Ms Tolu Ebun, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) House of Reps candidate for Shomolu Federal Constituency, has announced her decision to contest her loss at the election tribunal.
A statement sent to DAILY POST by her media office on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction at the outcome which gave Mr. Oyewole Olufemi Diya of the All Progressives Congress (APC) victory.
She said she had been very confident of victory not only because of the nature of the grassroots campaigns she and her party conducted, but because of the widespread rejection of the APC candidate by residents of the constituency.
“However, the elections were fraught with irregularities, alteration of results and non-compliance with provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Electoral Act and Operational Handbook issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),” the statement read.
“In addition, there were several instances of connivance between agents of Mr. Diya/APC and INEC officials/security agents deployed for the conduct of the elections. “In spite of these irregularities, INEC declared the APC candidate winner of the elections on March 30th, 2015. This was in stark contrast with the reality that I scored the highest number of valid votes cast by people eligible to vote at the elections.
“Therefore, after due consultation with the people of Shomolu and adequate briefing about my rights from my lawyers, I have decided to approach the National Election Petition Tribunal, Lagos State to restore the mandate freely given to me by my people.
“At the tribunal, I will present overwhelming evidence of electoral malpractice and irregularities, alteration of results, and non-compliance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Electoral Act and the Operational Handbook issued by INEC.
“My decision to approach the Tribunal is based not only on my desire to protect my rights and interest, but also the desire to protect the rights of the thousands of people who stood in the sun and braved several challenges to vote for me in the belief that I am best suited to promote their interests at the House of Representatives for the next four (4) years.
“It is my fervent belief that the judiciary, as the last hope of the common man, will resolve the legal issues connected to this matter and protect the mandate freely given to me by the people of Shomolu”, she noted.
Comments