The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the Director-General of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council, Akin Osuntokun, remains the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) senatorial candidate for Ekiti Central Senatorial Zone.
Osuntokun was announced as the LP campaign DG on Tuesday.
He took over from Doyin Okupe who resigned after he was convicted for breaching the Money Laundering Act.
The appointment of Osuntokun has since set many tongues wagging.
It is unclear if Osuntokun officially defected to the Labour Party.
Osuntokun in his defense, explained that he had abandoned his senatorial ambition under ZLP to take up Obi’s campaign DG post.
But INEC Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, explained that Osuntokun remains the ZLP senatorial candidate as the period for withdrawal and substitution of candidates has passed.
According to INEC’s timetable for the 2023 elections, July 15 was the last day for the withdrawal and substitution of candidates by political parties for presidential and national assembly elections.
“He remains the candidate of the Zenith Labour Party.
“The window for withdrawal and substitution based on our timetable and the electoral act 2022 has closed.
“No candidate can withdraw, and none can come in except through a court order,” Okoye said.
Meanwhile, the ZLP in a statement seen by The Nation, signed by its national chairman, Dan Nwanyanwu said Osuntokun had resigned from the party in August 2022.
Nwanyanwu, a former Labour Party chairperson, added that the ZLP holds no grudges against him for decamping.
“The controversy generated by the appointment of Mr Akin Osuntokun as the DG of H/E Peter OBI Campaign Organisation is uncalled for,” the statement reads.
“Akin Osuntokun resigned from the Zenith Labour Party since August 2022 and therefore no longer a member of our Party.
“Prior to his resignation from ZLP, he held the ticket as a Senatorial Candidate in Ekiti State.
“As at the time of his resignation, we could not replace him because the window allowed by the Electoral Act for substitution had elapsed.
“We hold no grudges because it is his fundamental right to associate and exit from any organisation.
“We wish him well in his newfound greener pasture.”
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