- By Halimah Olamide
The Labour Party on Sunday said it is going to challenge the outcome of the Saturday’s presidential election in Court.
It said its members were disenfranchised in many parts of the country.
The party in a statement on Sunday issued by the National of Secretary, Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim said while the party made inroads with high votes in most parts of Northern Nigeria, LP members were deliberately prevented from voting, chased away violently from polling units, or had ballot papers and boxes destroyed and burnt in others.
While asking members to be calm and not take laws into their hands, Umar said in some places, INEC staff and electoral materials were not deployed to areas that are known to be strongholds of Labour Party.
He said many were also deployed late to frustrate the party supporters who, psychologically got tired of waiting and had to leave the polling units for the fear of the unknown.
“The delay by INEC to upload and announce results, especially where Labour Party, is already known to have taken lead, is also worrisome and we feel it is deliberate to anger our party and our supporters” he said.
Umar also alleged that intelligence from the fields revealed that across the Northern states, electorates identified as Labour Party supporters were tactically denied access to their polling units by some officials who connived with others to confuse the electorates by insisting their polling units are different and sending them to the wrongs ones. He said this frustrated the electorates, and reduced the votes polled by Labour Party, which would have more than doubled if the right things were done.
LP called on INEC to checkmate and call its polling staff to order and also ensure punitive measures in line with the electoral Act 2022 as amended.