Sunday, May 13, 2018 9:03 pm
Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan
Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission, OYSEIC, on Sunday May 13 2018 declared All Progressive Congress, APC, winner of the state’s local government held on Saturday May 12 2018.
Although, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, did not participate in the election, other political parties that participated in the election did not win a seat in the election conducted into the 33 Local Governments, LGs, and 35 Local Council Development Areas, LCD, totalling 68 council areas in the state.
At the OYSIEC office in Ibadan, each returning officer in all the council areas publicly declared all the APC candidates for the chairmanship and councillorship positions winners.
All the returning officers while declaring the result recited, “…All councillorships positions won by the APC has been declared at the ward level. For the chairmanship position, here is the result…Therefore the candidate for APC is hereby declared as the chairman….”
Reacting, the chairman-elect in Oluyole Local Government, Prince Alesinloye Abass who described the election credible said that he was so happy that he won the election and thanked his people for voting for him.
Promising to partner with the people of his council area he said, “I will do my best to serve them. I will partner with the people and I will not just come to them with what I think they need. I will do what they want, not what I think they want. Let me also use this opportunity to commend the security officers and the media personnel; they really worked for the success of this election. I am not surprised that I won. I worked for it and I campaigned everywhere. I thank the governor for organising a transparent election”.
Commenting on the election, the PDP Chairman of the State, Alhaji Kunmi Mustapha, has lauded PDP members for boycotting what he called a shambolic local government elections.
According to a release signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Akeem Olatunji, Mustapha noted that participating in the local government election would have been “a tacit endorsement of an illegality as the election failed integrity test right from the inception of the electoral process.”
He said, “We in PDP give kudos to the people of the state for the general apathy witnessed during the kangaroo election in line with our party’s directive to the electorate and our members to shun the election. We equally sympathise with the family of a teenager who died at a polling unit in Ekotedo area due to a stray bullet from rampaging APC thugs and call for a full-scale investigation into the incident to ensure justice for the bereaved family. As against the law setting up the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commissions, OYSIEC, members of the electoral body are card-carrying members of APC. This is enough reason to suggest that APC is a judge in its own case. Results from across all the polling booths in the state followed the same ridiculous pattern are a clear indication that APC has been totally rejected in the state. The local government poll served as part of rehearsal for the burial rites for APC ahead of 2019 general election when the electorate will have opportunity of voting PDP candidates and renew their avowed commitments to PDP. It is instructive to note that only 11 people voted in a polling booth near Senator Rashidi Ladoja’s home in Bodija out of 1,116 registered voters. Same shameful scenario occurred at many polling units across the state”.
He added that he could not fathom why the OYSIEC decided to usurp the constitutional role of boundaries and adjustments commission which is the only body empowered to delineate wards and local council development authorities adding that PDP as a law-abiding party would never be a party to circumvention of the constitution which is superior to any other law in the land.
In the same vein, a splinter group in APC named the “Unity Forum” described the “abysmally low turnout” of the electorate at the council poll Saturday’s LG election as a wake-up call on the leadership of the party to intervene in the crisis rocking the state chapter of the party and reposition it for good outing in the 2019 general elections.
The Forum in a release by its Secretary, Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun, stated that the poll was a referendum on the party and the low turnout was an indication that the party needs to be re-invigorated to stand a fair chance in next year’s elections.
He said the poor turn- out is also a confirmation that the Unity Forum is the mainstay of the APC which has the capacity to mobilise members of the public to participate in elections and vote for the party.
According to the release, “We have said it for the umpteenth time that the members of the Unity Forum constitute more than 70 per cent of the membership of the APC with a history of party loyalty, discipline and proven capacity to deliver the votes. It was to the members of the group that the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu turned in 2015 to secure needed votes for the second term bid of Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
“The consent of the elders who today constitute the pillar of the Unity Forum provided the leadership for the party’s success at that poll. So is the contribution of local government chairmen who toiled day and night to ensure the victory of the party. It is gratifying that 28 of the 33 council chairmen who ensured the governor’s second term victory are members of the Unity Forum.
“We therefore call on the leadership of the APC to rescue the party from the hands of undertakers whose performance in the local government election has confirmed will bury the party in Oyo State if left unchecked.
“As a group, we remain committed to the ideals of progressive politics and the second term bid of President Muhammadu Buhari. We will mobilise the necessary votes for his victory, as against the experience today where the good people of Oyo State turned their nose at the party”.
Full list of new chairmen and their vices in Oyo State
Join The Conversation