The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in Oyo State, Olusegun Agboola, has sued the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, at the Federal High Court in Abuja for excluding his name from the commission’s list of candidates for the 2027 governorship election.
Agboola expressed disgruntlement over his omission, and stated that he was concerned with the development despite meeting all the necessary electoral requirements; adding that the exclusion was illegal, inexplicable and politically driving.
The petitioner, on Thursday, claimed that unnamed political interests were responsible for the occurrence and further alleged that politicians from opposing parties were were unsettled with the party’s agenda and therefore, were making attempt to weaken the SPD’s political campaign.
Agboola expressed confidence that the court would compel INEC to correct the omission, and asked why he had to seek legal intervention after following the prescribed procedures.
“We have followed due process and the court will soon mandate INEC to include our names, but why is that necessary?” he queried.
He also claimed that his exclusion was part of a wider plot by unnamed political interests to manipulate the electoral process and influence the outcome of the 2027 governorship election.
“Some people want to use every means possible to doctor the outcome. This is sad for our democracy and shows the integrity of the umpire is damaged if this anomaly is not loudly corrected with a very public announcement from the INEC chairman,” he added.
Agboola stressed that Oyo State needed practical and lasting solutions to unemployment, insecurity, inadequate infrastructure and other socio-economic challenges, arguing that tackling the problems required deliberate, systemic and long-term interventions not temporary measures.