Moyosore Ogunlewe, the son of a former Minister of Works, Adeseye Ogunlewe, has accused the All Progressives Congress of rigging the April 11, 2015 elections in Lagos State.
Moyosore, 26-year-old Peoples Democratic Party candidate, contested the Kosofe constituency 1 election but lost to Mr. Bayo Osinowo of the APC by 87 votes.
The controversy surrounding the election led to wild protests resulting in the death of about three people in the Ogudu and Ojota areas of the state.
Moyosore, who spoke to our correspondent on Tuesday, said the APC connived with officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission to rig the election.
He said, “The election was a flop because clearly, I won it. Go out and ask people on the streets and they will tell you I won. On the day of the election, we found out that two bunches of ballot papers were missing and we wrote a petition to INEC and signed so that the election could continue.
“During the election in Oworonshoki, which is my major base, I won with 1,260 votes, not knowing that in Ifako/Gbagada Ward B, the population of the voters was not high; we found out that ballot papers from Amuwo Odofin local government in majority of the polling booths which led to a lot of irregularities, giving my opponent the advantage.”
When responding to questions on how people were killed, Moyosore, said the violence was sponsored by APC supporters.
He said, “They organised thugs from Oworonsoki, Ketu and other areas of the state to come and beat up our supporters and that was what led to the death of a passer-by.”
Moyosore said he would challenge Osinowo’s victory at the Election Petition Tribunal.
However, Osinowo told our correspondent that Moyosore was only making accusations that had no basis.
Osinowo, a member of the Lagos House of Assembly since 2003, said, “Moyosore is my son and his father is my brother. I pray for him and hope God guides him so that he will understand politics better in future.
“Do I look like a thug? Why would I bring thugs to fight my constituents? He is a small boy; he does not even know what a bill is. I learnt he is still in law school. May be when he starts practising law, he will understand politics more.”
