Gbadebo Rhodes, the Labour Party’s governorship candidate in Lagos State, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of conspiring with the ruling All Progressives Congress to rig the state’s presidential and National Assembly elections last Saturday.
This was stated by Rhodes on Arise News on Monday.
“INEC has been colluding with the ruling party in Lagos State, and it is truly disgraceful,” he said. “I knew the elections were in jeopardy the moment results were not transmitted from polling units.”
He revealed that the elections had been marred by irregularities orchestrated by the electoral commission.
“We won in Surulere, and INEC says our candidate was on the ballot. All kinds of irregularities are occurring with INEC right now, which is extremely shocking, but we will not accept these results. We have access to all of our original polling unit results.”
He also revealed that the elections were marred by violence and victimization of LP members and voters by the state’s ruling party.
According to the governorship candidate, some members of the party are currently hiding, while others were attacked during the elections.
He did, however, commend the Nigerian Army for intervening.
There have been numerous threats made against our members at polling stations and collation centers. Because of the threat, even the Eti-Osa Chairman has gone into hiding. They arrived in Ojo with thugs to chase our people out of the collation center. People have been apprehended. Yesterday, some people gathered in Eti-Osa in front of Elegusi’s palace.
“They wanted to keep the manipulation going in order to reduce our numbers. That was their ultimate goal. Fortunately, the army was able to respond and came in to allow our people to return. The army intervened, as did Alimosho.”
He said the threats were felt throughout Lagos State, but supporters of the party and good governance remained steadfast.
“Despite all of this, people came out in huge numbers,” Rhodes said.
He also referred to the Nigeria Police Force’s level of security as unprofessional.
“In a lot of situations, the police would just leave, and ‘area boys’ would just come and scatter the place.
“This election’s security apparatus needs a lot of work. “They must sit up,” he said.
