•As Adebutu leads protest to INEC office

•Stop fabricating excuses for your defeat, RTEAN tells PDP 

By James Ogunnaike & Dickson Omobola

A group of lawyers, under the aegis of ‘Concerned Indigenes of Ogun State, CIOS, yesterday, issued a six-day ultimatum to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to review the declaration of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dapo Abiodun, as the winner of Saturday’s election in the state.

The group, in an open petition to INEC, said the declaration of Abiodun was against the requirements and provisions of the Electoral Act.

INEC, on Sunday, declared Abiodun the winner of the election, after polling 276,298 votes, while Ladi Adebutu of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, scored 262,383 votes to come second.

Addressing newsmen in Abeokuta, the coordinator of the group, Femi Oniyide, alleged that the election was fraught with violence, manipulation and irregularities.

Oniyide insisted that election results from 100 polling units in 14 local government areas of the state were either cancelled or the election not held, due to violence and BVAS malfunctioning.

He alleged that: “31,000 voters were disenfranchised due to violence, ballot box snatching and burning of ballot papers with non-use of BVAS.

“The margin between the votes of the APC candidate and the voters disenfranchised through cancellation is so huge and should not have been overlooked by the presiding officer.

“We demand by this open petition, that INEC should within six days from today, the 21st of March, 2023 review the ultra vires declaration and return of Professor Kayode Adebowale, the Returning Officer in the governorship election of Ogun State made on Sunday, the 19th of March, 2023 against the requirements and provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

“We, hereby, plead with INEC not to allow politicians to destroy our democracy and our judiciary. We cannot afford to put our judges at the brutish end of our election process.

“We plead that INEC should not let our elections be turned to periods of war, in which whoever can unleash the greatest violence and bloodshed shall be declared the winner of an election.”

Adebutu leads protest at INEC office

Meanwhile, the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Mr Adebutu, yesterday, led a protest at the INEC office in Ogun State.

The protesters stormed the INEC office to submit a petition, demanding re-run elections at polling units where elections were cancelled on Saturday.

The protesters, who were chanting anti-INEC songs, were armed with placards with inscriptions such as ‘INEC should save our democracy’, ‘INEC betrayed the people of Ogun’, ‘Electoral fraud will not stand’, INEC should respect people’s wish’, ‘INEC should stop being biased’ and ‘Ogun election was inconclusive, INEC correct yourself’, among others.

But the protesters were denied access to INEC by heavily armed security operatives.

Addressing newsmen at the entrance of the INEC office, Adebutu said: “We are here to protest, but unfortunately, we have been confronted by the Nigerian Army, shooting sporadically to the air, in the hope that they will disperse us, but we are resolute, we are going to stay here until we are addressed by officials of INEC.

“We contend that the measures by which other states have been treated and they are allowed to have venoms, Ogun State should be measured in the same vein. “We have submitted several letters protesting this decision and we are asking that these gentlemen allow us access to INEC to submit an additional letter, but unfortunately we don’t understand what is happening, rather than allow us access, they are shooting sporadically in the air in the hope of scaring us away and we are not going to be scared because this is our fundamental human right.”   

We won fair and square —Ogun APC

But reacting to the PDP candidate’s protest, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ogun State insisted that it won the governorship election fair and square. The party, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr Tunde Oladunjoye said the outcome Saturday’s exercise was a true reflection of the wishes of the good people of Ogun State.

Oladunjoye said: “Despite political thuggery, vote –buying and violence perpetrated by the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, the Ogun people stood firm and ensured their votes counted.

“We all witnessed how these desperate politicians band their gullible followers, bent on wrestling power by force, broke all rules of civility and violated electoral guidelines with reckless abandon.

“Our party, the All Progressives Congress, not only won the election with majority votes, but also won in 12 of the 20 Local Government Areas in Ogun State. In addition, our party won 17 out of the 26 State House of Assembly constituency seats. 

“In flagrant disobedience of the Electoral Act (2022) and the guidelines stipulated by the INEC restricting movement on the Election Day, the PDP candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, had a free rein, criss-crossing from one polling unit to the other and moving across local governments and senatorial districts. His long convoy had armed thugs, people in police uniform with guns, and others accompanying him. They harassed electoral officers, induced voters with cash, credit cards and transferred funds at will to sway voters against all known democratic norms.

“Despite these shenanigans from the PDP and its twin-sister, the African Democratic Congress, ADC, the people of Ogun State stood firm and chose good governance over cash-and-carry candidates. We urge our politicians to exhibit maturity by conceding defeat where and when it is obvious that they have been thoroughly trounced as was the case in the last Governorship election in our dear State.”

Stop fabricating excuses for your defeat, RTEAN tells PDP

Meanwhile, the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, in Ogun State, yesterday, debunked reports that it was involved in disrupting the peaceful conduct of the March 18 polls in the state.

RTEAN, in a statement by its State Secretary/Assistant National Secretary, Mr Tiwalade Akingbade, titled: ‘2023 Ogun Governorship Election: A rebuttal of PDP’s baseless allegations’, added that it is an independent association free from the control of the state government.

The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to the press statement issued by the state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Sikirulai Ogundele, on March 19, 2023, at the Cinema Hall of Park Inn Hotel under the title ‘PDP on the Governorship and State House of Assembly Elections in Ogun State. The statement will probably pass as the lowest possible nadir of the junkiest form of a political reaction and bad loser syndrome.

“Without sources, evidence and argument to achieve verified and credible allegations and without the slightest pretension to objectivity the statement began and ended with making the wildest and sweeping allegation of violence and arrest against our peace-loving, amiable leader, Akibu Titilayo, Efele.

“We state categorically that the allegations of arrest by the police, perpetration of violence and disruption of the voting process, and carrying weapons on the day of governorship and House of Assembly elections by our state Chairman, Titilayo, were false and mischievous, baseless, incredible and without concrete evidence.”  

It is in the imagination of the warped mind of the author of the statement as is far from the truth.

“There was not a shred, not even an atom of truth in it. It was a mere blackmail and attempt to swindle and hoodwink the general public into believing that their defeat at the polls by Dapo Abiodun, governor-elect and the All Progressives Congress, APC, was caused by political thuggery and violence.