Adeleke, Omisore and Oyetola
BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
For the Osun State Governorship election holding Saturday, controversy appears a ceaseless factor. While the campaigns have been commended for being free of hate and rancour, there have been counter allegations by the contending parties on alleged sharp practices.
One of such allegations generated heat on the eve of the election. The People’s Democratic Party, PDP had alleged a collusion between the All Progressives Congress, APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to inflate votes in certain areas of the state.
That puts INEC on the defensive, but it swiftly debunked the allegation, insisting that it will remain neutral in the exercise.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, press secretary to the INEC chairman , denied any such collusion adding that “The Commission also wishes to reiterate its determination to ensure that only the votes of the Osun state people, as would be freely expressed in Saturday’s governorship election, will determine who becomes the next governor of the state.”
Kola Ologbodiyan, national publicity secretary of PDP alleged that extra wards were created in places like Ila-Orangun and Iperin and fictitious voters’ names added to boost the votes of APC.
He warned that “The PDP will not accept any result that come from Iperin if INEC insist on allowing votes in the two Iperin wards.”
But INEC responded by stating that the people of Osun state (should) disregard what it described as “the baseless allegations and false alarm made and raised by the PDP.”
PDP candidate, Ademola Adeleke is one of the major contenders at the election. Other major contenders are Gboyega Oyetola of the APC, Moshood Adeoti of the ADP, Iyiola Omisore of the Social Democratic Party, SDP and Fatai Akinbade of the Action Democratic Congress, ADC. It promptly was to be a tough contest, where promises on development are raised just as issues of zoning and godfathers also issue forth as factors.
