OSUN GOV. POLL: APGA, AAC, ZLP ADOPT
SENATOR ADEMOLA ADELEKE, WARN INEC AGAINST DECLARING OSUN POLL INCONCLUSIVE
By: Wole Adedoyin
Three opposition political parties
on Friday agreed to adopt the governorship candidate of the PDP, Senator
Ademola Adeleke, as their consensus candidate for Saturday’s governorship
election.
The concerned political parties also
warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against declaring the
governorship election inconclusive saying INEC under the leadership of Mahmood
Yakubu must keep to its promise of a transparent process.
According to a release jointly
signed by them, the parties, Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), African Action Congress
(AAC) and All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) said the decision of their
governorship candidates to step down for Senator Ademola Adeleke showed that
the larger interest of the people of Osun state matters most to them.
Parts of the statement read, “We, the
three political parties urge our members all over Osun State and the good
people in the state in general to take their destiny in their hands by voting
for our adopted candidate, Senator Demola Adeleke for the position of governor
of Osun State. This is to ensure PDP’s victory and to enable us to usher in a
coalition government in Osun State, so that the state may be liberated from
poverty, unemployment and insecurity.”
“Governor Gboyega Oyetola is a
perfect example of arrogance in failure. His government is a certified failure
which has brought unprecedented hardship, chaos, escalated insecurity and
hopelessness in our state in the last three and half years.”
“We are worried that Osun State
under the political administration of Governor Gboyega Oyetola is presently
overwhelmed with rising negatives in the areas of unemployment, poverty,
insecurity and other developmental indices owing to the absence of political
will of the present administration to demonstrate quality leadership. We have
compared economic indices of Gboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress
(APC) administrations and concluded that the ruling party has brought Osun
State to endless tales of woes. Osun State has continued to deteriorate and the
citizens have become numb and accustomed to bad economic news. Governor Gboyega
Oyetola has failed in the areas of health, education, agriculture, rural
development, basic infrastructure, employment opportunities etc.”
“Senator Ademola Adeleke is our
consensus candidate and our hope. We won’t give up until we hear the final
whistle because we are aware that some persons from the ruling party, who know
that they are no longer enjoying the goodwill of Osun people, believe that they
can only achieve their aim through rigging. But the truth is that regardless of
whatever they want to do, we will confront them and we will deliver as Osun
people. We will stand firm and we know that by the grace of God almighty,
Senator Ademola Adeleke will emerge as Osun Governor. We are using this
opportunity to tell Osun Electorate that, in an election such as this, you must
be ready not just to vote, but to also defend your votes. We should defend our
votes up to the collation centres.”
“We also condemn the APC government
under the leadership of Governor Gboyega Oyetola for his refusal to approve the
use of Freedom Park and Osogbo City Stadium for the mega rally of the state
chapter of the People Democratic Party (PDP). The two properties belong to the
Osun people and not APC; the public properties are being funded with Osun
people’s money. It is, therefore, surprising that the people of Osun, who are
members of the opposition party, are being denied the use of the public
utilities.”
The statement further added that
other programmes highlighted by Senator Ademola Adeleke for the development of
Osun State, as contained in his campaign agenda, were in tandem with the core
values of the three political platforms.
The concerned political parties said
INEC must remain independent in discharging its constitutional mandate and
provide a level-playing ground for all political parties.
The parties finally alerted the
international community, security agencies, observers and other stakeholders on
the expediency for stringent adherence to democratic ethos in the conduct of
the election.
