Tumultuous Times In Labour Party Ahead Of Lagos Guber Election Over ‘Authentic Candidate’

• A dispute has arisen within the Lagos state branch of the LP over who is the authentic governorship candidate for Saturday’s election.

• Ifagbemi Awamaridi claims that he won the party’s primary in July 2022 and denies withdrawing from the race,

• The chairman of the Lagos LP, Dayo Ekong, speaking on the issues stated that Awamaridi is not the party’s legitimate candidate and is being used by the opposition to disrupt the party.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Fresh trouble appears to be brewing within the Labour Party (LP) ahead of Saturday’s governorship election over who is the authentic governorship candidate of the party.

This is as a chieftain of the party, Ifagbemi Awamaridi, on Thursday insisted that he remains the party’s governorship candidate in Lagos state.

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Addressing a press briefing in Lagos on Thursday, Awamaridi denied withdrawing from the race, indicating that the matter is still before the Supreme Court.

The development would cause fresh worries for Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour who has been campaigning and gained publicity as the Lagos LP governorship candidate for Saturday’s election.

Speaking at the press conference, Awamaridi insisted that he did not withdraw from the governorship race contrary to claims by some leaders of the party.

He claimed that he won the party’s governorship primary in July 2022.

“In July 2022, INEC published the name of the Labour party candidate and the name is Prof. Ifagbemi Awamaridi based on the fact that I won the primary,” he said.

“The party forwarded the name to INEC around July 5 and INEC published the name around July 25 and that name subsists.

“Later on, I discovered that the name has changed and some party leaders decided to organise a substitution primary and claimed that I have withdrawn.”

Awamaridi added that he had written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that he had not withdrawn from the race, and is waiting for the verdict of the Supreme Court in the matter.

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However, the chairman of the Lagos LP, Dayo Ekong told members of the public to ignore Awamaridi as he is being used by the opposition to disrupt the party, insisting he is not the authentic candidate of the Labour Party.

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