Date Published: 04/30/09

AC says Ekiti Re-run concluded

The Action Congress (AC) on Thursday said the Ekiti state governorship re-run has been concluded and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the state should announce the results.

“We welcome the decision of the REC, Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, to rescind her resignation. This is exactly what we had called for. But she must now go back and announce the results in accordance with her conscience and on the basis of the re-run held on 25 April, because the election has been concluded,’’ the party said, in a statement issued in Lagos, on Thursday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

“We in the AC will not be part of any re-run of the re-run being planned by INEC in Oye, because the election there stands cancelled on the basis of the violence perpetrated by the PDP on election day. “Also, the results of the three wards in Ido-Osi, which were properly collated, are acceptable to us. But the results of the eight wards in the local government, which were clandestinely collated in a non-INEC-designated venue, stand nullified,’’ the party said.

The AC said with the re-run concluded in eight out of 10 local governments, the election has satisfied the constitutional requirement that a candidate must win at least one-quarter of total votes cast in two-thirds of the local governments in the state.

“If the eight local governments where election has been concluded in the re-run are added to the six already decided, that means election has been concluded in 14 out of 16 local governments. This has more than satisfied the constitutional stipulation,’’ it said. AC also said, on the basis of precedence, the REC is on a solid ground, morally and legally, to announce the results of the Ekiti re-run immediately. The party recalled that during the 1983 gubernatorial election in Oyo state, the results in the Ibadan and Ilesha senatorial districts (two of the five senatorial districts in the state) were cancelled due to violence and malpractices, and the result was announced.

. The party said the violence in Oye was allegedly perpetrated by PDP officials, including Senator Ayo Arise, in whose house 37 hoodlums with various charms in their possession were arrested; Senator Iyiola Omisore; Senator Kila, who was reportedly caught with a pump action rifle and Senator Isiaka Adeleke, whose idea of maintaining his oversight function as Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, is to invade polling stations!