Saturday, November 30, 2013

OSUN RALLIES AGAINST ELECTORAL FRAUD IN ANAMBRA



Governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Thursday led thousands of supporters of All Progressives Congress on a protest march against the planned partial re-run of the bungled Anambra state governorship elections.

The protest march which took off from the popular Freedom Square in Osogbo where party faithfuls had converged saw the Governor being accompanied by the state's party chairman, Elder Adelowo Adebiyi, the state Deputy Governor, Mrs Grace Titi Laoye-Tomori, Alhaja Ayo Omidiran, all members of the state executive council trekked in protest against the election through Olaiya junction and down to the INEC office in Osogbo.

Speaking shortly after the trek at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Osogbo, , Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola said the efforts


of the APC as a party in ensuring that the people choose those who lead them on a free and fair basis have always been truncated and compromised stressing that the efforts have not yielded the desired results.

He said the aim of APC is to see that democracy has a root in the land, noting that there has been a lot of flawed electoral processes in the past but non can be compared to the recently conducted gubernatorial elections in Anambra state in terms of the level of compromise and depravity witnessed in the elections.

While stating that the election ,which was held on the 16th of November ,was seriously compromised, the governor said that it is highly disheartening to discover that people had registered to vote and validated their names on the voters register but could not find their names on the voters register on the day of elections.

He lamented a situation whereby the electoral body itself admitted that the entire process was flawed and unacceptable but the same body turned round to still accept as free and fair a terribly flawed and compromised elections.

While stressing that INEC is no longer Independent, the Governor pointed out that its as if the electoral body is working a script already prepared at the highest level of government .

Ogbeni Aregbesola said that by all parameters of evaluating an election the Anambra election is a complete failure.

The Governor stated further that APC is seriously committed to the entrenchment of democracy, good conduct, rule of law and transparency.

He then called for a total cancellation of the elections that took place and also demanded for a new and fresh elections that will be based on an authentic voters register .

He also called on INEC to purge itself of people who do not believe in the rights of man to freely choose who they want to govern them and cancel the elections in Anambra or else the National Assembly will be called upon to disband INEC .

Also in a statement signed by the Chairman of the All People's Congress in the state, Elder Lowo Adebiyi stated that evidences available to Nigerians and INEC itself shows clearly that the Anambra election held had been deliberately programmed to fail all tests of a free and fair elections and as such should be cancelled.

The statement stated further that the current INEC and its chairman has demonstrated gross incompetence and cannot be depended upon to conduct an acceptable and reliable election in Nigeria after it had significantly compromised the trust and confidence that the people had reposed in them.

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