Insisting that Governor Ademola Adeleke did not receive the greatest number of legal votes cast in the poll, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship campaign in Osun State has rejected the results of the August 15 election.
This was said in an interview with Arise News on Monday by Oluwole Oke, the Director-General of the APC governorship campaign, who also explained why the party had not yet congratulated Adeleke on his reelection.
Oke stated that the party had started reviewing electoral papers before determining its next line of action because it disagreed with the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) declaration.
He added, “We do not agree with the declaration of INEC. That’s our position for now. We believe he did not score the highest valid votes.”
According to him, the APC campaign organisation would not be pressured into accepting the outcome of the election until it completed a thorough assessment of the process.
“And like I’ve told you that what we are doing, even for future, for records, is to conduct a thorough review of the entire process and then form our opinion.
“We won’t be under any sort of pressure to easily reach out to congratulate Senator Ademola Adeleke,” Oke said.
After Adeleke, the Accord candidate, received 511,067 votes to defeat Bola Oyebamiji, the APC candidate, who received 444,815 votes, INEC proclaimed him the winner of the election. With 17,180 votes, Najeem Salaam, the candidate for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), came in a distant third.
According to the election results, Oyebamiji won 11 councils while Adeleke won 19 local government areas, giving the incumbent a margin of 66,252 votes.
President Bola Tinubu congratulated Adeleke following the announcement of the results, but according to Oke, the APC campaign team’s stance remained distinct since it was concentrated on analyzing the circumstances leading up to the election.
He stated that the party had instructed its agents throughout the state to submit pertinent electoral documentation and had already started an audit of the poll.
“We have embarked on an audit process. We have asked all our party agents to submit copies of Forms EC8A, B, and C to our secretariat for review. We need to inspect the materials,” Oke said.
The head of the APC campaign stated that the review would address problems that came up prior to the election, such as adherence to the Electoral Act and other relevant laws, as well as how the election was conducted.
He said that if the party’s findings indicated a need for additional action, it may look into legal possibilities.
The APC claims that the electoral process goes beyond the results announcement and may proceed through the election tribunal, the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court if needed.
“Until we do that and form our opinion, we won’t be able to go further to say anything on this,” Oke said.
The party also urged supporters and members of the public to allow it complete its assessment of the election before announcing its next move.
