Dele Olaosebikan
THE Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken a swipe at Prof. Kayode Adebowale, the Returning Officer of last Saturday’s Governorship and House of Assembly election for going ahead to declare the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the exercise, insisting that it should have been declared “inclusive“.
Speaking Monday at a press conference in Abeokuta, Alhaji Sikirulai Ogundele, Ogun State Chairman of the PDP, said a rerun should have been ordered in compliance with the extant provisions of the Electoral Act with regard to instances where the margin of winning is lower than the number of disenfranchised voters.
“It should also be placed on record that even though our party notified the Returning Officer of the position of the Electoral Act on situations where the margin of winning is lower than the number of disenfranchised voters, a rerun should be held, a petition was also submitted to the INEC which was acknowledged by the REC but was not attended to, yet the result was announced and declared against the provision of the Electoral Act.
“The Returning Officer, Prof. Kayode Adebowale refused and purposely did not mention the total cancelled votes because he knew it was way over the winning margin multiple times, he hurriedly announced the result.
“In Kebbi State which was declared inconclusive this (yesterday) morning, a similar case happened and the unbias Returning Officer followed the dictates of law“.
The PDP, therefore, called on the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmud Yakubu to reverse the alleged “manipulation, injustice and rape of democracy by the returning officer in Ogun State by declaring the Ogun governorship election inconclusive and ordering a rerun in affected areas.
“We are also calling on the INEC Chairman to replace the state’s returning officer with someone of proven integrity and unbiased posture”.
On the actual conduct of the election in the state, Alhaji Ogundele also alleged that the governorship election was characterised by unprecedented violence in several local government areas including Sagamu where 54 polling units were reportedly attacked by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-sponsored thugs and ballot boxes and other sensitive election materials were allegedly carted away and burnt.
“Similar calculated occurrences took place in Odogbolu Local Government Area, Ikenne, Remo North, Ifo, Ogun Waterside, Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North, Ipokia, Ado Odo Ota, Ijebu-East, Ijebu North East, Obafemi-Owode and Ijebu-Ode. A total of 14 local governments out of the 20.
“To our greatest dismay, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC legalised and legitimized these atrocities when it failed to acknowledge the disruption of votes in these local governments and followed the provision of Section 24 Subsection 3 and Section 51 Subsection 3 of the Electoral Act (as amended).
“It is self-evident that INEC has made itself a willing tool in the hands of the people forsaken APC.
“With tangible proof of reckless manipulation, over voting and gross disregard for the dictates and provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, we can safely say that the figures announced by INEC as the final result of the governorship election do not represent the popular wish of the people”.
INEC on Sunday declared Prince Dapo Abiodun of the APC as the winner of Saturday’s governorship poll in Ogun State
Prof. Adebowale, while announcing the result after collation from all the 20 local government areas in the state, said he polled 276,298 to defeat Ladi Adebutu of the PDP who had 262,383 votes. Biyi Otegbeye of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) came a distant third.
Eighteen-Eleven Media