‘People Voted With Business Cards’ – PDP, LP, NNPP Reject Ogun LG Polls As APC Wins All Seats

The opposition political parties have rejected the outcome of the Saturday’s disputed LG elections in Ogun over allegations that people were allowed to vote with business cards and not with voter cards.

They equally said thugs from the ruling party had a field day as they attacked voters and disrupted the process to prevent voters from casting their votes for the opposition parties.

In the election the Electoral Commission, acknowledged opposition parties alleged clear cases of manipulation, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) won all available seats.

INEC Chairman in the state, Babatunde Osibodu, declared the APC the winner in the early hours of Sunday.

Osibodu said the “APC won all 20 local government seats and 236 councillor seats in the state.”

He announced this at the electoral body’s headquarters in Oke-Ilewo, Abeokuta, the state capital, while presenting the official results in a live broadcast.

Osibodu said, “A total of 613,156 votes were cast in the chairmanship elections across the 20 local government areas.

“The elections saw participation from 19 political parties, including the Accord Party, African Action Congress, African Democratic Congress, Action Democratic Party, All Progressives Congress, Allied People’s Movement, All Progressives Grand Alliance, and Labour Party.

“Other parties included the Peoples Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, Young Progressive Party, Action People’s Party, Action Alliance, Boot Party, People’s Redemption Party, National Rescue Movement, and the Zenith Labour Party.”

However, several opposition parties have rejected the results and the conduct of the election.

The NNPP Chairman in the state, Femi Aina, questioned the integrity of the election, calling for the state House of Assembly to summon the OGSIEC to account for what he termed a “chaotic” election.

Aina said, “OGSIEC has questions to answer, and the state House of Assembly must summon all OGSIEC officials to explain why the election was conducted in such a chaotic manner.

“Why were people allowed to vote with business cards? What about the inadequate ballot papers and late arrivals of OGSIEC officials?

“There was no election, just a corrupt exercise. NNPP totally rejects the results because the process was entirely unfair.”

Similarly, the state chairman of the Labour Party, Lookman Jagun, rejected the election results, stating, “We completely reject any results declared in this sham of an election.

“Even the good people of Ogun State have expressed their opinions on radio and television that there was no election in the state.

“We call on OGSIEC to cancel the entire election for clear violations of Ogun State’s electoral law. If they fail to do so, we will reject any announced results and take the necessary steps to challenge this charade in court.”

The PDP Secretary in the state, Dr Sunday Solarin, described the election as a “sham”.

He accused APC thugs of attacking opposition party members thus preventing them from voting.