election which went peacefully.
“We have petitioned the leadership of the party before the primary election that the aspirant was not qualified.
“The party’s directive also states that aspirant and agents must not be political office holders.
“There is also the issue of barring of journalists from covering the primary election. If members of the press are barred, how do we have objective reportage of what happened at the primary?”, he asked rhetorically.
It was also gathered that the incumbent Constituency II representative, Hon. Nurudeen Solaja, had, last week, written a petition against the primary election that was held in Igbogbo
In a chat with the Chairman, Igbogbo/Bayeku Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Builder Sesan Daini, he described the allegation as strange while adding that he was never invited to the state party secretariat to answer any allegation.
“The information is strange to me. I don’t know anything about the electoral officers movement and I was never invited to the party secretariat based on any petition”, Builder Daini.
Attempts to reach Mr Aro Moshood Abiodun (AMA) to respond to some of the issues raised by Mr Onamade proved abortive.
