By Correspondent
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been carpeted for its omission of the Labour Party (LP) in the ballot papers presented for the 25 February presidential and National Assembly elections describing it as a seeming deliberate act to score political goals for its paymasters.
A public affairs analyst, Carl Umegboro while stating this on Tuesday in Abuja said he was yet to recover from the shock over the monumental error arguing that the excuses by INEC that it used a logo presented to it by the Labour Party is flimsy but points to a monumental bias in the election.
The social advocate said that political parties do not work in INEC to know how it intends to design the ballot papers and commonsensically, even graphics persons in the market know that a logo alone cannot go without the name of a political party, and argued that there’s nothing wrong in sending a logo without the name of the political party to the commission as it is manned by human beings that have brains to know the importance of the name of political party that owns the logo and not robots merely programmed to do a specific act.
He argued that the act is a sufficient ground to reject or annul the polls as Labour Party technically didn’t participate in the polls as a logo alone doesn’t represent a political party in an election considering that most of the people know the party by its name and not logo.
Mr. Umegboro added that the discovery of the fundamental omission on the day of the election certainly put the Labour Party into unexpected tension and pressure forcing it to possibly begin to enlighten the few supporters it could reach even when the time for campaign has elapsed.
“The excuses by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for omitting the Labour Party in the ballot papers for the 5 February 28, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Elections are flimsy, premeditated and unacceptable. It was seemingly a technical knockout against the Labour Party by INEC and its paymasters. Such barbaric acts in the name of political gimmicks are unacceptable.
“The omission is a fundamental defect which may render the election null and void as technically, the Labour Party (LP) didn’t participate in the polls considering that every political party is widely known by its name and not logo alone. A ballot paper must have the name of a political party with its logo for those that can only recognize it by the logo. Arguably, the supporters that know the Labour Party by its name were technically disenfranchised.
“INEC has openly demonstrated that it is not neutral but biased, and seemingly working for its paymasters as an impartial umpire must ensure and provide a level playing ground to all the contesting parties. If INEC is honest, no law stops it from presenting a specimen of the ballot papers to political parties to ensure they are properly included, but the question is how a Commission headed by a Professor could omit the name of a political party claiming it published what was sent to it. Certainly, the court will have to determine if only a logo adequately represented a political party while others were clearly described with name and logo.
‘Suffice to say that the Commission under the same leadership of Prof Mahmoud Yakubu that postponed the previous general election in 2019 at the early hours of the election date, has again failed woefully by this reckless act that if not well controlled, may lead to chaos. And it is obvious that the huge public fund spent on the exercise may become a waste as the defect is sufficient to annul the entire elections with the poorly produced ballot papers”, Umegboro stated.