Encomium
The Allied People’s Movement (APM), has formally rejected the collation process of last Saturday’s Governorship and House of Assembly electiions in Ogun State.Director General of the APM Campaign Organisation, Chief Sarafa Tunji-Isola, said that the process was compromised, because it did not reflect the wishes of the people of Ogun State as freely expressed in the polls.”The APM wishes to put INEC on notice that we shall explore every means within the provisions of the constitution and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to challenge this miscarriage of justice. We shall also ensure that the wishes of the people of Ogun State, as freely expressed at the polls are protected”, he said at a press conference at the APM secretariat in Leme, Abeokuta yesterday.At the conference, attended by the party’s Governorship candidate, Hon. Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade, his running mate, Mrs. Adepeju Adebajo, party leaders and supporters, Tunji-Isola said “the exercise, which started on a peaceful note, was disrupted as the counting of votes were being completed by hoodlums and unidentified uniformed men, who hijacked the process and went ahead to collate falsified results sheets in many Local Council Areas, including Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North, Odeda, Ifo, Obafemi/Owode and particularly all the Local Government Areas in all parts of the Ogun East Senatorial District. “In Local Government Areas like Sagamu, Odogbolu and Ogun Waterside, that were won by the APM, the results were changed to deny our party its well-deserved victory. In other Local Governments won by the APC, the figures were altered to increase the margin between the APC and the APM. The disruptions were clearly designed to ensure that the APM does not meet the required constitutional requirement of 25 percent of votes in the council areas of Ogun East Senatorial District and to suppress the electoral strength of the APM in Ogun Central Senatorial District, where the party clearly enjoys superior strength.”In the night, some armed men, purportedly working for a top Federal Government official from Ogun State, went round many of the Local Government Areas, hijacked result sheets and forced party agents to sign already-filled result sheets under duress”, he added.According to the APM chieftain, These infractions are against the provisions of the constitution of Nigeria and the electoral act, adding that the APM made a formal protest to the Resident Electoral Commission of INEC in Ogun State, as reports from its agents across the state revealed these atrocities. “We requested that INEC should investigate these infractions and suspend the announcement of the purported results of the elections, pending the completion of such investigation. We were surprised that the INEC went ahead this morning to announce the disputed results from many of the Local Government Areas”, he concluded.Akinlade corroborated Tunji-Isola’s claims, saying “people of Ogun State have been raped.”
