The Chairman of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, Hashim Abioye, has declared as winners the 30 chairmanship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party in the local government election held on Saturday.
Speaking in a short video obtained by our correspondent, Abioye, who was flanked by OSSIEC commissioners, also said the PDP cleared the 332 councillorship seats in the poll.
The OSSIEC chairman congratulated the candidates on their victories at the poll.
He said, “From the available results as obtained from the field, the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 332 wards emerged as winners. Their names as listed, I as the returning officer of the commission, returned them as duly elected councilors of their respective wards. The results are available anytime for anyone interested in the certified true copies.
“For the 30 local government areas of Osun State, the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party cleared all the seats.
“To this effect, by the power conferred on me as the Chief Returning Officer of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, I hereby declared the following persons as the duly elected chairmen of their respective areas.”
APC cries foul play
Reacting to the declaration, the Director of Media of Osun APC, Kola Olabisi, alleged that Abioye manufactured the results as no election was held in the state.
Olabisi, during an interview with Sunday PUNCH, said OSSIEC had made the state an object of derision through clumsy handling of matters relating to governance.
He said, “Where did he get the results from? The whole world knew election did not take place in Osun today, yet OSSIEC, hell-bent on making Osun an object of derision among the comity of states in the country, concocted results.
“It is an illegality that will not stand. No vacancies in council areas in the state. The whole world knew election did not hold yet some people wrote results inside Osun Government House and announced them to the world. Nigeria is not a Banana Republic. The constitution will take care of the charade and it wont stand.”
Adhoc staff arrested
Earlier, some adhoc staff members recruited by OSSIEC were arrested by the police in Ibokun, Ila and Ejigbo LGAs.
Beside the arrest and low voter turnout, in many polling units, ad hoc staff were not sighted, which made voters that showed up to return home in disappointment.
Streets in Osogbo, the state capital, were deserted.
Moving round Osogbo streets, our correspondent observed heavy presence of police operatives at strategic points.
The security personnel subjected the few vehicles moving to thorough checks.
Shops, markets and other business places were shut as business activities were at a standstill in most parts of the city.
Man shot dead
Voting had not commenced at polling units visited in Osogbo as of 9am.
Electoral officers were still being expected in Olaiya, Ota Efun, Ayetoro, Igbona, and Jaleoyemi areas of the town.
There was also violence at the Irojo area of Ilesa, which led to the death of a yet-to-be identified man.
A top security source, who was part of the team that removed the corpse, said, “The man had charms all over his body. No one could tell what led to his death but what we learnt was that some political hoodlums working for politicians engaged in a fight.”
At Ward 5, Unit 5, Alusekere, Owode-Ede, Ede North LGA, one OSSIEC adhoc worker showed up around 9.20am when our correspondent arrived.
Eight voters were met in a queue but the ad hoc worker did not come with any voting materials.
Also, at Ward 4, Unit 17, Cele, Owode Ede, Ede North LGA, ad hoc staff were not seen as voters that gathered to vote lamented the situation.
At Ward 5, Unit 4, Owode-Ede Junction, voting had been concluded around 11.18am when our correspondent got to the area.
A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Diran Odeyemi, while speaking with our correspondent, said voting had been concluded and result declared at Ward 1 Unit 2, Ibokun, when policemen intercepted the result around Ibokun roundabout and took the adhoc workers to the police command headquarters in Osogbo.
Adeleke votes
The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, described the election as peaceful.
Adeleke spoke with journalists after casting his vote at the Sagba/Abogunde Ward 2, Unit 9, Ede, Osun State.
A statement by the spokesperson for the governor, Olawale Rasheed, said Adeleke, who arrived at his polling unit early on Saturday, was accredited before exercising his civic duty.
He emphasised the importance of grassroots democracy and called on the people to participate actively without fear or intimidation.
The governor, who described the election process as seamless, commended the state electoral commission for a job well done.
OSSIEC tackles police
Commenting on the exercise, the OSSIEC chairman, Abioye, said the progress report available to him indicated that the exercise was successful.
“The conduct has been very smooth and peaceful as against the false alarm raised by the police.
“The only thing is that in some of the areas where materials were supposed to have arrived for voters to cast their votes, we had reports of police arresting our officials. I don’t know on whose order they did that because there was no court order to have warranted the arrest of our officials,” Abioye added.
He noted that the late arrival of materials was caused by intimidation and arrest of “officials for committing no crime.”
“But as it is, we have deployed materials to those polling units because we have enough on ground and as we speak, voting is ongoing there,” he added.
Efforts to get the reaction of the Osun State Police Command to the alleged arrest of the OSSIEC staff and the killing at Ilesa failed, as calls to the Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola, rang out.
