The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare Osun State governorship election as inconclusive.
This is just as the party’s National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, accused the commission of taking instruction from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to declare the election inconclusive. Similarly, the Senate President and chairman of PDP Presidential Council on Osun State Gubernatorial Election, Bukola Saraki, faulted INEC’s declaration of the election as inconclusive. PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, at a press conference yesterday, said the party’s governorship candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, should be immediately declared winner, having secured the highest number of votes cast in line with the requirements of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
He said: “Section 179 (2) (a)(b) of the 1999 Constitution, (as amended), is clear and very unambiguous in spelling out the conditions for returning a candidate to the office of governor of a state. This section states inter-alia, ‘A candidate for an election to the office of governor of a state shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being two or more candidates – (a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and (b) he has not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the state.” Ologbondiyan described the declaration of the election as inconclusive by INEC as “a sordid robbery of the franchise of the people of Osun State, who participated in the election.” He stated INEC would have ended the needless controversy by returning the PDP and its candidate as winners of the election.
His words: “It is instructive to state that the PDP will no longer accept inconclusive elections as subterfuge by the APC attain its dubious electoral manipulative schemes in our nation. The people of Osun State and the entire nation are already aware that the PDP won this election. They have the authentic figures from the polling units and know the candidate the voters prefer.” Secondus, in a statement by his media adviser, Ike Abonyi, said INEC concocted “inconclusive” to pacify their pay masters after robbing PDP of victory in Ekiti State and wondered what President Muhammadu Buhari, who is in the United State for the United Nations General Assembly would be telling the democratic community, when he could not conduct simple state governorship election.
“What other evidence do the democratic watchers and security agencies need to establish obvious bias from INEC when the commission’s administrative officer caught destroying result sheets in Ayedade Local Government Area where over a thousand votes belonging to PDP were removed, confirmed acting on the instruction of his superior officer,” Secondus said, adding that INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu should be held responsible if there is crisis in the country ahead of 2019. Saraki, who urged PDP to seek legal interpretation on INEC’s decision, expressed dismay over the decision by the commission to declare as “inconclusive” an election in which a candidate won the highest number of votes and fulfilled the condition for geographical spread. He argued that INEC was wrong in declaring the election as inconclusive for the mere fact that the votes in certain polling units were cancelled. In a statement he personally signed, Saraki said the decision to cancel the election in those areas after voting had taken place meant that INEC had already excluded the votes in the areas from the election process and therefore those units should have no place in the overall results.
“My opinion would have been different if the election in the affected units did not take place at all, may be as a result of malfunctioning of the card reader machine or unavailability of the electoral materials. Since the voting took place and was cancelled, only the courts could reverse the initial decision by INEC to cancel the votes in these areas.
“That is why I call on our party and its candidate to seek further legal interpretation on this decision by the electoral body. One cannot but wonder whether if the places were reversed and the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is the one leading in the election, the INEC will take the same decision it has taken now. “At this point, it is necessary to also call on INEC to display courage, boldness, independence, neutrality and patriotism so as to send signals to the world at large that Nigerian electoral system has come of age and that our democracy has matured.The electoral body needs to re-assure all and sundry that the 2019 election and other elections will be free of manipulations and undue interference.
“The INEC should note that the Osun gubernatorial election is not only about that South-western state. It is about our country and the entire world is watching. Our national interest is at stake. The integrity of our electoral system is at stake. The reputation of the electoral body is at stake. The future of our democracy is on the line. The way INEC conclusively handles the Osun election will determine global expectations from our political process. It should therefore ensure that the wish of the Osun State electorate eventually prevails,” he said.
He said: “Section 179 (2) (a)(b) of the 1999 Constitution, (as amended), is clear and very unambiguous in spelling out the conditions for returning a candidate to the office of governor of a state. This section states inter-alia, ‘A candidate for an election to the office of governor of a state shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being two or more candidates – (a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and (b) he has not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the state.” Ologbondiyan described the declaration of the election as inconclusive by INEC as “a sordid robbery of the franchise of the people of Osun State, who participated in the election.” He stated INEC would have ended the needless controversy by returning the PDP and its candidate as winners of the election.
His words: “It is instructive to state that the PDP will no longer accept inconclusive elections as subterfuge by the APC attain its dubious electoral manipulative schemes in our nation. The people of Osun State and the entire nation are already aware that the PDP won this election. They have the authentic figures from the polling units and know the candidate the voters prefer.” Secondus, in a statement by his media adviser, Ike Abonyi, said INEC concocted “inconclusive” to pacify their pay masters after robbing PDP of victory in Ekiti State and wondered what President Muhammadu Buhari, who is in the United State for the United Nations General Assembly would be telling the democratic community, when he could not conduct simple state governorship election.
“What other evidence do the democratic watchers and security agencies need to establish obvious bias from INEC when the commission’s administrative officer caught destroying result sheets in Ayedade Local Government Area where over a thousand votes belonging to PDP were removed, confirmed acting on the instruction of his superior officer,” Secondus said, adding that INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu should be held responsible if there is crisis in the country ahead of 2019. Saraki, who urged PDP to seek legal interpretation on INEC’s decision, expressed dismay over the decision by the commission to declare as “inconclusive” an election in which a candidate won the highest number of votes and fulfilled the condition for geographical spread. He argued that INEC was wrong in declaring the election as inconclusive for the mere fact that the votes in certain polling units were cancelled. In a statement he personally signed, Saraki said the decision to cancel the election in those areas after voting had taken place meant that INEC had already excluded the votes in the areas from the election process and therefore those units should have no place in the overall results.
“My opinion would have been different if the election in the affected units did not take place at all, may be as a result of malfunctioning of the card reader machine or unavailability of the electoral materials. Since the voting took place and was cancelled, only the courts could reverse the initial decision by INEC to cancel the votes in these areas.
“That is why I call on our party and its candidate to seek further legal interpretation on this decision by the electoral body. One cannot but wonder whether if the places were reversed and the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is the one leading in the election, the INEC will take the same decision it has taken now. “At this point, it is necessary to also call on INEC to display courage, boldness, independence, neutrality and patriotism so as to send signals to the world at large that Nigerian electoral system has come of age and that our democracy has matured.The electoral body needs to re-assure all and sundry that the 2019 election and other elections will be free of manipulations and undue interference.
“The INEC should note that the Osun gubernatorial election is not only about that South-western state. It is about our country and the entire world is watching. Our national interest is at stake. The integrity of our electoral system is at stake. The reputation of the electoral body is at stake. The future of our democracy is on the line. The way INEC conclusively handles the Osun election will determine global expectations from our political process. It should therefore ensure that the wish of the Osun State electorate eventually prevails,” he said.
NEW TELEGRAPH
Declare Adeleke winner, PDP tells INEC
Reviewed by ABIODUN SODIQ
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September 24, 2018
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Reviewed by ABIODUN SODIQ
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September 24, 2018
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