Oyo PDP thanks members for boycotting LG polls, says exercise rehearsal for APC’s burial

The chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Alhaji Kunmi Mustapha, has thanked members of PDP and the electorate in the 33 local governments of the state for boycotting what he called shambolic local government elections held at the weekend.

In a release signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Akeem Olatunji and made available to newsmen in Ibadan on Sunday, the chairman said participating in the local government election would have been “a tacit endorsement of an illegality as the election failed integrity test right from the inception of the electoral process.”

“We in PDP give kudos to the people of the state for the general apathy witnessed during the kangaroo election in line with our party’s directive to the electorate and our members to shun the election.

“We equally sympathise with the family of a teenager who died at a polling unit in Ekotedo area due to a stray bullet from rampaging APC thugs and call for a full-scale investigation into the incident to ensure justice for the bereaved family

“As against the law setting up the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commissions (OYSIEC), members of the electoral body are card-carrying members of APC. This is enough reason to suggest that APC is a judge in its own case.

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“Results from across all the polling booths in the state followed the same ridiculous pattern is a clear indication that APC has been totally rejected in the state. The local government poll served as part of the rehearsal for the burial rites for APC ahead of 2019 general election when the electorate will have an opportunity of voting PDP candidates and renew their avowed commitments to PDP.

“It is instructive to note that only 11 people voted in a polling booth near Senator Rashidi Ladoja’s home in Bodija out of 1,116 registered voters. Same shameful scenario occurred at many polling units across the state,” he said.

He added that he could not fathom why the OYSIEC decided to usurp the constitutional role of boundaries and adjustments commission which is the only body empowered to delineate wards and local council development authorities.

He said PDP as a law-abiding party would never be a party to circumvention of the constitution which is superior to any other law in the land.