The Director-general of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Governorship Campaign in Osun State, Oluwole Oke, has said the party disagrees with the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) declaration of Senator Ademola Adeleke as the winner of the Osun State election, insisting that the APC believes he did not secure the highest number of valid votes.

Oke said the party had commenced an audit of the election process, directing its agents to submit copies of Forms EC8A, EC8B and EC8C for a thorough review and inspection of the electoral records, after which the party would form its position and make its findings known to the public.

“We do not agree with the declaration of INEC. That’s our position for now. We believe he did not score the highest valid votes.

“When you have a project of this nature with the outcome announced by INEC, we will not be in a haste, nor shall we be under pressure without doing the needful. The needful that we need to do is to evaluate the process, get all the records, review the process, and then form an opinion. We have embarked on an audit process. We have asked all our party agents to submit copies of Forms EC8A, B, and C to our secretariat for review. We need to inspect the materials,” he said.

He further said there were several issues requiring determination, including pre-election matters, adding that the party would examine the election against the provisions of the Electoral Act and other relevant laws before taking a position.

“There are a lot of issues before us. There are a lot of issues for determination, even on a pre-election basis. Even for the election itself, I’ve just told you that even if it’s just for the records and the future, we are determined to look at all the records, look at the processes put in place by the Electoral Act and relevant statutes. Until we do that and form our opinion, we won’t be able to go further to say anything on this.”

Dismissing internal divisions as a unique problem for the APC, Oke said disagreements were common in political parties and were often resolved before elections, citing similar divisions within the Accord Party.

“If you are talking about internal divisions, even the Accord Party itself is divided. The chairman of the Accord Party endorsed our candidate openly in public. Within a political party, disputes and misunderstandings are bound, but the fact remains that the party comes together at the polls to ensure victory. It’s not new in a political party to have divisions. Clearly, even the Accord Party themselves went to court over who is the rightful candidate of the party at the poll,” he cited.

On the EFCC’s freezing of the Osun government’s accounts shortly before the election, Oke said the agency was performing its lawful duty and commended President Tinubu for directing the accounts to be unfrozen, while stressing that the matter was not relevant to the election dispute.

“When you have a constitutional body, a lawful agency of government like the EFCC performing their lawful duty, I don’t see anything wrong in that. I’m not the EFCC. The EFCC must have their reasons for freezing the accounts of the Osun State government. I want to commend Mr. President for directing the agency to lift their decision. It doesn’t mean that they will not go ahead with their investigation. I don’t want to comment about that because I don’t have the facts of the matter, but it is not relevant in this current case,” he underscored.

Oke dismissed the suggestion that the APC’s status as the ruling party at the federal level amounted to an advantage, insisting that “politics is local” and that the presence of APC governors and other party leaders in Osun was merely an expression of solidarity.

“When people allude to the fact that our party is the ruling party and talk about federal might, it doesn’t work like that. Politics is local. I don’t agree with that, because you don’t expect governors of other states who are members of APC not to come and show solidarity with their fellow colleagues in Osun State. It’s not a new thing,” he insisted.

Speaking on the changing Nigerian voter, Oke said the election highlighted growing awareness among citizens of their civic responsibilities and their expectation that government should provide welfare, security, education and healthcare.

“The takeaway from this exercise is the level of turnout. This election shows that Nigerian voters are more aware and conscious of their civic duty that they need to perform. They are now aware that the government owes them a duty of care. This is captured in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria—that it is the duty of government to look after the citizens, their welfare, and their security,” he said.

He further questioned the performance of the Osun State Government under Senator Ademola Adeleke, particularly in education, healthcare and support for the state’s largely agrarian population.

“When you look at the situation in Osun State, which is one of the reasons we are conducting a thorough review of the records of this election: has the government of Osun State really been taking care of the people in education and healthcare provision? Osun people are largely agricultural farmers; what support has the government given to the farmers? When you look at this in totality, you can see the failures of government glaring in the citizens’ faces.

“So you will be wondering: are these citizens begging to be slaves under the leadership of Ademola Adeleke? The answer is no. I apply that you please give us some time. Let us do what we want to do and what we ought to do, and we will come back to speak to the members of the public,” he said. (AriseNews TV, but headline rejigged)

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