By Damilola Origbemisuyi, Akure
In reaction to the just concluded Ondo State governorship election, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, Otunba Bamidele Benson Akingboye, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare him winner of the election.
Akingboye made this statement at a brief briefing held by the party state chapter on Monday in Akure, the state capital.
He noted that he is considering himself winner of the election.
According to him, supporters who were supposed to come out and vote for him were not allowed to vote because the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) party chased them out alongside his party agents.
The SDP candidate alleged that both the APC party and the PDP party were doing open auction of vote buying. He further alleged that the results announced had been written before the election.
He said “What happened yesterday was a shock to me. For the past one month, I’ve been calling on the people of Ondo State to come out and vote. Saturday was supposed to be the day Ondo State people were supposed to free themselves from slavery and hunger that they have been facing for some time, but what I saw on Saturday was shocking to me.
“In my unit in Okitipupa, ward 2 unit 10, they were doing open auction. APC and PDP were doing theirs. I told them that as a credible person, someone that has integrity, I will never partake in unlawful act in Nigeria. As I’ve been saying, if we want a new Nigeria, somebody must start it, which I’ve shown to the whole world on Saturday that I’m a credible person.
“I believe that the results they put together have been written before the election, I believe that Ondo state people will question them. There were different kind of videos that is trending, you can see the old woman that said she collected money and had voted. It is sad in Nigeria for us to be seeing this at this particular moment.
“Our party will not condone illegality and we will not accept it. I’m asking that they should declare me winner of this election because people were supposed to vote for me, but they chased all our party agent out of the Polling Units and thuggery was the act of the day. I’m considering myself as the winner of this election and INEC should declare me winner of this election.”
Also speaking, the state chairman of the party, Gbenga Akinbuli, disclosed that the party legal team had started work and they intend to challenge the out of the election in court.
He also noted that INEC conduct was a clear suggestion that they have been compromised.
“I’m not comfortable with INEC conduct when everything suggest that they have been compromised. We have seen Intel and we told them that these people will intimidate voters. It is the duty of INEC to ensure that voters come out. Voters were telling me that there are scared of their lives, they can’t come out.
“I’ve never seen an open show of shame like I did on Saturday. In my polling unit, ward 10 unit 19 Ondo West Local Government, APC were offering N10,000 for voters to vote while PDP were offering N7,000. Both were doing highest bidder. If not because I was there, I saw it with my two eyes. They intimidated our polling unit agent, I had to step in and stand in as the agent in my own polling unit because they chased out everybody. Even PDP were chased out of the polling unit by APC as if it’s their father’s property.
“Our legal team have started work. We are asking for the immediate cancellation of the election. It’s a show of shame, it was buyer and seller competition,” Akinbuli said.
