LABOUR PARTY CRISIS: THE ELECTION THAT SAW THE EMERGENCE OF RHODES VIVOUR AS GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDATE IS 'FRAUDULENT' - AWAMARIDI

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Ifagbemi Awamaridi, the beleaguered Labour Party candidate for governor of Lagos, has called the occasion where the party’s national executives presented a certificate of return to the “genuine” candidate a “comedy.”

Mr. Awamaridi made this statement on Thursday, when he appeared on Arise TV’s Morning Show.

Recall that on Tuesday, Gbadebo Rhodes-Viviour, who triumphed in the Labour Party’s substitution primary election in Lagos, received a certificate of return from the party’s national leadership

The ceremony, according to the party, put the squabble over their real candidate to rest.

Mr. Awamaridi described the certificate of return given to Mr. Rhodes-Vivour as a “piece of paper” that is “unconstitutional and irrelevant.”

He reiterated that he remains the “substantive governorship candidate of the party” and that no candidate should be presented, whether by the party or the electoral body, except in a case of withdrawal or death.

“I have not resigned. I have gone to court to make a declaration when I got this comedy and shenanigans,” he said.

“I went to court and made a declaration in oath that I have not withdrawn my candidature. I’m alive, I’m not dead.”

He added that he remains the candidate “until the final determination of the suit in court.”

Mr. Awamaridi stated under oath, “I hereby state under the oath that I did not withdraw my candidature, I am not withdrawing my candidature, I do not intend to withdraw my candidature, and I shall not withdraw my candidature,” in an affidavit of non-withdrawal submitted to the State High Court in Abuja.

“I thus declare that I am alive, that I am not dead, and that I do not consent to any obituary material being prepared in my name,” the oath reads.

Mr. Awamaridi pointed out that, under the 2022 Electoral Act, his replacement is only possible by death or voluntary withdrawal.