Ayomide Awe
The All Progressives Congress campaign organisation in Osun State has rejected the outcome of the August 15 governorship election, saying it will not congratulate Governor Ademola Adeleke because it believes he did not secure the highest number of valid votes.
The Director-General of the APC Governorship Campaign Committee, Oluwole Oke, disclosed this on Monday while speaking on an Arise Television programme, Prime Time.
Oke said the party was conducting a comprehensive review of the election records and would announce its official position after examining the results and other documents relating to the poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Adeleke, the candidate of the Accord Party, winner of the election after he polled 511,067 votes.
His closest challenger, the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, scored 444,815 votes, while the African Democratic Congress candidate, Najeem Salaam, came a distant third with 17,180 votes.
Adeleke was declared winner after securing victory in 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji won in 11 LGAs.
However, Oke said the APC would not be pressured into accepting the declaration or congratulating Adeleke until it had completed its own assessment of the election.
He said, “We won’t be under any sort of pressure to easily reach out to congratulate Senator Ademola Adeleke because we believe he did not score the highest valid votes.”
According to him, the party is scrutinising the records from the election and would communicate its position to the public once the review is concluded.
“We’re studying the records. We’re inspecting the records. And very soon, we would make our position known to the members of the public,” Oke said.
The APC campaign DG also distinguished the party’s position from that of President Bola Tinubu, who had congratulated Adeleke following INEC’s declaration.
Oke said the President was entitled to congratulate the governor based on the official result announced by the electoral commission, but maintained that the APC in Osun had a responsibility to examine what happened at the polling units.
“Mr President, His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, is the father of the nation. And as a democrat, based on the announcement of INEC, he issued a statement credited to him. He’s a father, he’s a leader, but we’re on the spot.
“We’re on the ground and politics is local. And like I’ve told you, what we are doing, even for future records, is to conduct a total review of the entire process and then form an opinion,” he said.
The development signals a fresh dispute over the outcome of the keenly contested election, despite INEC’s declaration of Adeleke as winner.
The APC has yet to state specifically which results or aspects of the electoral process it is challenging, with Oke saying the party would make its findings public after completing its review.
Meanwhile, the election result announced by INEC remains that Adeleke won the poll with 511,067 votes, followed by Oyebamiji with 444,815 votes and Salaam with 17,180 votes.
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