The New Nigeria Peoples Party’s Ogun State branch declared on Sunday that their petition against the Independent National Electoral Commission had been withdrawn and that Dapo Abiodun had won the state’s governorship.
At a press conference held at the party secretariat in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, Sunday Oginni, the state’s party chairman, made this announcement.
Abiodun had been proclaimed the victor of the March 18, 2023 election by the INEC.
However, the party complained to the Tribunal that INEC had purportedly omitted the party’s name from the ballots for the governorship election.
The party claimed that this was against the election legislation.
Addressing newsmen on Sunday, the chairman of the party said, “The New Nigeria Peoples Party, Ogun State chapter under the leadership of Comrade Olaposi Oginni Sunday hereby step out of court and withdraw the suit with petition number: EPT/OG/GOV/01/2023.”
“Despite having a strong case, the party under the leadership of Comrade Sunday Olaposi Oginni wish to announce the party’s intention to withdraw the petition from the Tribunal. We are doing this not because we don’t believe we will get justice from the judicial system, but because of the following reasons;
“We came to realise that on that same date (March 18) despite the fact that the INEC did not comply with an electoral act that stipulated that the name and logo must be on the ballot. The electorates still manage to vote for some of NNPP’s candidates and some of our candidates won in some places. For example, in Kano State, the governorship candidate of our party and candidates of NNPP for the house of assembly and Reps were declared winners.”
Oginni however, called on INEC to pay attention to details and ensure that things are properly done for all political parties.
“INEC as an unbiased umpire and supervisor of our election must make sure that political parties are there to do the right thing at all times while they also make sure they pay attention to details,” Oginni said.
He, therefore, said with the withdrawal of the petition, NNPP Ogun State Chapter is ready to go back to the drawing board and plan ahead on how to win the 2027 election.
