Lagos By-Election: ‘Godfather’ Of APC Candidate Shared N1,000 To Voters, Labour Party Claims

… They Are Bunch Of Clowns — APC

In the aftermath of Saturday’s Surulere 1 Federal Constituency by-election in Lagos State, the state chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of weaponizing poverty as a short-cut to power.

LP alleged that during the election, the APC candidate, Fuad Laguda and his backers, induced voters with as little as N1, 000 and as much as N5,000 for votes.

The party also decried the low turnout of voters witnessed during the election, attributing it to the outcome of the 2023 general elections.

“The run-off elections for the Surulere Federal Constituency 1 that held on February 3rd has come and gone but not without the problems plaguing our country and her citizens,” the state LP said in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Olubunmi Odesanya.

“The voter apathy was glaringly obvious during the election that voters decided there was no need for voting, coming from the experience of the 2023 general elections. The electorates, therefore, left the APC to continue with their “electoral magic cum fraud”.

“The ruling party has weaponized poverty as a means to getting to power.

“During the elections, the ruling party’s Candidate and his backers, particularly his Godfather, went about the election inducing the voters with as little as N1000 and as much as N5000 to vote their Candidate.

“With the knowledge of the magic cum fraud, the electorate left the ruling party to their whims and caprices, the ruling party wooed the voters with money ranging between N1,000 to N5,000 knowing the poverty level their party has thrown the people into.

“We know that there will surely be light at the end of the tunnel, time will tell.The truth will surely prevail,” the party added.

But reacting to LP’s allegation, Lagos APC spokesperson, Seye Oladejo, said that there was nothing like vote buying during the election.

According to him, APC is a popular party in the constituency.

Oladejo therefore described LP in the state as a “bunch of clowns”, and asked the party to follow the path of the law and seek redress in the Tribunal if it has any complaints with the election.

“Nothing like that happened anyway, because we’re the popular party,” Oladejo told THE WHISTLER on Tuesday.

“The performance of the former officeholder would not count for anything,” he asked rhetorically.

“Gbajabiamila stepped down from that office and he did so well after about five tenures.”

“They’re a bunch of clowns,” he added.

Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Saturday night, declared Laguda as the winner of the bye-election.

Laguda polled a total of 11, 203 votes to defeat his closest rivals: Adeola Adebanjo of LP and Jerry Afemikhe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 240 and 278, respectively.

He will replace the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila who represented the constituency in the lower house of the National Assembly for 20 years.

Following his appointment as the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Gbajabiamila had on June 14, 2023, tendered his resignation letter on the floor of the House to assume his current role.