… may call up CUPP alliance
- We’ve no confidence in INEC – Parties
- We won’t compromise our integrity – Electoral commission
There are strong indications that opposition parties are perfecting a grand masterplan to wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress in Osun State, ahead of this Saturday’s governorship election.
The Point’s investigations reveal that the opposition parties have been meeting, on a regular basis, as a result of pleas by Osun indigenes for them to come together and not split the required votes necessary to unseat the APC.
Our correspondent gathered that the Coalition of Political Parties might call up its first alliance election in Osun, particularly as the PDP candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, is still enmeshed in certificate controversy.
According to findings, the latest collaboration plan has the full support of most traditional rulers in the state.
We do not want what happened in Oyo State, where the aggregate votes of the other candidates in the last election were significantly higher than Governor Ajimobi’s votes. If the opposition parties had come together, Ajimobi will not be governor today
A chieftain of one of the parties in the alliance, Action Democratic Party, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “We have been holding meetings in the interest of our dear state and democracy. How can a government be so insensitive to people’s plight, and expect to just come a few days to election and attempt to buy them over with salaries they have not paid for so long?
The parties in opposition that are in this contest have very credible candidates, who have records of integrity and sound knowledge to drive the afairs of this state. We have been meeting with the African Democratic Congress and others in the coalition to ensure we don’t split votes. And by the grace of God, our efforts are yielding good results.”
Another leader of the ADC, who also spoke in confidence to our correspondent, said instead of the various parties recording separate votes and giving the APC the chance to win undeservedly, the party was ready to work with other parties to choose the best candidate that the coalition would support, adding, however, that the odds seemed to be in favour of ADC’s candidate, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade.
“We do not want what happened in Oyo State, where the aggregate votes of the other candidates in the last election were significantly higher than Governor Ajimobi’s votes. If the opposition parties had come together, Ajimobi will not be governor today,” he noted.
Our correspondent, however, gathered that traditional rulers had agreed to mobilise support for the consensus candidate of the Alliance, especially as there were fears that Adeleke might eventually fail at the court.
I don’t believe those who are in INEC are not agents of the government. There are a number of ways in which this government has made this INEC its agent. And this has undermined the credibility of INEC
Why PDP may have no choice
Investigations conducted by The Point revealed that there is apparent tension presently within the PDP, following the order of an Abuja High Court sitting at Bwari, demanding that the West African Examination Council should produce before the court, the result it recorded for Adeleke in the May/June 1981 examination he claimed he wrote.
The court, in a ruling that was delivered by Justice Othman Musa, had directed that WAEC should depose an affidavit, to either deny or confirm that Adeleke, who is currently representing Osun West Senatorial District, sat for the examination the Council conducted at Ede Muslim High School in Ede, Osun State, in 1981.
It also said the examination body should file the ledger containing results of Adeleke and his mates with whom he sat for the examinations, as well as the verifying affidavit, within five days of being served with the enrolled order, dated September 11.
The orders followed an ex-parte motion that was filed by two plaintiffs, Mr. Wahab Raheem and Mr. Adam Habeeb.
The plaintiffs had, through their lawyer, Mr. B.J. Komolafe, filed a suit to challenge Adeleke’s eligibility to contest the Osun State goverorship election billed for September 22.
Joined as 2nd and 3rd Defendants in the suit marked FCT/HC/BW/CV/122/2018, were the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Justice Musa adjourned the case till Wednesday, September 19, for hearing, even as he ordered the embattled lawmaker to appear before him and show cause why the court should not disqualify him from contesting the Osun State Governorship Election.
It was gathered that Adeleke’s efforts to access his WAEC certificate from the examination council had been futile.
Political analysts have, however, predicted that failure of WAEC to furnish the court with the lawmaker’s certificate may result to disqualification of Adeleke from the governorship race.
The court, according to them, may therefore grant the restraining injunction against the PDP candidate if WAEC fails to produce his certificate as ordered.
To this end, impeccable sources within the party told our correspondent that the PDP might buy into the invocation of the CUPP MoU at the state level to defeat the ruling APC.
A political analyst, who asked not to be named because of his affiliation with the PDP, said, “PDP’s candidate may find it hard presenting any WAEC certificate to the court. If you recall, there was a report that WAEC management could not trace his certificate. So, Senator Adeleke might be knocked out of the race and this might result in alliance with other opposition political parties. You know the Federal Government is interested in winning this election in Osun and if Kemi Adeosun could resign for alleged forged NYSC certificate, then this same Federal Government would ensure the court gets Adeleke’s WAEC certificate before allowing him to participate in the election.
“The party may have no option than to go with the coalition. Another option the party has is to go to the election despite being eventually disqualified. This is possible with the Amended Electoral Act. In this case, if the PDP wins, Adeleke’s deputy would become the governor.”
Reacting, Adeleke’s lawyer, Taofeek Olayiwola, said in a statement that the PDP was not jittery about the court matter, insisting that Adeleke would not be disqualified.
He said, “We have copies of the court processes filed by the plaintiffs who are members of the All Progressives Congress, the reliefs they sought and certified true copy of the orders issued by the presiding judge.
“While the plaintiffs sought many bogus orders, the judge only granted that the case be served on the respondents through substituted means, that the management of WAEC produced the list of students who sat for WAEC with the candidate and that hearing be resumed on Wednesday September 19th.”
Olayiwola added, “Nowhere in the certified true copy of the order was the candidate restrained from parading himself as gubernatorial flag bearer and no where was INEC and the PDP barred from treating Senator Adeleke as the candidate of the PDP for the September 22 polls. We affirm that Senator Adeleke remains the bonfide candidate of the PDP for the governorship election.
“We therefore urge members of the public to disregard rumours and fake news. No court has stopped Senator Adeleke as a candidate. Before the law and subsisting judgements, he is qualified and eligible to run for governorship of Osun State.”
Meanwhile, opposition parties in the country have warned the Independent National Electoral Commission not to set the country on fire, saying they had lost every confidence in the election’s umpire.
National Vice chairman, Social Democratic Party, Junaid Mohammed, said, “INEC is a governmental organisation; the credibility of INEC is essentially at the flex credibility of the government. I don’t believe those who are in INEC are not agents of the government. There are a number of ways in which this government has made this INEC its agent. And this has undermined the credibility of INEC.
“No matter how credible you are, if the government of the day does not believe in credible election, that means you cannot do it. I don’t believe Buhari’s government will allow INEC to perform its role well. If you look at elections that were done in the past in states like Ekiti, Bauchi and others, you will know the worth of the INEC. What of the senatorial election in Kogi, Bauchi and Katsina that showed this INEC as a government agent?”
For Tanko Yunusa, the National Chairman of the National Conscience Party, INEC may be facing some genuine challenges.
He said, “INEC can conduct election but I think they have a few challenges due to human and capital resources. This is a big problem, considering the fact that some of the political parties are asking for direct and indirect primaries.
“This is going to weigh heavily on the resources of INEC and is going to create a lot of problems, and then it may interest you to know that some of the staff of INEC too are certainly complaining about their welfare; that they have been working and very little is coming to them in terms of welfare, and that is a huge challenge too.”
“But with regard to the issue of vote buying and others, I can tell you that they can’t in this election,” he added.
INEC has performed creditably – Spokesman
But Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, said individuals had the right to express their different opinions.
Oyekanmi told The Point that “the commission has done credibly well since we came on board.”
“We have conducted 190 elections, six governorship elections, and none of them has been overturned. Nigerians know that we have done so well and we are up to the task in 2019. The commission has done well to ensure that stakeholders are carried along in our programmes. Moreover, we understand that we are committed to Nigerians, and we will not in anyway compromise our integrity in 2019,” Oyekanmi
said.
