APC clears Gombe LG election as Oyo collates council poll
Candidates of the All Progressives Congress emerged victorious across the 11 local government areas of Gombe State where the council elections were held on Saturday.
Disclosing this while collating and announcing the election results, the Chairman of the Gombe State Independent Electoral Commission, Saidu Shehu, said only five out of 19 registered political parties participated in the election.
He said, “Out of 19 registered political parties, five parties had candidates. The parties that participated are All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party, Accord, Zenith Labour Party, and Young Progressives Party.
“APC cleared the 11 local government areas including Kaltungo and Shongom where the party won unopposed.
“Other parties didn’t have candidates for the councillorship seats, candidates of the APC were returned elected.”
The winners include Sani Haruna, Gombe LGA; Dr Ahmed Doho, Kwami LGA; Ibrahim Jatau, Balanga LGA; Egla Idris, Billiri LGA, Mohammed Danladi, Akko LGA;Shuaibu Adamu, Funakaye LGAs.
Others are Iliya Suleiman, Kaltungo LGA, Abubakar Hassan, Yalmatu Deba LGA; Binta Bello, Shongom; Adamu Mohammed, Dukku, Babangida Adamu, Nafada.
Meanwhile, Governor Muhammadu Yahaya shortly after voting at Yahaya Umar polling unit 010 called on the defeated candidates to support the winners to form a common front.
He added, “The people should remain calm and be of good conduct and above all go in solidarity so that whoever emerges will be supported to deliver on the needs of the people.”
“I’m convinced beyond doubt that we are going to head to the coast, there is no fear; you can see people are happy and the election is being conducted across the state. The people are happy and the conduct is good.”
In Oyo State, as of press time, the results of the local government election held across the state on Saturday were still being collated.
This was just as the APC in the state called for the cancellation of the poll, which it described as a sham that is capable of destabilising the state.
In a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, the APC asked the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission to reschedule the exercise for another day.
The party said, “Another opportunity to deepen democracy and return power to the people at the grassroots has had to be missed due to the insensitivity and insincerity on the part of the ruling class in the state.
“With what is happening at the moment in most Polling Units across the state, Gov. Seyi Makinde has again disappointed the whole world. He promised the people that their votes would count today but the opposite is the case. The good people of the state desired to participate in an election and elect a new set of council officials but what they are experiencing is nothing but a sham.
“Even if OYSIEC comes out later to declare all the candidates of the APC, we would not rate this election as credible and acceptable as it falls below the minimum global standard of election conduct.
“The best thing is for the Commission to suspend the exercise and choose another date for proper conduct rather than continue to connive with a few anti-democratic elements in the ruling PDP to perpetrate electoral fraud and desecration of democracy in the land.
“For the avoidance of doubt, OYSIEC started with a back and forth position on the need to deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the conduct of the poll.
“A few days ago, the Commission recruited PDP members as its ad-hoc staff and this same set of people were saddled with the responsibilities of conducting today’s poll and they have been carrying out the script given to them by the powers-that-be in the state.
“What could be the rationale behind taking 500 pieces of ballot papers to a Polling Unit where about 1,500 registered as eligible voters?
“OYSIEC failed to mobilise officials to attend to prospective voters in key polling units while it also released inadequate voting materials to virtually all the polling units.
“In most Polling Units, officials of the Commission did not arrive until noon when most voters had left for their respective homes in frustration. This aptly validated the suspicion that the PDP had handed a script to the Commission to implement in their favour.
“In the 10 local government councils of Oke-Ogun, the official result sheets known as Form EC8A were withheld by OYSIEC’s Electoral Officers while political thugs were unleashed on some members of the opposition who asked questions in places like Kajola, Olorunsogo, Itesiwaju, Ibarapa East, Lagelu, Ido, Oyo East, Atiba, Oluyole among other
“The chairman of our party in Ibarapa East, Mr. Segun Ojediran, was violently attacked by the PDP thugs in Eruwa and he is now receiving treatment in a private hospital.
“Therefore, we call for the total cancellation of the whole exercise as it was done today,” the APC stated.
However, Sunday PUNCH gathered that the election was not conducted in the Saki and Orelope Local Governments and a part of Ibadan while offices of the electoral umpires in the local governments were shut.
In a video shared on Facebook, some residents at Ward 4, Unit 14, of Sacred Heart School in Ibadan were seen expressing their anger and frustration due to the absence of OYSIEC officials for the election.
A woman leader of the All Progressives Congress in the area whose name was not mentioned in the video clip said, “We have two polling booths in Sacred Heart School. We have not seen polling officials since 7 am, we have all been waiting. I trekked from New Gbagi Market to vote here. Do they want to scatter everything?”
Former Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu told our correspondent that he could not vote at his polling unit in Saki.
He accused the state governor, Seyi Makinde of boycotting the election to favour the Peoples Democratic Party.
“We had expected that the election would hold and we were all expecting to vote but to our dismay, no election was held in the local government. There are 11 wards, and 282 poll units in Saki Local Government and from our findings, there was no election in any of those places.
“This is a reflection of what the governor has been saying. Over time he has been boasting that they will win at the 33 local governments. He is not God, how then will he know the people who will vote?”
Also, the APC Chairman, Saki West LGA, Alhaji Tajudeen Okunlola, in another video clip, said, “We have not seen the Electoral Officer since yesterday (Friday).”
Similarly, the OYSIEC office in Orelope Local Government was closed on Saturday, with no officials present to conduct the elections in the area.
Some APC members were seen in a video clip at the front of the OYSIEC office in the local government lamenting that they had been disenfranchised by the state government.
Speaking, a Member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, representing Orelope State Constituency, Jimoh Ishola said, “There was no election in Orelope Local Government.
“It is quite unfortunate. A leader must be known for certain things and a leader must possess certain qualities. Part of the quality is for you to say something and it is done as you have said.”
The Director General of the Campaign Council in the LG, Adesola Yakub, described the election as “a rape of democracy. It is an abuse of power. It is a big loss for democracy. They have disenfranchised almost everybody. It is a rape of the people.”
Speaking to our correspondent, the Oyo State APC Secretary, Tajudeen Olanite said, “We also heard that there were no elections in some places due to incomplete essential materials. We are gathering our report and we will make the necessary statement when we are done.
Reacting, the Oyo State PDP Chairman, Dayo Ogungbenro said the election was held in every part of the state, saying the allegation is politically influenced.
According to him, the state government and OYSIEC have nothing to gain in boycotting elections in any part of the state.
“How can those places be isolated? What will the state government gain from isolating the local governments? What will OYSIEC gain by distributing materials in every local government and isolating some? That is all politics. Elections are held everywhere in the state today and we are waiting for the outcome of the election. This is the only government in recent times with open-mindedness.
“The government allowed every party to participate and because of the conducive environment, they decided to partake. So if anybody is seeing failure steering him, they should not blame anybody.
Efforts to get the reaction of the OYSIEC Chairman, Isiaka Olagunju proved abortive as calls, SMS, and WhatsApp messages to his mobile phone were not responded to as at the time of filing this report.
When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the Oyo State governor, Sulaiman Olanrewaju, said, “OYSIEC conducted the election, they are in the best position to speak on it.”
