Adewale also decried his exclusion from the list of candidates released by the INEC ahead of the August 16 polls.
A candidate of the Labour Party for the Ogun State by-election, Adewale Adesanya, has decried the crisis rocking the party.
Adesanya expressed concern for young Nigerians who view the Labour Party as a viable platform for public service, calling for electoral processes that do not disenfranchise them.
“I want to serve my country and my people. We are tired of the whole politics of confusion,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday.
He said the leadership crisis should not override the rights of individuals to contest.
“The leadership tussle is at the national level,” he added, stressing that INEC should have taken a more responsible position.
Adesanya noted that his response to the development had been to lodge complaints through his party’s leadership, who had challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) through legal and administrative means.
He encouraged young Nigerians interested in politics not to give up, despite the challenges.
“We shouldn’t give up. Young Nigerians are tired of the old politics of confusion,” he said.
He urged political party leaders to ensure internal conflicts do not derail the ambitions and civic rights of aspiring politicians.
Adewale also decried his exclusion from the list of candidates released by the INEC ahead of the August 16 polls.
Adesanya expressed shock, explaining that he followed all the necessary procedures as stipulated by the leadership of the Labour Party and INEC.
“No official statement has been made by INEC to date,” he lamented.
“I would have expected INEC to have communicated better,” he said.
“That is not good enough. I expected a better administrative work and stance from the INEC,” he added.
Members of the Julius Abure-led group of the Labour Party on Wednesday protested at the national headquarters of the INEC in Abuja against the omission of its candidates’ names for the upcoming by-elections.
The protesters demonstrated against INEC’s decision not to publish the names of LP candidates submitted by the Abure group for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections and some upcoming National Assembly by-elections.
Chanting slogans and waving placards with different inscriptions, the protesters marched around the INEC premises under the watch of security operatives.
Some of the placards read, “INEC should respect the rule of law,” “Supreme Court judgement favours Julius Abure,” “Caretaker committee is not a political party,” “Stop killing democracy in Nigeria,” and “INEC should not kill the greatest opposition party in Nigeria.”
But the Nenadi Usman-led leadership of the party has dissociated itself from the protest, describing the organisers as “impostors” and “political impersonators”.