APC Opposes Tinubu, INEC, Rejects Adeleke’s Victory In Osun Governorship Election
The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship campaign team in Osun State has parted ways with the congratulatory message by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Governor Ademola Adeleke as winner in the Saturday August 15 governorship election, insisting that the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC ought not to have ruled in favour of the Accord Party candidate.
The Director-General of the APC governorship campaign, Oluwole Oke, made their stand known in an interview with Arise TV News on Monday.
INEC had declared Adeleke, the Accord candidate, winner of the election after he polled 511,067 votes to defeat the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, who secured 444,815 votes.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, finished a distant third with 17,180 votes.
Oke said the party disagreed with INEC’s pro-Adeleke declaration and was reviewing election materials that might provide arsenal for a legal battle.
He offered: “We do not agree with the declaration of INEC. That’s our position for now. We believe Adeleke did not score the highest valid votes.
“And like I’ve told you that what we are doing, even for future, for records, is to conduct a thorough review of the entire process and then form our opinion.
“We won’t be under any sort of pressure to easily reach out to congratulate Senator Ademola Adeleke.”
The election result showed Adeleke winning in 19 local government areas, while Oyebamiji secured victory in 11 councils, with a margin of 66,252 votes.
The Nigerian President, whose party APC lost to the Accord Party that fielded Adeleke, congratulated the incumbent Governor even before INEC’s public declaration of the result.
However, Oke said the position of the APC campaign team remained different as they had already begun an audit of the poll and directed their agents across the state to submit relevant election documents for scrutiny.
“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,” Oke said.
The APC campaign chief said the review would cover both the conduct of the election and issues arising before the poll, including compliance with the Electoral Act and other applicable laws.
According to the APC, the electoral process extended beyond the announcement of results and might continue through the election tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court where necessary.
