APC Slams Makinde, Demands Cancellation Of LG Election

The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday berated the Oyo State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, over the conduct of Saturday’s local government election in the state.

The election was held across the 33 local government areas of the state to elect executives for the administration of the councils.

The APC, through its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, in a statement after the election was concluded, flayed Makinde and Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC), describing the exercise as ‘disappointing’.

Sadare alleged cases of non-availability of election officials, disenfranchisement of eligible voters, shortage of voting materials, violence, and threats to life in some parts of the state.

He averred that the alleged irregularities indicate that both the governor and OYSIEC have disappointed the citizens, adding that, “the election is capable of bringing untold disrepute to the state if allowed to stand.”

His words, “…Gov. Seyi Makinde has again disappointed the whole world. He promised the people that their votes would count today but the opposite is the case. The good people of the state desired to participate in an election to elect a new set of council officials but what they are experiencing is nothing but a sham.

“OYSIEC failed to mobilise officials to attend to prospective voters in key polling units while also releasing inadequate voting materials to virtually all the polling units. In most polling units, officials of the commission did not arrive until 12 noon when most voters had left for their respective homes in frustration. This aptly validated the suspicion that the PDP had handed a script to the Commission to implement in their favor.

“In the 10 local government councils of Oke-Ogun, the official result sheets known as Form EC8A were withheld by OYSIEC’s Electoral Officers while political thugs were unleashed on some members of the opposition who asked questions in places like Kajola, Olorunsogo, Itesiwaju, Ibarapa East, Lagelu, Ido, Oyo East, Atiba, Oluyole, among others. The chairman of our party in Ibarapa East, Mr. Segun Ojediran, was violently attacked by the PDP thugs in Eruwa and he is now receiving treatment in a private hospital.

“OYSIEC has failed to accommodate more than 80 per cent of the eligible voters in the state today and there is no way the meagre 20 per cent of people who were lucky to cast their votes in a lawful manner can decide the fate of the vast majority.

“Obviously, the Commission allowed a few people to cast their votes at the polling units while the balance of the majority rights to vote was secretly handed down to the PDP. Any electoral victory given behind closed doors is illegitimate, tainted, and unacceptable. Therefore, we call for the total cancellation of the whole exercise as it was done today.”