Omisore blames INEC for defeat, heads for tribunal

Omisore blames INEC for defeat, heads for tribunal

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has said that his loss at the Saturday election is due to the malpractices perpetrated by a former Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state.

Omisore, who said this in a statement on Monday, claimed that although the REC was replaced shortly before the election, he had done enough damage to ensure victory for Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress.

He expressed gratitude to the people of the state who supported him and who showed him love before, during and after the election.

Aregbesola was declared the winner of the poll with a total votes of 394, 684 while Omisore came second with 292,747 votes.

The PDP candidate in a statement he entitled “We lost a battle…but the war for the soul of Osun is still on,” said he was aware of the odds against him even before he joined the Osun State governorship election race.

He said, “It was not a race we came into unmindful of some of the odds stacked against us. For instance, we had a situation where a clearly partisan Resident Electoral Commissioner had opened the entire electoral system to our opponent from registration stage through data storage to personnel loading.

“Though the leadership of INEC eventually took him out of the state weeks to the elections, he already did a lot of harm in the system that would take years to rectify.

“In spite of this and the fact that all democratic structures in the state are in the hands of our opponent, our supporters despite harassment from my opponent, still fought gallantly in every polling unit in the state to achieve the result we posted in this election.”

He said he saw a people who were traumatised and brutalised psychologically by the current administration but added that he would continue to be at the forefront to fight to ensure that the people of the state had the dividends of democracy.

Omisore said, “Let it be known that our people would no longer be taken for granted as we have opened the floodgate of democratic challenge which no force on earth can stop.

“I shall be at the forefront as our people keep to press for the real dividends of democracy and the expansion of the democratic space in our dear state.

“In the meantime, the party situation office is presently analysing the results of the elections against field reports and we shall be making public our findings and take appropriate steps accordingly. I, however, appeal to all our supporters to remain calm, law-abiding and peace-loving.”

Meanwhile, the Osun State chapter of the PDP has said the party will take its complaints to the election petition tribunal.

This was part of the resolution reached after an “extraordinary” meeting of the party in Osogbo, on Monday.

A leader of the party, Chief Ojo Williams, moved a motion that the Osun governorship election was marred with fraud and irregularities and that the Osun PDP should reject it in totality. The motion was seconded by Alhaji Halidu Tiamiyu.

The communique which was signed by the PDP chairman in the state, Mr. Gani Olaoluwa, described the election as “robbery of the electorate.”

The communique said the PDP would contest the result until the peoples’ mandate was restored.