Residents of Osun trooped in their hundreds to the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Osogbo to protest the non-declaration of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ademola Adeleke, as the winner of the Saturday gubernatorial election held in the state.
The protesters, who converged at the electoral body’s office blocked the major road linking Osogbo and Gbongan under what they described as a peaceful protest, while they were armed with placards bearing inscriptions, like ‘Osun is not Ekiti, give us our vote’, ‘INEC the world is watching us declare Adeleke the winner’, ‘We don’t want a re-run election’, ‘Adeleke won, don’t cheat us’.
It was gathered that the security personnel on ground at INEC did not make any attempt to disperse the protesters.
Some commuters, passers-by and passengers were also seen joining the protesters in chanting anti APC songs.
According to Adisa Adebayo, the peaceful protest was staged to make INEC prove its integrity. What happened on Saturday and the announcement of Sunday that the election is inconclusive. We have already seen the PDP candidate leading with 353 votes yet he was not declared. In Ekiti, some election results were cancelled but INEC went on to announce Fayemi, even in Kogi State. What we want is our mandate in Osun State.”
Also, Ridwan Abimbola, who is the arrowhead of the students who joined in the protest said there was need for President Muhammadu Buhari to wade in on the issue, citing the case of the missing PDP chieftain, Alhaji Fatai Diekola as a reason.
He argued that, the APC-led government in the state was running it like an autocratic state.