Makinde, Alli, APC Trade Words over Oyo LG Polls

 Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, yesterday engaged in a war of words over the local government election held yesterday in all the 33 local government areas (LGAs) of the state.

While the governor rated the conduct of the election high, saying that it compared favourably with elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Alli insisted that the state Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) did not prepare for the election. 

On its part, the state chapter of the APC described the election as a sham, which is capable of causing the pacesetter state untold disrepute if allowed to stand.

Governor Seyi Makinde lauded the residents of the state for turning out to vote at the local government election.

Makinde while speaking with journalists after casting his vote at Unit 1, Ward 011, Abayomi Open Space, Iwo Road, Ibadan North East LGA, said, “For us in Oyo State, it is almost like a given that democracy at the grassroots is what we practise. This is almost our Fifth year in office and we are holding local government elections for the second time. 

“Before we came in, it had always been caretaker administration at the grassroots without the people having a say in who should govern them. 

Reacting to the poll, the state’s APC in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, called on the OYSIEC to reschedule the election for another day when it is ready to conduct a free, fair and credible poll.

According to him, reports from across the state indicated that cases of non-availability of election officials, disenfranchisement of eligible voters, shortage of voting materials, violence and threat to life were recorded while the electoral commission appeared helpless to rescue the situation even as voters waited endlessly in most of the places affected.

“Even if OYSIEC comes out later to declare all the candidates of the APC, we would not rate this election as credible and acceptable as it falls below the minimum global standard of election conduct. The best thing is for the commission to suspend the exercise and choose another date for proper conduct rather than continue to connive with a few anti-democratic elements in the ruling PDP to perpetrate electoral fraud and desecration of democracy in the land.

“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 lawfully 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 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.”

Speaking in the same vein, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, Senator Alli, said the OYSIEC did not prepare for the local government election in the state. 

Alli while addressing journalists at his family compound located at Ward 3, in Ibadan North LGA, said there were a lot of abnormalities that characterised the election. 

The senator elected on the platform of APC insisted that what happened was an indication that OYSIEC was not prepared for the election, stating that there were complaints of late arrival of electoral materials in most parts of the state.