Osun Election 2018: Why PDP agents were missing at polling units – APC
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has reacted to the outcome of the Osun State rerun governorship election where its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola was declared winner.
Oyetola, the APC candidate defeated Adeleke with 482 votes in the rerun poll.
In total, Oyetola scored a total of 255,505 to defeat Adeleke who scored 255,023 votes.
The ruling party in a statement by Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, APC Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy in Osun, denied claims by Senator Ademola Adeleke, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate who alleged irregularities during the rerun election.
According to him, PDP was lamenting over its inability to buy votes and manipulate like they did during the first election last Saturday.
He noted that PDP party agents were absent because the police thwarted their plot of buying and trying to use the PVCs of unsuspecting voters.
The statement reads: “We have always known and have made ourselves clear before the election that the PDP had made elaborate arrangement to rig the election through the manipulation of the card readers.
“And it was this process that made them get the votes allocated to them in the first ballot.
“We like Osun people to understand that the run off votes went the way it did because the PDP was unable to manipulate the card readers this time around and fortunately the police thwarted their plot of buying and trying to use the PVCs of unsuspecting voters.
“That was why some of their leaders were arrested. So the PDP should look for other excuses.
“They attempted to win by fraud, they failed in the first round and eventually lost the rerun election,’’ Oyatomi said.
He also commended Governor Rauf Aregbesola for delivering good democratic dividends, which transformed the state, adding that the governor-elect, Oyetola, would build on the legacies of the former.
Oyatomi also commended INEC for its display of professionalism and the security agencies for ensuring the election was peaceful.
He, however, urged the people of the state to support the incoming governor in achieving the mandate of making Osun greater than its present status.
Adeleke had in a statement in Osogbo by his campaign organisation’s spokesperson, Mr Olawale Rasheed, rejected the result of the rerun poll, adding that he would seek legal redress.