Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

APC faults Ekiti Assembly poll, to challenge result at tribunal

By Editor
13 April 2015   |   10:30 am
THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has rejected Saturday’s House of Assembly elections, saying the exercise cannot be described as free and fair. It vows to challenge the result at the tribunal.
ekiti

Ekiti state. Source wikipedia

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has rejected Saturday’s House of Assembly elections, saying the exercise cannot be described as free and fair. It vows to challenge the result at the tribunal.

The party’s Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said in a statement that there were cases of alleged intimidation by policemen and thugs deployed to polling units across the state by Governor Ayodele Fayose.

He explained that the alleged intimidation of opponents began on Friday, which accounted for the low turnout of voters across the state.

“To be specific, APC members were driven to the bush in many towns across the state. ‎This included Efon Alaaye, where Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs did not allow any APC member to participate in accreditation while no party agent was allowed to stay in any of the polling units in the town.

“In Ilupeju-Ijan, APC members alleged that the traditional ruler of the area threatened to banish them because of their refusal to vote for the PDP as he decreed. Many of the people left their abodes and could not vote for the party of their choice,” he explained. ‎

It was also alleged that in Ijan-Ekiti, PDP agents forced members of the National Youths Service Corps, who worked as ad-hoc staff, to abandon card readers for manual accreditation in three units, namely Eyingbe, Ogbontitun and Imekun in the town to enable them stuff the ballot box in support of the PDP candidate who is from the town.

Olatubosun said APC members in Ilejemeje Local Council were driven into the bush while thugs and policemen from the Government House did most of the thumb printing of the ballot papers.

He added: “In Ikere Ekiti, thugs and policemen from the Government House did not allow APC members to vote while party agents were driven into the bush. In Afao Ekiti, Fayose’s hometown, many APC members were not allowed to vote as they were driven into the bush by thugs who arrived the town previous night.”

The statement also noted that in Oke-Ako country home of factional Speaker, Dele Olugbemi, thugs and suspected fake policemen shoot into the air to scare voters away while they engaged in illegal thumb printing of ballot papers.

“In Ijero Local Council, it was the same story as thugs chased away voters and carted away voting materials, including ballot boxes, and later thumb-printed papers and deposited them in the ballot boxes, while in Ado Ekiti, policemen attached to the Government House, who were not accredited to monitor election, arrested APC members but were only released when the people protested that they were on illegal mission,” he said.

He added that in Igogo, thugs and policemen from the Government House carted away ballot boxes after shooting into the air to scare away voters.

“This is the trend in most parts of the state. Also, result sheets were not available in many polling units across the state while voting materials came late. We strongly believe that most of the results of the election were written since Friday at the Government House by Governor Fayose,” he said.

“This election cannot stand. We will approach the tribunal to question all these illegalities in the election that returned PDP’s candidates as winners,” Olatubosun said.

4 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    IFAYOSEEEEEEE………BI IRO BA LO LOGUN ODUN……? IGBA ATI ASIKO O LO BI ORERE….WATCH YOUR BACK…….SO THAT YOU WILL NOT BE LEFT ALONE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE
    OCEAN…….

    • Author’s gravatar

      I think APC, this Islamic party is develish. All the places they loose they raise hell as if they are so loved. PDP on the hand accept defeat in good fate but APC would not. How else would you know the ISlam in them than this hate, bitterness and rabble rousing. Nigerians should expect the worst now that they have allowed CIA and Islamic fundamentalist to bring a Boko Haram sponsor as their President -elect. He thinks he would be on that seat with the blood of innocent Nigerians and enjoy it? Let’s see if God is sleeping.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Apc is dead in ekiti. Accept the fact u have other states, focus on ur states.

  • Author’s gravatar

    APC should just accept defeat. The PDP has won the election neat and clean. Why the hulabalo.