Opposition parties reject Saturday’s election result in Oyo

Leading figures in four opposition parties in Oyo State has reviewed and compared notes on the outcome of Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections in the state and called for the cancellation of the results.

They said the elections were massively flawed and marred by orchestrated irregularities designed by the state office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The meeting, which was held at the Bodija residence of former governor Rashidi Ladoja, was attended by the Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Olajumoke Akinjide, Senator Teslim Folarin, Mr Seyi Makinde, Senator Ayoade Adeseun, Chief Sharafadeen Alli, Mrs Folake Olunloyo, and others.

Addressing reporters shortly after his guests left, Ladoja said Saturday’s elections were either programmed to favour the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or awarded unearned victory by INEC.

The Accord governorship candidate said the results of the elections belied the political realities in the state, a reason he said the APC candidates who were declared winners could not celebrate their ‘victory’ and the mood of the people of the state was foul.

He accused INEC of deliberately supplying inadequate materials to polling units and wards where the opposition parties were perceived strong and formidable alleging that result sheets were substituted in transit between the ward and the collation centres.

He remarked that they were to discover a lot of discrepancies in the results announced at the polling units and what was recorded at the collation centres, disclosing that Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, Accord’s candidate for Oyo South district election, was already compiling evidences to that effect.

Ladoja, who thanked the people of Oyo State, particularly those who voted for Accord, for participating in the election, stressed that he was still in the governorship race and vowed to unseat Governor Abiola Ajimobi on April 11.

“Saturday’s elections happened to be the worst conducted by any electoral organisation in the history of Oyo State. The problem started with the PVCs distribution. Most of the PVCs that were said not to be available were made available to the APC members overnight.

“Accreditation started late in many places and when INEC officials got to the polling units, one material or the other was declared missing. The ballot papers in many centres were less than the accredited voters.

“In Ido Local Government Area of the state, ballot papers did not get to many polling units until 7 p.m. After elections, result sheets were said to be unavailable in many polling centres, causing the officials to improvise with ordinary sheets of paper as Forms EC3A.

“Those who were able to conclude their election in the night said there was no provision for light at the collation centres. People were using torch from their cell phones to illuminate the centres. Thugs were deployed to chase away supporters and candidates of opposition parties,” he said.