Crisis brews as over rescheduled election of the Oyo State chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).
According to a report by Nigerian Tribune, this happened owing to the alleged refusal of the chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, Bayo Sodo, to step down as electoral committee chairman.
Sodo is reportedly supporting one of the chairmanship candidates, Mrs Romoke Opabunmi, out of the three candidates contesting the seat of NULGE in the state.
The other two candidates are Alhaji Akeem Oyewo and Abass Bogunbe.
The report also alleged that the electoral committee had refused to sell nomination forms for the candidates. “It took the intervention of aides of Governor Seyi Makinde and the Head of Service, Mrs Amidat Ololade Agboola, for the forms to be sold to Oyewo and Bogunde on Friday, enough time to beat the Tuesday deadline for the sale and submission of forms.”
Reacting to the development, Sodo, told Sunday Tribune, said the new constitution of the union which is in use in the state, had been deployed for the conduct of elections in Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Bayelsa, Rivers and other states.
He said the 2005 constitution of the union, which allowed for elected delegates, had since been replaced with a new one which allowed already elected members to vote at NULGE elections.
“As far as I am concerned, I have the right to have soft spot for any of the candidates. But have they seen me come out to campaign for anybody? Even if I so do, it is within my rights. There is none of the three candidates who has not come to my house to seek my support. I can only support one person. Now, the field has been opened to them, why are they afraid of their own shadows?
“Why did they submit themselves to the election, given the situation on the ground? In the November election, they went to court to get an injunction later they withdrew the matter. Now, they are back in court and a date has been fixed for hearing,” he said.
Source: Nigerian Tribune
