The Osun State Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Mr Bashir Ajibola, has accused the presidency of trying to skew the result of the August 9 Osun election against the will of the people of the state.

Mr Ajibola also added that the presidency was working alongside the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to try and “create a situation of fait accompli on the electorates”, maintaining that the presidency never wanted the votes of the people of the State of Osun to count” during the election.

“For the past ten days, the State of Osun has been under siege; they first came in with 40 trucks into the town with masked men shooting all over the place” adding that “they changed the security apparatus of the state without telling the state governor.

“A night before the election, hoodlums were acting as security operatives, were invading rack centres were election materials were kept” noting that it happened in Osogbo and Oke Okola area”.

He also noted that members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were harassed, victimised and intimidated by the security operatives.

“Two hundred of our party members were arrested for no reason. The Attorney General of our state was arrested; the Commissioner for Agric was arrested and were released mid way through the election” he said while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today in Osogbo, Osun state capital.

Despite his party candidate clinching the governorship election in the August 9 Osun election, he said the party is basking in that euphoria in a sweet and sour mode. He insisted that the presidency was aware of the arrests and maintained that they were not going to keep quiet because they won the election.

“We are happy but we are also aggrieved as to the circumstances under which the election was conducted”, he said adding that “we are happy because the people of the State of Osun stood by their mandate and ensured that their votes counted.

Mr Rauf Aregbesola was declared winner of the election after he polled 394,684 votes to defeat his opponents.

Iyiola Omisore of the People’s Democratic Party polled 292,747 to emerge second, while Fatai Akingbade of the Labour Party polled 8,898 votes to take the third place.

The incumbent Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, on Saturday expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the Osun election, adding that the large turnout and the peaceful manner in which the electorates conducted themselves should be commended.