The candidate of the Providence People’s Congress, PPC, Prof Ife Adewumi, has told the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that the rerun election fixed for Thursday in Osun State could be a waste of time.
Adewumi, who was one of the 48 candidates that contested the Saturday’s poll in the state, told Punch that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ademola Adeleke, should be declared winner of the election having met the requirements of the law by scoring the highest number of votes.
Adewumi, a former Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, pointed out that there was no reason to have ordered a rerun poll in the areas where the election had been held and the results were cancelled for one irregularity or another.
He said INEC seemed to have connived with the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to subvert the will of the majority of the people of the state.
DAILY POST reported that Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, led the race on Saturday with 254,698 votes, 353 votes more than Oyetola.
The margin was, however, less than the 3,498 votes in the polling units where votes was cancelled.
Consequently, the Returning Officer for the election, Professor Joseph Afuape, declared the poll inconclusive.
Adewumi said, “A clear winner is evident in this election and the candidate is Senator Ademola Adeleke. Having beaten his nearest opponent with 353 votes and polled the requisite quota of votes as provided, I do not see the reason for a rerun or why he is not declared the winner?
“The local government areas where the rerun is ordered had their votes cancelled not because there wasn’t an election held there. There was voting in those local governments. Their results were cancelled for reasons. This is legally different from where there is no election or voting. The votes are cancelled and remain cancelled. They cannot be added, deducted or recontested. There can be no other election held there again for this purpose.
“There is, therefore, no legal basis for ordering a rerun. There is no such allowance provided by or known to the law.
“But there comes a time in this country when we have to learn to do the right thing. It is so sad and unfortunate that we will see light and continue to look for darkness. In any case, how does a Returning Officer have the power and authority to declare a rerun?
“There is nothing in the INEC Guidelines or in the Electoral Act that can give validity to this illegality. But the truth remains the truth, whether spoken, contested or hushed.”
