The Ondo State chapter of the Labour Party has faulted the description of the candidates of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa and Mr Agboola Ajayi, respectively, as the leading candidates in the November 16 governorship election.
The Channels Television has reportedly scheduled a political debate between Aiyedatiwa and Ajayi for Sunday, claiming that the duo are the leading candidates in the forthcoming governorship election.
In a statement issued by the Director of Publicity Labour Party Campaign Organisation, Johnson Egbodofo, on Saturday, the party said the invitation of the APC and PDP candidates alone for the scheduled debate was misleading, saying the LP candidate was equally a leading candidate.
The statement read, “The attention of LP and its candidates in the Ondo State Governorship Election scheduled for the 16th day of November 2024 (Sunday) has been drawn to an advert by Channels TV of its planned live debate on Sunday, 3rd of November 2024, for candidates of the ruling APC and PDP, which Channels TV ill-advisedly described as the two leading candidates in the election.
“As a media-friendly organisation and personalities, we took immediate steps to contact Channels and its officials not to use the station’s authoritative media status to mislead but to accord the people of Ondo State and the station’s global audience the opportunities of fair assessment of the status of the political parties and quality of the candidates for the election.
“From Friday, October 25th, our gubernatorial candidate, Chief Olusola Nehemiah Ebiseni, contacted several officials of Channels TV who expressed regrets for the exclusion of LP and promised to make amends throughout the week, for which reason all legal and public actions against this obviously compromised debate were kept in abeyance.”
The statement maintained that the Labour Party was the first political party since 1999 to have been voted two terms and administered Ondo State from 2009 to 2017, in which outstanding Government Chief Olusola Ebiseni and Adedayo Awude were its governorship and deputy governorship candidates in the forthcoming election were commissioners.
“The Labour Party is the immediate predecessor of the present APC administration in Ondo State and one of the largest parties in Nigeria today, contrary to the deliberate politically injurious advertisement… We are proud to say that from Adekunle Ajasin, Bamidele Olumumilua, Adebayo Adefarati, Olusegun Agagu, Olusegun Mimiko, and Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the intellectual pedigree and capacity of candidates have been a strong determinant of the governor of Ondo State by elections, for which reason parties have in the past advised their candidates to avoid debates even organised by Channels TV. ”
“For the avoidance of any doubt, the Labour Party is the first political party since 1999 to have been voted two terms and administered Ondo State from 2009 to 2017, in which outstanding Government Chief Olusola Ebiseni and Adedayo Awude were its governorship and deputy governorship candidates in this election. The LP is the immediate predecessor of the present APC administration in Ondo State and one of the largest parties in Nigeria today, contrary to the deliberate politically injurious advert by Channels.
“We wish to let the world know that our party and candidates are available for this debate, even at this eleventh hour.”