INEC: Oyo Rep Poll Inconclusive

Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the rerun election held yesterday in Oyo State for the Irepo/Orelope/Olorunsogo Federal Constituency as inconclusive> It therefore declined declaring a winner.

According to the result announced by the returning officer, Professor Jelili Akinlade, Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) has 16,394 while Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has 14,523.

Professor Jelili said it became difficult to announce PDP as a winner as the 3,869 votes cancelled in some polling units would have influenced the result.

He said, “The rerun election into Irepo/Orelope/Olorunsogo Federal Constituency in Oyo State is hereby declared as inconclusive. The next line of action would be communicated very soon”.

PDP in a statement signed by Dotun Oyelade, the spokesperson to the former governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala advised INEC against reversing the will of the people by any attempt to either cancel or declare ACN as the winner of the election.

PDP said its candidate should be declared winner instead of calling the poll inconclusive because INEC is in possession of complete results from 210 of the 217 Units that make up the Federal Constituency while there were complaints in only seven Units.

According to the statement, “In Oorelope Local Government, there was disruption in only one unit out of 78 Units, there were complaints in 5 Units in Irepo out of 75, while Olorunsogo recorded only one complaints out of 64 units. There is no justification for withholding the declaration of the PDP candidate whom INEC admitted polled over 16,000 votes to defeat ACN with over 2000 votes superiority”.

The party said that apart from forwarding all details of the result to National and International Civil Rights Bodies, it will take all legitimate steps to ensure that all votes count urging INEC to declare the winner now while aggrieved party should seek redress at the Tribunal.

ACN on its part, debunked the allegation by the PDP that it colluded with INEC in the re-run election saying it was laughable that the party, whose leader, Alao-Akala, boasted while on campaign last week that he had all security and electoral agencies in his pockets, could now turn around and accuse the A C N of colluding with a federal agency.

The ACN made this known in a release signed by its Publicity Secretary, Dauda Kolawole who affirmed that the world knows that the state PDP had a pedigree of electoral robbery and as such, it was only logical that this wolf cry was an extension of the heist that it was known by.

“This allegation is laughable. Nigerians know that when the PDP begins to complain of electoral stealing in an election whose umpire is under its care, the party must have either stolen votes that went awry or it was on the verge of falsifying election results,” the ACN said.

In the election, police arrested over 100 suspected political thugs, alleging they violated electoral offences.

The police Commissioner in the state, Mr. Moses Onireti stated that the suspects would soon be charged to court as soon as investigations is concluded on various allegations made against them.
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