Like the agama lizard that jumps from an Iroko tree and beats its chest in self-adulation, the Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Olusegun Agbaje, in October 2018, vowed to resign his appointment if the Supreme Court faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in its handling of the September 22, 2018 gubernatorial election in the state.
Agbaje said this in his speech in Osogbo during the presentation of Certificate of Return to the then Osun State governor-elect, Gboyega Oyetola, of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Oyetola and the Deputy Governor-elect, Mr. Benedict Alabi, were given the Certificate of Return by the National Electoral Commissioner representing Oyo, Osun and Ekiti States, Solomon Soyebi, at the INEC office in Osogbo.
The REC said those who were dissatisfied with the outcome of the election had the right to seek redress at election petition tribunal where their case would be examined by the panel.
Agbaje said he and other INEC officials were very neutral and that they did not do anything to give any of the contestants undue advantage over others.
He said: “Nevertheless, I want to reassure the good people of Osun State, particularly our royal fathers and religious leaders, that I was extremely neutral throughout the period of the election. I can positively stress that my staff also did.
“However, if, at the end of litigation at the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Commission is found culpable of not discharging its responsibility faithfully and diligently, I will take full responsibility for any such laxity, publicly apologise to all Nigerians and thereafter resign my appointment with the commission.”