The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) has rejected the inconclusive declaration of the Osun election by INEC.
The party said its candidate, Adeleke, must be declared as the winner of the election, adding that the process was conclusive.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, at a conference in Abuja on the election said the party “rejects in its entirety the INEC’s declaration of the September 22, 2018 Osun State Governorship election as inconclusive.”
Ologbondiyan explained that “Adeleke, who won a total of 254, 698 votes as against the APC candidate, Oyetola with 254,345, is in clear lead and should be immediately declared winner by INEC,” having met the requirements of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Ologbondiyan 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.’
“The declaration of the election as inconclusive by INEC is therefore a sordid robbery of the franchise of the people of Osun State who participated in the election.
“It is obvious that having failed in its schemes to alter the final results due to the resistance of the people, the APC had to bear pressure on INEC to declare the election inconclusive so as to pave the way for the perfection of their manipulative schemes, which the people of Osun State have firmly resisted so far.
“Instead of yielding to the evil machination of the APC, INEC should have summoned the patriotic courage to immune itself and end this needless controversy by returning the PDP and declaring our candidate as the winner.
“It is instructive to state that the PDP will no longer accept inconclusive elections as subterfuge by the APC to attain its dubious electoral manipulative schemes in our nation.”
The PDP spokesman warned that even though PDP was for peace, the party would not hesitate to use every force available in a democracy to face any attempt to subvert the will of the people or “rig us out of this election.”
Ologbondiyan called on the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to avoid the fury of the people by immediately reversing “this fraudulent decision of the Resident Electoral Commissioner and declaring our candidate the winner of the election. Anything short of this is definitely not acceptable to the PDP and the people of Osun and it is a direct recipe for crisis.”
Asked if the party would go to court, Ologbondiyan said all options were being considered, including going to court and participating in the supplementary election scheduled for Thursday.
He pointed out that when APC won the bye elections in Bauchi and Katsina states with numbers of voided votes, the ruling party candidates were still declared by INEC as winners.
The National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, also described the decision taken by INEC as shameless.
He alleged that INEC took instructions from the APC by declaring the result as inconclusive when he said it was obvious that the PDP candidate won.
Also, the Osun State Chairman of the PDP, Mr Soji Adagunodo on Sunday faulted the INEC decision, insisting that Adeleke fulfilled all requirements to be declared the winner.
Adagunodo said, “We therefore condemn the decision of INEC not to declare our candidate the winner of the election despite fulfilling all stipulated constitutional and legal requirements.”
The state PDP alerted Nigerians that the alleged plot to declare the election inconclusive was pre-planned and orchestrated by INEC in collaboration with the APC.
He said by declaring the election inconclusive, INEC deliberately thwarted people’s will.
He said, “The whole world saw how our candidate was denied victory in a hotly contested election. In that election, we fought against the multiple forces of state deployed against us.”
He said the party will look at all the options and do what would benefit Osun people.
The state PDP boss commended the people of Osun State.
“However, it is not over. The battle to chase away the slave drivers is not complete. Let us guide our loins for the last onslaught.
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