Osun election: Saraki breaks silence on victory of APC’s Oyetola over PDP’s Adeleke

President of the Senate and Chairman of the PDP Presidential Council
on Osun State, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has reiterated that the
recently-conducted supplementary election in Osun State was a charade
and an embarrassment to Nigeria's democracy.

His position was contained in a statement by his Special Adviser on
Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu.
Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated
Senator Ademola Adeleke of the PDP with 482 votes in the rerun poll
conducted on Thursday.

Oyetola scored a total of 255,505 while Adeleke scored 255,023.

In his reaction to the final outcome of the governorship poll, Saraki
said: "Yesterday, we witnessed another display of the subversion of
the will of the Osun people during the re-run gubernatorial elections
in the State. The election was characterised by widespread voter
intimidation, violence and harassment. Accredited observers were
denied access to polling units and duly registered voters were
prevented from participating in the electoral process by thugs and
compromised security agents..

"Like I said a few days ago, this needless re-run election was only
designed as an avenue for the ruling party to perpetrate electoral
fraud. The nature of these elections is an embarrassment to our
democracy and casts an alarming pall on the institutions responsible
for protecting the will of the Nigerian people as stated through their
votes. That was why for more than ten hours the INEC could not collate
and announce results in just seven polling units with just over 2000
votes.

"It is surprising that the election in which on Saturday, the two
leading candidates were running neck to neck with the PDP candidate
having an edge, four days later, as a result of manipulations and
impossible conditions, the APC candidate is now being credited with
all the votes and some paltry number of votes were being recorded for
the PDP candidate.

"It is important for Nigerians and the international community to
insist that the hands of the clock should not be turned back in terms
of the achievements we recorded in the last general elections. We
should not make a mockery of democracy by conducting elections in the
manner that the Osun Polls were conducted. The Osun election is a
clear indication of how the 2019 election will be conducted. It
demonstrates that if we cannot conduct free, peaceful and fair
elections in seven polling units spread across four local government
areas of a state, then the conduct of the general elections in 774
local government areas across 36 states of the country is already
endangered.

"I therefore call on the government, INEC, security agencies and
development partners to ensure a radical change in the way and manner
the next set of elections will be conducted. Osun 2018 Polls is a very
low point in our electoral system.

"In the 2015 elections, Nigeria witnessed several gains in its
electoral process. The process was transparent and people's votes
counted. These gains made it possible for the then opposition party,
the All Progressives Congress (APC) to win at the centre and in many
states of the nation. That election highlighted a fine moment in
Nigeria's democracy."