This development came as the chairman of the APC in the state, Prince Gboyega Famodun faulted the reports of the European Union (EU) that maintained that both the gubernatorial poll and the supplementary election held last Thursday were characterised by incidents of intimidation and harassment of voters.
Addressing a press conference in Osogbo on Tuesday, Famodun accused the PDP of allegedly perpetrating violence, electoral malpractices and monetising the conduct of the poll justifiably won by the APC flag bearer, Mr Gboyega Oyetola while the exercise lasted.
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According to him, “Firstly, we insist that the figures claimed by the PDP in Ede North and South were fraudulent because they exceeded the number of registered voters in the two local governments. Secondly, although the areas where the elections were first cancelled due to PDP induced infractions, were APC strongholds, (except for Orolu where we lost marginally), we did not react with desperation, since a re-run had been ordered.”
“Terrified by the prospects of losing the re-run election, the PDP then mounted a massive effort to discredit the election, vilify INEC and attempted to stop the re-run and have itself declared winner of an election that had already been certified inconclusive by the umpire. That was deplorable, to say the least. When the PDP failed to stop the re-run, it then resorted to its best game; it imported thugs into Osun from Kwara State.”
“It was in this bloody process that Adebiyi Ajibade in Esa Odo was killed. He was APC agent, but the propaganda by PDP in town is that APC was the one killing and brutalising its supporters. This wicked tactics by the PDP of pointing accusing finger at its victims as the aggressor is familiar to us, but we are shocked that those who should see beyond the lies being propagated by the PDP have joined them in casting aspersions on the credibility of the electoral exercise.”
“We are not impressed by the volte-face of some foreign and local election observers who in one breath acknowledged the peaceful and fair nature of the process, but in another, questioned the outcome just at the tail end at the collation centre, where the die is already cast, and nothing can be changed or influenced again. As far as fairness goes, you cannot recommend a process and at the same time deny its conclusion”, Famodun remarked.
However, in a press statement forwarded to the Nigerian Tribune in Osogbo, the Osun State chairman of the PDP, Hon Soji Adagunodo alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was colluding with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to alter the result sheets of the governorship poll held on the 22nd September; 2018 and the rerun exercise.
Adagunodo averred that the victory of the Oyetola cannot stand the test of electoral integrity and justice, saying that credible information at the disposal of the PDP indicated that result sheets of several local governments where the INEC did deliberate wrong summations of figures were being altered.
The statement reads “each of the electoral officials who signed the initial copies of the result sheets was being offered N2 million by the APC to sign doctored results which would be tendered at the election petition tribunal.”
“The PDP warned the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Osun State and other top officials of the body to refrain from acts of illegality which could lead to terrible legal consequences and bring them into disrepute. The party said Nigerians and posterity will hold INEC accountable for any further acts of subversion of the will of Osun people as expressed in the September 22nd governorship election”, the statement added.
But, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC in Osun, Mr Olusegun Agbaje described the position of the PDP as untenable, saying the result sheets of the elections cannot be assessed or doctored by anybody.
Reacting during a telephone chat with our correspondent, he contended “how can we doctor the result sheets of the election. Is that doctorable? Since we have given the copies of the results sheets to party agents at the polling units, is it possible to alter the result? Anyway, I am not aware of that. Nobody can doctor anything. I don’t have the results with me and none of my staff has access to the results.”
He stated further that “the results sheets are with their party agents. They should go and prove that at the election tribunal. The collation officer cannot collate anything at the polling centre minus one vote from various wards from the local government. Then, the Returning Officer (RO) cannot collate anything except from the results brought from the 30 local government areas.”
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