THE DEMOCRATIC Socialist Movement (DSM) has called on the Labour Party’s national leadership and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to restore Lanre Adeleke as the party’s governorship candidate in Lagos State, alleging that his substitution violated the democratic rights of party members.
In a press statement signed by its Organising Secretary, Peluola Adewale, DSM also demanded the reinstatement of Affiong I. Affiong and Adeleke as the Labour Party’s Lagos State chairperson and secretary, respectively, following what it described as their unlawful removal from the positions.
The group alleged that the party’s national leadership, led by Nenadi Usman, replaced Adeleke with Rotimi Odunaike despite Adeleke’s emergence through a primary election monitored by INEC officials.
According to the statement, Adeleke, also known as Lanre Legacy, is a socialist and pro-democracy activist who emerged as the Labour Party’s Lagos governorship candidate at a party primary. It said the party’s national secretariat subsequently issued him the required INEC nomination forms, which were completed and submitted.
However, the DSM alleged that INEC later published Odunaike’s name instead of Adeleke’s as the party’s governorship candidate for Lagos State.
The group described the development as a miscarriage of justice and accused INEC of failing to uphold its independence and impartiality. It alleged that the substitution could not have occurred without the commission’s collaboration.
The DSM said Adeleke had challenged the substitution in court and expressed support for legal and political efforts to secure his reinstatement.
The organisation also criticised the Labour Party’s leadership, alleging that the party had strayed from its founding purpose of representing workers and economically disadvantaged Nigerians.
The statement recalled that the Labour Party was established in 2002 by the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress as a political platform for workers and the poor. It alleged that successive party leaders had allowed wealthy political interests and political opportunists to dominate its affairs, turning electoral nominations into transactions in which tickets went to the highest bidders.
The DSM further alleged that the party’s national leadership had compounded the dispute by removing Affiong and Adeleke from their respective state executive positions rather than addressing the controversy surrounding the governorship candidacy.
It called on the Labour Party’s national leadership and INEC to restore Adeleke’s candidacy and upload his name to the commission’s portal. It also urged the party to reinstate Affiong and Adeleke unconditionally to their respective positions in the Lagos State chapter.
The group called on party members and supporters to mobilise politically to press for the demands.
Beyond the immediate dispute, the DSM urged trade unions, workers, artisans, pro-labour organisations, socialist groups and activists to begin discussions on building a mass workers’ party.
It said such an initiative was necessary to mobilise disadvantaged Nigerians against what it described as an exploitative, corrupt and ineffective capitalist ruling elite, and to pursue the country’s reconstruction through socialist programmes and policies.
The allegations in the statement were not independently verified for this report.
