By Kolawole Ojebisi
The acting Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Professor Theophilus Ndubuaku has attributed the defeat suffered by the Labour Party Candidate, Ayodele Olorunfemi, to the way and manner he secured the party’s governorship ticket.
Ndubuaku disclosed this on Sunday following accusation levelled against the NLC by Olorunfemi that the crisis in the labour union contributed to his loss at the governorship poll on Saturday.
The union leader noted that Olorunfemi prioritized pecuniary gain over his success at the poll adding that the LP candidate traded his governorship ambition for N20m.
Ndubuaku said Olorunfemi’s rival, Olusola Ebiseni, bought the ticket stressing that he (Ebiseni) initiated litigation when it became apparent that the LP candidate was not willing to release the governorship ticket.
He said, “He is one human being you should never take seriously. As a result of this crisis between us and Abure, Olorunfemi became the deputy to Abure and he was given the ticket. Before this election, he was a placeholder. So what did he do? He now started shopping for who would buy the ticket from him.
“In the process, they asked Ebiseni to pay N20m to get the ticket. He paid and even added another N5m which they claimed was for expenses. When they refused to give him the ticket, Ebiseni went to court. In retaliation, the Abure’s camp started working to ensure INEC didn’t upload his name because of the Kagaroo judgment they went to secure.
“The only challenge we have was that before the judgment, INEC had already given the code for uploading the names of agents to Olorunfemi. We know he would have uploaded the names of suspected APC agents there. We know he is obviously working indirectly for the APC.”
Olorunfemi had alleged that the NLC and LP presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, contributed to his defeat at the poll on Saturday.
He said he would not forgive Obi for using his influence against him by supporting his anointed candidate, Olusola Ebiseni, a decision which he claimed led to legal tussle and robbed him of adequate time for preparation for the election.
