Reactions have continued to trail the results of the just concluded governorship election exercise in Osun state which was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday.
The Latest reaction has come from the All Progressives Congress (APC) who taunted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for allocating victory to its candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke saying the call by the PDP for INEC to declare Adeleke as the winner of the Osun election is baseless.
Hours after the election, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, had called on INEC to declare the party’s candidate, Sen. Ademola Adeleke, as winner of the election.
However, Mr. Yekini Nabena, the APC National Publicity Secretary said the APC rejected the PDP demand.
“We hereby reject the PDP’s baseless calls that the inconclusive Osun governorship election is announced in its favour,” he said.
The APC spokesperson however called on Osun electorate, party supporters and members to remain upbeat and focused on the task of consolidating on the APC change administration in the state in the lead up to the re-run election slated for September 27.
He said, they should do this by voting for the victory of Gboyega Oyetola, the APC governorship candidate.
The APC further applauded the Osun electorate, the INEC, security agencies and relevant stakeholders over the conduct of the election, noting that the election was largely peaceful irrespective of some reported irregularities.
The APC spokesman said the party would continue to improve on its electoral processes, particularly correcting some irregularities witnessed in the election.
Related: Read Saraki’s reaction to Osun Election
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for continuously exhibiting its commitment to ensure that elections were more peaceful, transparent, credible and acceptable.
This, he added, was a departure from the situation under past PDP administrations where the people’s will was subverted and elections were often manipulated.
PDP had at a news conference in Abuja on Sunday, rejected the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission that the governorship election was inconclusive.
Prof. Joseph Fuwape, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) and the Returning Officer for the Sept. 22 election made the declaration in Osogbo, the Osun state capital; on Sunday.
Fuwape, while announcing the results of the election, said that Sen. Ademola Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 254,698 votes and Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), scored 254, 345 votes.
He said the election was declared inconclusive because of cases of ballot boxes snatching that occurred in several polling units during the election.
These affected polling units include Ife North, (one polling unit), Ife south, (two polling units), Orolu,( three polling units) and Osogbo, one polling unit.