By Adeyinka Adeniran
As voters in Oyo state warm up to exercise their franchise in the local government council election slated for this Saturday, the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised the alarm over an alleged fresh plot by the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to compromise the electoral process and manipulate results in favour of its candidates as against the expectations of the whole world.
The Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) had indicated its readiness to conclude all arrangement for the emergence (through the ballots) of new set of elected officials into the 33 local government councils with the conduct of election for the candidates of all registered political parties on Saturday and all hands appear to be on deck for the exercise.
But in a statement issued on Monday and by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC berated the ruling PDP and some individual with vested interest “over their refusal to learn democratic culture and decency as they live in the past where force, intimidation and fraudulent practices determined winners of elections.
“Political watchers and patriots in the society are worried about the shameless conduct of most PDP elements in the state who move around to boast about the plans of their leaders and powers-that-be in the state to write results rather than allow votes to count in this Saturday council election.
“This set of anti-democratic elements tell whoever that cared to listen they owned OYSIEC and that nobody including security agents, journalists and accredited observers can stop them from declaring the PDP candidates as the winners in any of the Wards and local government council.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we have uncovered some fresh plots by a cartel of desperados in the Agodi Government House to rig the poll in favor of the PDP. This, according to an impeccable source, would afford Gov. Seyi Makinde the opportunity of sustaining his hold on the PDP ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“One of the plots is to influence most of the electoral officers in all the 33 LGAs to work with voter registers which have been doctored in such a way that most voters perceived to be either independent minded or APC supporters would not find their names on Saturday and thereby disenfranchised.
“Also, we have it on good authority that some characters recruited from the Park Management System (PMS) are to be deployed to each Polling Unit where they would aid vote buying and intimidate voters and agents of the opposition parties at the same time.
“Moreover, many PDP members have been forced on OYSIEC as Ward Collation Officers and the task given them is to frustrate seamless collation of results in most of the 351 Wards with a view to paving the way for the submission of fake results already prepared in favour of the ruling party candidates.
“As it stands now, all eyes are on our dear state and Gov. Makinde cannot afford to renege on his promise to deliver free, fair and credible poll this time round. Another fact to consider is that any attempt to prevent the good people of the state to vote their conscience and rescue the third tier of government from total collapse this Saturday would not augur well for democracy in the country.
“Therefore, we appeal to all stakeholders particularly OYSIEC and security agents to be alive to their responsibility before, during and after the Saturday poll since it means so much to the entire citizenry”, the APC stated.
