DEADLOCK OVER OSUN ELECTION: Adeleke, Oyetola return to trenches

INEC holds rerun Thursday in Osogbo, Ife, Orolu LGs PDP rejects verdict,
APC begs for support, lauds exercise We never tampered with results – INEC

Barely 24 hours after the conclusion of voting in Osun state governorship election, the Returning Officer, Professor Adeola Fuwape, has declared the exercise inconclusive.
According to the result released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the All Progressives Congress polled 254,345, while the Peoples Democratic Party scored 254,698.
Announcing the result yesterday in Osogbo, the state capital, Professor Fuwape, said the margin of 353 was not enough to declare winner between the two leading parties because of the provision of the Electoral Act.
Besides, the returning officer also noted that the number of cancelation was also more than the margin between the two eading political parties in the race.
According to INEC, a problem of ballot snatching led to the cancellation of 393 votes at the polling unit 001 in Orolu local governmentsarea of the state, while 387 votes were also cancelled in another polling unit of the same local government.
In Ife South local government area, INEC also said many votes were cancelled due to the malfunctioning of card reader, pointing out that over-voting that occurred in Oyere 2, Ife North, also led to the cancellation of many votes.
Also, 884 votes were cancelled in Osogbo unit 017, because of the report that the Electoral Officer absconded in the unit.
Putting together the number of cancelled votes, Prof Fuwape said 3,498 votes were cancelled, while PDP has the highest number of votes with 353.
The candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Senator Iyiola Omisore, came third in the election with a total votes of 128,049, while Action Democratic Party, ADP, scored 49,742.
Rerun holds Thursday To this end, INEC announced Thursday, Sept 27 as the date for rerun between the two leading parties.
Announcing the decision, the South West Commissioner of INEC, Deji Soyebi, said the rerun will take place in the affected units that were cancelled in Osogbo, Ife and Orolu local government areas of the state.
Meanwhile, the man who reportedly tore the result of Ayedaade local government has been arrested.
The monitoring officer for Ayedaade local government area had announced 9,836 for the PDP in the local government, but this was disputed by the PDP agent, Dele Adeleke, who raised the alarm and told the INEC that the party polled 10,836.
And from the same area, the APC polled 10,861.
Shortly after, a man, who claimed to be an officer with INEC, whose identity couldn’t be ascertained as at the time of filing this report, was allegedly caught tearing the result of the local government.
Upon interrogation, he confessed that he was allegedly sent by the Electoral Officer, one Mrs.
Aderinoye, to tear the result pasted at Ayedaade local government.
According to him, the APC scored 10,861 before he tore the result, while 10,836 was recorded for PDP.
He was said to have been handed over to the police.
Tension as attendance drops in churches Investigation by our correspondent revealed that attendance of Sunday service in some Churches in Oshogbo was relatively low.
This followed the tension created by the alarm raised by the PDP which claimed that its results were being manipulated.
This created some tension among members of the public, as suspected thugs believed to be loyalists of PDP besieged INEC area, threatening anarchy if the final result was announced in favour of the APC.
Streets were deserted as residents remained indoors up until afternoon for fear of the unknown after the announcement of final results.
PDP alleges manipulation Meanwhile, the PDP in its reaction, has rejected the INEC’s declaration of the exercise as inconclusive as “sordid robbery.” PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, who stated this yesterday while addressing journalists in Abuja, insisted that “the process was conclusive and that its candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, who won a total of 254, 698 votes, is in clear lead and should be immediately declared winner by INEC, having met the requirements of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).” Buttressing his point with the constitution, Ologbondiyan noted that “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 PDP spokesperson also further explained that, “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.
According to him, “it is obvious that having failed in their 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 way for the perfection of their manipulative schemes, which the people of Osun state have firmly resisted so far.” He also lamented that, “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 declare our candidate as the winner.” Ologbondiyan further said, “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.
“The people by their votes have overwhelmingly declared for our candidate and we are not ready to accept any attempt by anybody to use any means whatsoever to steal our mandate freely given by the people.
“The PDP is for peace, but we will 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 in this election,” he said.
Ologbondiyan charged INEC “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.” In a similar reaction, PDP National Chairman, Prince Uncle Seconds, also charged INEC to declare PDP winner in the exercise to avert national crisis.
Secondus in a statement signed by his Special Adviser Media, Ike Abonyi noted that “the PDP INEC robbed the party of victory in Ekiti state and said they should go to the tribunal, now in Osun state after the party won glaringly, they have concocted another story of inconclusive just to pacify their pay masters.” APC begs for support While the PDP is aggrieved over the situation, the APC has begged its supporters in the state not to abandon it at the stage of the re-run election.
Making the plea in a telephone interview with Blueprint, the APC acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena said the party is appealing to people to vote for its candidate in the re-run election since they are the ones to decide who will govern them.
The spokesman said: “Our party must go back to the drawing board to see if it can get things right.
Osun governorship election result is a big lesson ahead of 2019 and we have to re-strategise.
For now, we are only begging Osun people to please vote for APC in the rerun election.” APC said it believes strongly in the right of the people to decide who will govern them, adding that the wish of the people of Osun state will prevail in the end.
“We thank God for giving us another opportunity to go back to the drawing board.
It has given us another opportunity to re-strategize and reposition ourselves because if things have moved smoothly, we would have used that momentum to move into the 2019 elections but with this, it allows us to do a little change in what we are doing.
“More importantly, it has enabled us to remember that this time is when the people will decide who will govern them.
On the performance of INEC, he said: “INEC has done a wonderful job, you can see that every day, they are improving.” INEC But INEC representative, Oluwole Uzzi, rejected allegations that the election results were tampered with to the detriment of PDP.
“But, since the collation is still ongoing, there is no need for anyone to conclude that a permanent decision has been taken on the matter,” the official told Premium Times by telephone Sunday morning.
“Let us wait for the final declaration.” Results from 30 LGAs 1.
Boluwaduro LG: APC 3843, PDP: 3779, SDP: 1766, ADP: 858 2.
Atakumosa West LG: APC: 5019, PDP: 5401, SDP: 1570, ADP: 718 3.
Ifedayo LG: APC: 3182, PDP: 3374, SDP: 1377, ADP: 176.
4.
Ede South: APC: 4512, PDP: 16693, SDP: 855, ADP: 5.
Orolu LG: APC: 5442, PDP:7776 , SDP: 2043 ADP: 388, ADC:79.
6.
Obokun LG: APC: 7229, PDP: 10859, SDP: 1907, ADC: 106, ADP: 663 7.
Ilesha East LG: APC: 9790, PDP: 8244 SDP:3620 , ADC: 188, ADP: 1275(APC) 8.
Boripe LG: APC: 11655, PDP: 6892, SDP: 2730, ADP: 1137, ADC: 137(APC) 9.
Ilesha West: APC: 7251, PDP: 8286, SDP: 2408, ADC: 127, ADP: 2363(PDP) 10.
Oriade LG: APC: 9778, PDP: 10109, SDP: 2265, ADC: 109, ADP: 1224 11.
Irepodun LG APC: 6517, PDP: 8058, SDP: 4856, ADC: 158, ADP: 2564(PDP) 12.
Ila LG APC: 8403, PDP: 8241, SDP: 3134, ADC: 96, ADP: 183(APC) 13.
Isokan LG APC: 7297, PDP: 9048, SDP: 3460, ADC: 56, ADP: 682(PDP) 14.
Odo-Otin LG APC: 9996, PDP: 9879, SDP: 2941, ADC: 1034, ADP: 1112(APC) 15.
Ayedaade LG: APC 10861, PDP: 9836, SDP: 2967, ADC: 145, ADP: 1645(APC) 16.
Atakumosa East LG APC: 7073, PDP: 5218, SDP: 2140, ADC: 06 , ADP: 629(APC) 17.
Ede North LG APC: 7025, PDP: 18745, SDP: 1382 ADC: 89, ADP: 758(PDP) 18.
Ifelodun LG APC: 9882, PDP: 12269, SDP: 1970, ADC: 236, ADP: 2844, (PDP) 19.
Ayedire LG APC: 5474, PDP: 5133, SDP2396:, ADC:144 , ADP:1642, (APC) 20.
Ife North APC: 6527, PDP: 5486, SDP: 5158, ADC:94, ADP: 745, (APC) 21.
Ejigbo LG APC: 14779, PDP: 4803, SDP4803:, (APC) 22.
Egbedore APC: 7354, PDP: 7231, SDP: 3367 23.
Ife Central: APC: 6957, PDP: 3200, SDP: 20494 ADC: 194, ADP: 1053 24.
Irewole LG: APC: 10049, PDP: 13848, SDP: 1142, ADP: 1915(PDP) 25.
Olorunda LG APC: 16254, PDP: 9850, SDP: 7061, ADC:335, ADP:1407, (APC) 26.
Ola-Oluwa LG APC: 5025 PDP: 4026 SDP: 2104 ADP: 2194 ADC: 1408(APC) 27.
Ife South LG APC: 7223, PDP: 4872, SDP: 6151, ADC: 136, ADP: 561.
(APC) 28.
Ife East: APC: 8925, PDP: 6608, ADC: 237, ADP: 509, SDP: 17643 29.
Iwo Local Government APC: 7644, PDP: 6122, ADP: 16, 425, ADC: 1164, SDP: 4153 30.
Osogbo LG APC: 23379, PDP: 14499, SDP: 10188, ADC: 413, ADP: 2478

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