Osun Election: Protesters Storm INEC Office

Protesters on Monday stormed the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, to protest against the rerun declared by the electoral body.

The protesters who were seen carrying various placards and chanting solidarity songs, demanded that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 22 gubernatorial election, Senator Ademola Adeleke, should be declared the winner.

Some of the protesters who spoke with journalists said the mandate of the PDP candidate was stolen and must be restored for peace to reign.

They added that a rerun is a total waste of time because the people of Osun had already spoken with their votes.

The chairman of the Osun state chapter of the Conference of Registered Political Parties (CPP), Adekunle Rufai Omoaje, called on INEC to have a rethink of the decision.

He said, “INEC has no right to declare the votes concluded by the electorates as inconclusive”.

“The young and old in Osun chose Ademola Adeleke as their governor-elect. We are calling on INEC to have a rethink and declare the people’s choice as the winner”.

He added that the history of the June 12, 1993 election would not be allowed to repeat itself in the state.

INEC had declared the election inconclusive because of the cancellation of results and snatching of ballot boxes at some polling units in Ife North, Ife south, Orolu and Osogbo local government areas.

According to the electoral body, the number of cancelled votes were higher than the margin between the two top candidates.

Read Also: INEC Declares Osun Governorship Election Inconclusive

Senator Adeleke led the race with 254,698 votes, 353 votes more than his closest rival, Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress.

The margin was, however, less than the 3,498 votes in the polling units where voting was cancelled.

Consequently, a rerun has been scheduled to hold on Thursday 27, September 2018.