By Meletus EZE
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to wake up to their responsibilities by stopping vote-buying ahead of the Sept. 27 Osun governorship re-run election.
APC acting National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yekini Nabena, who made the call in a statement on Monday in Abuja, alleged that an opposition party was guilty of election malpractice.
“The aftermath of Saturday’s inconclusive Osun State governorship election has confirmed PDP’s vow to deploy all means, schemes, shenanigans in all ramification and magnitude to rig all coming elections, starting from the Osun governorship election.
“It is now clear that the vote-buying template introduced and brazenly deployed in the Osun inconclusive election is an urgent threat to our democracy,” he said.
He added that the development was also a threat to current efforts by the APC-led Federal Government to ensure the sanctity of the country’s elections.
Nabena alleged that while the PDP was accusing other political parties of irregularities during the governorship election, it was busy perpetuating its vote-buying scheme.
According to him, this has been exposed in several leaked videos showing PDP agents buying votes for its candidate, Sen. Ademola Adeleke, particularly in Ede and environs.
Nabena alleged that the PDP was now engaging in vote-buying and dissemination of diversionary fake news, saying this must be checked.
He, however, called on the electorate, civil society organisations and relevant stakeholders to speak out and resist the PDP plans, which he claimed threatened the nation’s democracy.
“Again, the PDP attempts to misinform the public on the rationale for declaring the Osun governorship election inconclusive.
“They should be reminded that in 2015, the late Abubakar Audu of Kogi was leading by 240, 867 votes to PDP 199,514 votes, the margin of 41,353 favoured APC but it was declared inconclusive.
“INEC ordered a re-run because 49,953 cancelled votes were higher than the 41,353 despite the fact that APC was leading with a wide margin.
“At the time PDP did not protest, rather prepared and waited for the re-run date. The PDP cannot be supportive of decisions only when it seemingly favours them,” he said.
The APC spokesman added that there were electoral precedents, guidelines and laws which were binding on all.
He, however, reiterated APC’s confidence that Osun electorate would resist the PDP’s deployment to take over the state by force.
“The people’s will; the people’s vote is supreme. It must be respected and defended. That is democratic, progressive and the right thing,” he said.
The election was declared inconclusive and a re-run ordered, because the number of cancelled votes was higher than the margin between the two top candidates.
The PDP candidate, Ademola Adeleke, led the race with 254,698 votes, 353 votes more than his closest rival, Gboyega Oyetola of the APC.
The margin was, however, less than the 3,498 votes in the polling units where voting was cancelled.
Consequently, INEC Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Joseph Afuwape, declared the poll inconclusive and ordered a re-run.
“Unfortunately, as the returning officer, it is not possible to declare any party as the clear winner of this election at the first ballot,” Afuwape said.
