The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, has denied allegations of planning to rig the 2026 governorship election in Osun State using the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In a statement yesterday, signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Dr Bolaji Akinola, Oyetola stated that he believes in democracy and the rule of law.
According to him, the allegations being peddled against him by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state are nothing but false, malicious, and part of a desperate smear campaign by the ruling party, which he said would face a defeat in the 2026 Osun State governorship election. He further said he had no control over the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Police, or the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
Oyetola, therefore, challenged the PDP to produce verifiable evidence to support its claims, saying that without it, the allegation should be treated as the dying gasp of a political party on the verge of another resounding electoral defeat.
Meanwhile, the INEC has said that the Biometric Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machine is still a vital tool for voters’ accreditation during elections.
This is as the Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Mutiu Agboke, stated that 360,794 Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) are yet to be collected in the state.
Agboke, while speaking with newsmen yesterday, in Osogbo, Osun State capital, said: “The Supreme Court in its judgment did not overrule the application of the usage of BVAS, it only emphasised the fundamentals of the voters’ register to anything that INEC wants to do. The commission has the power to deploy technology to deepen the process. Therefore, we can come up in 2027 with any kind of technology because we have the basis for it, which is the law.”
The Osun REC stressed the importance of the media in educating people about not just registering but also collecting the PVCs.
(Guardian)