The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun, Ismail Omipidan, has described the claim by YIAGA Africa that he ‘twisted’ facts as untrue and misleading, saying all he did was to analyse the outcome of the July 16 election as presented by the group on Thursday, September 9, 2022.
He also urged the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) not to allow itself to be misled by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun, “whose stock in trade are lies and propaganda”.
Omipidan was reacting to the rejoinder by YIAGA Africa where the group accused the governor’s spokesman of ‘twisting’ facts.
Omipidan wondered which report YIAGA read to have drawn the kind of conclusion it drew on his person and personality, arguing that what he did in his article was simply to place the report of YIAGA side-by-side Oyetola’s petition before the Tribunal, subject both to critical analysis and make his deductions therefrom.
He asked, “Did YIAGA report not state that ‘an analysis of the number of registered voters and the PVC collected by polling units revealed some inconsistencies in the data’?
Did YIAGA not assert that “findings from the analysis on the Osun PVC collection data revealed that the total number of PVCs collected for 30 polling units was greater than the total number of registered voters in those polling units’?
“Did it not state that these inconsistencies were recorded in 12 LGAs?
“Did YIAGA report not state that ‘based on results entered on the ERAD database, there was a variation in the total number of rejected ballots, and the figures announced by INEC at the final collation?
“Did it not say that ‘For instance in Osun, the total rejected ballots as compiled from the polling units by the ERAD is 21,886, while the total number of rejected ballots as announced at the INEC’s state collation in Osun state is 18,674’?
“Did YIAGA not state that ‘based on ERAD findings, INEC presiding officers uploaded forms or documents other than Form EC8A as prescribed in the guidelines and manual for the election’?
“Did YIAGA not assert that ‘From the result sheets downloaded on the IReV, important delimitation data such as number of registered voters and accredited voters for polling units was either omitted or wrongly inputted on the Form EC8A’?
“Or did YIAGA not state categorically that ‘contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC guidelines and regulations, some polling unit level results (Form EC8A) uploaded on the IReV were not stamped or signed by the presiding officer’?
“So, which fact did I twist?”
Omipidan noted that “in the piece under reference, after reproducing some of the findings of YIAGA, as reproduced above, I went further to say that we discovered in 749 polling units that the accreditation through BVAS was less than the number of votes cast in those units, and that by implication, there were more voters than accredited by the BVAS. And I gave a few examples to buttress my argument. For instance, I said in Ede-North ward 5, Alusekere Unit 004, Owode Primary School, where the governor-elect comes from, the total votes cast for that unit was 1,267 but BVAS recorded only 858 as accredited voters.
“Based on my analysis, I reinstated my earlier assertion that my Principal, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, only lost the vote count and not the election. So, show me the facts I have twisted here? I want to appeal to the respected CSO and its leadership not to allow the Osun PDP , whose stock in trade are lies and propaganda to mislead them,” Omipidan added.