The All Progressives Congress has demanded the cancellation of the just conducted local government election in Oyo State.
The party claimed that the election was a “sham”, warning that if allowed to proceed, it may damage the state’s reputation.
This was contained in a statement issued on Saturday in Ibadan by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare.
“Another opportunity to deepen democracy and return power to the people at the grassroots has had to be missed due to the insensitivity and insincerity on the part of the ruling class in the state.
“With what is happening at the moment in most Polling Units across the state, Gov. Seyi Makinde has again disappointed the whole world. He promised the people that their votes would count today but the opposite is the case. The good people of the state desired to participate in an election to elect a new set of council officials but what they are experiencing is nothing but a sham,” the statement reads in part.
The party alleged that the irregularities observed during the election undermined its fairness and credibility.
The statement continued, “Even if OYSIEC comes out later to declare all the candidates of the APC, we would not rate this election as credible and acceptable as it falls below the minimum global standard of election conduct.
“The best thing is for the Commission to suspend the exercise and choose another date for proper conduct rather than continue to connive with a few anti-democratic elements in the ruling PDP to perpetrate electoral fraud and desecration of democracy in the land.
“For the avoidance of doubt, OYSIEC started with back and forth position on the need to deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the conduct of the poll.
The party alleged that only 20 per cent of the electorates were allowed to exercise their franchise, noting that any victory resulting from such a process is considered illegitimate.
“OYSIEC has failed to accommodate more than 80 per cent of the eligible voters in the state today and there is no way the meagre 20 per cent of people who were lucky to cast their votes in a lawful manner can decide the fate of the vast majority.
“Obviously, the Commission allowed a few people to cast their votes at the polling units while the balance of majority rights to vote was secretly handed down to the PDP. Any electoral victory given behind closed doors is illegitimate, tainted and unacceptable. Therefore, we call for the total cancellation of the whole exercise as it was done today,” APC alleged.
Earlier, state governor, Seyi Makinde, called on residents of the state to come out en-masse to perform their civic responsibility in the ongoing Local Government election.
However, our correspondent, who monitored the election, observed that eligible voters refused to come out to participate in the ongoing election.
