UPDATED: Victory For Labour Party As Court Bars MC Oluomo’s Parks and Garages From Transporting Election Materials

In what is being celebrated as victory for the Labour Party, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on Monday, barred the National Electoral Commission, INEC, from using the Chairman of the Lagos Parks and Garages, Musliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo from distributing election materials in Lagos.

This followed a suit instituted by the Labour Party against INEC citing possible compromise if Oluomo’s organisation is made to distribute election materials.

In granting the order stopping Oluomo, Justice Aneke ruled that, “an order of interlocutory injunction filed by the Labour Party and five others restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (defendant/respondent), whether by itself or by its officers, affiliates, servants, privies or agents or any person acting or purporting to act for and on behalf howsoever from taking any steps or further steps whatsoever in furtherance of the engagement or appointment or consummating the appointment of Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo-led Lagos State Parks Management Committee or any of its commercial bus drivers to distribute 2023 election materials and personnel in Lagos State pending the hearing and determination the substantive suit.”

THE WHISTLER reported that Oluomo had written a letter requesting that INEC contract the distribution of materials to him.

It led to condemnation with warnings from some Nigerians that it was capable of compromising the election since Oluomo is a known Tinubu supporter and mobiliser.

The controversy took a worse dimension when the Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner Olusegun Agbaje, said there was no way the electoral umpire could seamlessly distribute election materials without the involvement of Oluomo since it has been the tradition for INEC to use members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, for that purpose.

Agbaje said, “On the issue of MC Oluomo, the commission is not concerned with Oluomo. We are concerned with the issue of motor park administration in Lagos.
“For the past two years, the Lagos State government has banned the operations of the NURTW and RTEAN in the state. They had problems and the state government banned them.

“So we are left with Lagos State Park and Garages and the National Association of Road Transport Owners,” adding that NARTO, which, according to him, the commission was already working with, “is not able to meet up with the 40 per cent needs of the commission for this election,” hence the commission’s consideration of engaging the MC Oluomo-led Lagos State Parks and Garages.

“We are not dealing with MC Oluomo,” Agbaje had said, adding that “we are dealing with park managers. They are individual persons that have vehicles that we are going to use for the elections.
“The law has already banned the NURTW from operating in the state so we cannot violate the law by patronising them.

“It will be against the law if we have to be working with the banned associations. So it cannot work,” he had said.