The Ladoja Campaign Organisation has called on the national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega to redeploy the Oyo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ambassador Rufus Akeju to ensure fairness.

The Director General of the campaign group, Adeolu Adeleke, urged the INEC boss  to transfer a ‘credible’ REC to the state.

Besides, the group appealed to Jega to relocate his office from Abuja to Ibadan to enable him oversee the conduct of this Saturday’s governorship and state House of Assembly elections.

Adeleke, who spoke with reporters in Ibadan said Akeju had squandered the benefit of the doubt given to him to conduct elections in the state and redeem his image, with the “orchestrated irregularities and rigging” that characterised the March 28 lelections.

Specifically, Adeleke wondered why there are a lot of differentials across many polling units in the figures of accredited voters for presidential, Senate and House of Representatives elections, when accreditation was only done once.

“In most of the polling units, there were no result sheets; they resorted to the use of ordinary papers. Unclaimed permanent voter cards (PVCs) found their way to APC loyalists and which they voted with. And party agents were prevented from monitoring the verification of voters.

“In many units in Egbeda, voting took place at 11 p.m. under the cover of darkness. At the collation centres, where the rigging was done on a large scale, our party agents were chased away by thugs.

“On Saturday, we are going to protect our votes with every means at our disposal, even if it means putting our lives on the line. We shall vehemently resist any attempt to subvert the will of the people.

“We call on international and local election observers to come to Oyo State in large numbers to witness the connivance that we have long complained about. We are not only contesting against the ruling party, we are also contesting with Akeju,” Adeleke said.

But Akeju described the allegations leveled against him as unfounded and advised Accord Party ( AP)  to provide proof at the Election Petition Tribunal.

“It is not business as usual in INEC. You cannot get yourself elected; you must be elected. The rules have changed and the method of getting elected has also changed. People can no longer add zero to100 to get 1000. Nobody can allocate figures or number to anybody, except if their party agents are bought or sold.

“The number must tally. We can’t accredit 200 and the number of people that vote becomes 500. It is not possible. Every political party has party agent who must certify the result at the polling unit,” the REC said.

On the allegation of the use of ordinary papers as result sheets, Akeju asked rhetorically “did their party agents sign those ordinary papers?”
He explained that no security operative would chase away party agents from the unit or collation centres where they have legitimate business, adding however that “if what they want is to determine the authenticity of the verification process that is not their job.”

“If they have any case, let them go to court. They can’t be throwing any garbage around as if it is something important. RECs don’t touch the results; there are Electoral Officers and Returning Officers who bring results to the INEC office,” he said.

Meanwhile, Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, yesterday urged voters in the state to vote for him and all the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates in Saturday’s election

He said a vote for other candidates would be a waste, in view of APC’s victory at the centre. 



Speaking on an MITV programme monitored in Ibadan, the state capital yesterday, the governor said any vote for Accord, Labour Party (LP) or Social Democratic Party (SDP) is a vote for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which he said had already crumbled in Nigeria, stating that the state could not afford to play opposition politics now when it stands a great chance of benefitting immensely from a federal government that is wholly the party’s. 



He said having demonstrated their love for change and progressives by voting massively for the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and its National Assembly candidates in the state on March 28, the state cannot afford to opt out and operate as an opposition state again. 



According to him, several initiatives of his administration, which required the approval, or cooperation of the Federal Government could not succeed because of the Federal Government’s refusal to play its role.
But now that the APC had taken over the Federal Government, Ajimobi urged voters to repeat the same massive support for him and the party in the April 11 election as demonstrated in the last election. 


Declaring that he was confident of victory in the Saturday election, the governor recalled that his policies have endeared him to the people of the state who appreciate his transformation, reformation and repositioning agenda.



“We are confident of victory by the grace of God and by the love people have for us as demonstrated in the last election.” he said.



He recalled that his administration had succeeded in enthroning peace, improving social infrastructure, including construction of modern roads and improved water supply in Iseyin, Ayete, Saki, and Ibadan, among others

He also pointed out that eight big companies sprang up in the state in the last three years due to the enabling environment created by his administration.


The governor expressed his appreciation to the people for the massive support for APC in the last election, stressing that the state contributed most to the success of the APC in the entire Southwest.

The party won the three senatorial seats and 12 out of 14 House of Representatives seats.

“Oyo State people are sophisticated and have demonstrated their acceptance of progress and change. They should repeat the same thing on Saturday. Don’t waste your vote, I beg you. If you vote for Accord, it is PDP. If you vote for SDP, it is PDP. If you vote for Labour, it is also PDP. And PDP has crumbled as you know.” Ajimobi said.