Invalidation of the election of Mr Thaddeus Attah, Labour Party Candidate for Eti-Osa Federal Constituency of Lagos State has opened a door of opportunity for his opponents.
It is, however, not an assurance that any of the opponents will win if they do not put in handwork.
A human rights activist and lawyer, Mr Malachy Ugwummadu, made the assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.
Ugwummadu noted that the tribunal judgment, which nullified Attah’s election, had given room for Mr Babajide Obanikoro of the All Progressives Congress and Mr Bankole Wellington of the Peoples Democratic Party to spread their tentacles for a better chance to win the re-run election.
According to Ugwummadu, the immediate past National President of the Committee for Defence of Human Rights, elections are contests in which there are bound to be losers and winners.
Ugwummadu, the immediate past National President of the Committee for Defence of Human Rights, said that election was a game of number and popularity; therefore, the winner must work harder.
He said: “Having accepted the jurisprudence and the nature of Nigeria’s politics, it has now come within the purview of what is permissible under the law and under the Electoral Act that this situation will happen.
“The candidates who had lost the election will now have the opportunity to go into the same race, perhaps mobilise a lot more.
“If an election is nullified based on technical grounds, that should not give those who lost automatic victory, as they will have to work more than they did in the past.”
NAN reports that a three-man panel led by Justice Farouk Bunza on Monday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a re-run election within 90 days in 32 disputed polling units in Eti-Osa Federal Constituency.
INEC had on Feb. 25, declared Attah the winner of the House of Representatives election. (NAN)
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