Inec Has Come Under Fire In Ogun For Issuing A Certificate Of Return To The "Wrong Person"

In Ogun State, it has been claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) issued a Certificate of Return to the wrong candidate.

The Certificate of Return in the Ikenne State Constituency was given to a candidate who withdrew from the contest before the March 18 election, according to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State.

Voting en masse for the PDP and its nominee, Sulaimon Badmus Adeniye, the people of Ikenne allegedly showed extraordinary bravery in the face of the destructive and disruptive tendencies of thugs.

However, the PDP expressed shock that Babajide Owodunni, who withdrew from the race on March 6, received Adeniye's certificate from INEC.

"Members of the public are humbly requested to take notice that Mr. Owodunni defected to the ruling APC on March 9, 2023, in an open ceremony that was organized and overseen by Prince Dapo Abiodun, directly after giving up our party's candidacy.

"We, therefore, wonder why INEC issued PDP's certificate of return to Owodunni, an impostor who never participated as a candidate of any known political party in the election," claims Akinloye Bankole, the PDP's spokesman in Ogun.

Abiodun Ladi Adebutu is from Ikenne Local Government, where the APC lost because "such an electoral coup can only be carried out by the APC, in satanic connivance with Ogun State INEC," according to Bankole.

In Ikenne, where the APC was soundly defeated by the opposition party, Bankole insisted that the PDP would not allow the APC to declare triumph.

He claimed that Owodunni's Certificate of Return is solely for show and comic relief to calm a crying child and that it won't hold up over time.

The PDP spokesman remembered that Owodunni had gone to the Sagamu High Court on February 17, 2023, to make a declaration that he was voluntarily withdrawing as the PDP candidate for the Ikenne State Constituency and would no longer be running in the 2023 elections.

Owodunni informed the PDP national office of his voluntary withdrawal from the race in a letter dated March 6, 2023, according to Bankole, who questioned how INEC could have continued to grant the PDP certificate to someone who was no longer a contender.