Civil Society Groups Call For Diligent Prosecution Of Osun Governorship Election

Following diligent appraisal of the September 22 gubernatorial election and subsequent 27 re-run poll in Osun State, Human Right activists who converged on Osogbo Monday called for the probe of the process over alleged irregularities.

The activists who spoke at a programme organised by Odua Youth Development Initiatives and Virtues Unlimited Restorative Justice Initiative (VURJI) insisted that lack of transparency, harassment of observers and Media Men, failure of card readers marred the exercise declared to have been won by the All Progressive Congress candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.

The human right groups also alleged the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of conniving with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to manipulate the election result in favour of its candidate.

Speaking at the event, the Popular musician and founder of Our Mumu don do, Charles Oputa, berated the conduct of some INEC officials, whom he said deliberately worked against the interest of the people of the state.

Reviewing the last gubernatorial election in Osun, Oputa  said Nigerians owe it a duty to the next generation to make sure that elections reflect the true wishes of the people and that citizens rise up to resist manipulations by electoral umpire.

He charged youths in Nigeria to rise up in Defence of true democracy, selfless leadership  and natural  justice without which no country can truly progress.

Other Speakers at the event include representatives of the Coalition in Defence of Nigeria’s democracy and constitutio, Dare Ariyo; Democracy and Good governance Department of the Justice and Peace Makers Centre, Festus Ojewunmi and Wole Oladapo of the Virtues Restorative Justice Initiative.

Citing various reports of observer groups including the Nigeria Bar Association, Centre for Democracy and Development, UK, US and EU missions,speakers at the colloquium described  the Osun governorship election as falling short of standards  of credibility and neutrality in an electoral contest.

They called on the judiciary to be above board in handling the various petitions arising from the governorship election in order to retain public confidence in the judicial system as the last hope of the common man.

The colloquium was also attended by leaders  of 9 political parties who spoke on the need for the International community to pay closer attention to the 2019 general elections in view of the experiences of the Osun poll.

Representative of the People’s Democratic Party, Dr Lere Oyewunmi accused the Independent National  Electoral Commission of conniving with the APC to tamper with card readers deployed to many local governments during the election.

He said the card readers were preloaded with accreditation while features that identify the genuineness of voters cards were disabled ahead of the election.

Oyewumi called for public  vigilance ahead of the 2019 general elections while also advising political parties to engage well educated and politically motivated persons as Party agents.

ENDS