The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Professor Kolapo Olubunmi Olusola, has rejected the outcome of Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had declared Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the gubernatorial poll.
However, in a reaction, Olusola who addressed newsmen in Ado Ekiti, on Sunday claimed that the governorship election was ‘hijacked by political desperadoes leveraging on “Federal might” to pervert the electoral process, subvert the will of Ekiti people, and viciously steal the mandate willingly. He said “PDP and I won the election overwhelmingly, receiving more than 70 per cent of lawful votes cast and winning in almost all of the State’s 16 local government areas.
“I, therefore, reject the falsified results being bandied by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which purportedly gave the election to the All Progressives Congress and its Candidate, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi.
”The results as declared by INEC were the most audacious electoral robbery of our recent history, it shall not stand. By the grace of Almighty God and your support, I will pursue and regain my mandate.”
When asked how he felt the election was allegedly manipulated against his Party, Olusola said “the APC leveraged on its well-advertised but patently obnoxious and anti-democratic Federal might to intimidate, harass, victimize, oppress, and brutalize PDP leaders, members, and the voting public all over Ekiti.
“This brutal and barbaric process, which started well before the election, did not spare Governor Ayo Fayose and me; as the whole world had seen and had condemned. It is quite unfortunate that the harassment has continued even after the election.
“On Saturday, July 14th, the security agencies and INEC upped the ante, threw all caution to the wind, went back on their promises to be impartial and to conduct credible elections; they sided with APC and Fayemi to the chagrin of our party, myself, and the good people of Ekiti State.
“Despite the alarm we had earlier raised, the security agencies not only supported but also supervised the indiscriminate arrest of our party leaders and agents; the harassment and brutalization of voters on a massive scale, especially in Ado-Ekiti, Ikere and the suburbs.
“Giving cover, tacit as well as active support to thugs imported into Ekiti by APC to snatch ballot boxes, create confusion, cause mayhem, and drive away voters in PDP strongholds; giving cover to APC agents as they financially and openly induced voters and bought votes at polling stations; and driving away our polling agents from collation centres and illegal seizure of documents and materials in their possession, among many other infractions.”
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