PDP faction boycotted Ogun LG poll to save face from defeat – Gov Abiodun

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Saturday, said he was not aware of the withdrawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the local government election in the State.

The Governor, who disclosed this on Saturday shortly after casting his vote at the Ita-Osanyin, ward 3, unit 2 in Iperu in Ikenne Local Government Area of the State, said the PDP’s faction boycotted the election to save its face from defeat.

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The Chairman of the Hon Ladi Adebutu’s faction of the PDP, Sikirulai Ogundele, had on Thursday said the party would not be participating in the election following the judgment of the Ogun State High Court.

But another faction led by Leke Shittu insisted they would participate in the council election.

Abiodun mocked the PDP’s faction for withdrawing from the election, saying “you cannot be boycotting a process that you are not even a participant in.”

He said the electoral body had done the “right thing” by recognising the legitimate faction of the party and ensuring a level playing field for all the parties participating in the election.

Abiodun added, “I’m not aware of any party boycotting this election. I hear of a purported or supposed boycott and spoke to our team to find out exactly what was going on.

“What apparently has happened is that one or two parties are fictionalised and I believe that the legitimate factions of these other parties were duly recognised by OGSIEC and what I was made to understand was that the party that was not recognised headed to the court and the case was in court until I believe on Thursday.

“From what I understand, the court dismissed the suit that was challenging the OGSIEC accepting the other faction and following that, I think perhaps, to save face the faction that lost out now decided to boycott.

“You cannot be boycotting a process that you are not even a participant in. So, I didn’t understand that, but really I’m not a lawyer and I’m not speaking for OGSIEC.

“I’m not speaking on behalf of any party. I can only speak on behalf of my party and my administration.

“I believe OGSIEC has done everything within their power, within their mandate to be very transparent and to ensure that the playing field is as level as it should be for every single party that expressed a desire to be part of this election.”