LABOUR Party (LP) and Allied Peoples Movement (APM) have pulled out from the Osun State local government election held today, Saturday, February 21.
The LP chairman in the state, Adebayo Bello, announced the party’s decision on Friday.
Addressing reporters in Osogbo, Bello cited inadequate security arrangements by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) for the peaceful conduct of the poll.
He urged OSSIEC to postpone the exercise for one or two months to allow for adequate preparations, emphasising that the postponement would also provide time to resolve the legal issues surrounding the exercise.
Similarly, the APM chairman in the state, Adewale Adebayo, announced the party’s decision to withdraw from the election.
He noted that when he attempted to submit the official withdrawal letter at the OSSIEC office on Thursday, no commission official was available to receive it.
“We want to confirm that we are not participating in the illegal local government election, slated for Saturday. We are very disappointed that all OSSIEC staff, including its chairman, have absconded from their headquarters since Wednesday,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Osun State Government has dismissed the Nigeria Police Force’s (NPF) security advisory urging the suspension of the election.
The ICIR reports that the NPF had on Friday called for the poll’s suspension based on what it described as credible intelligence it obtained.
In a statement issued by the Force public relations officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, the police said their intelligence indicated a high likelihood of violence and significant security threats should the election is conducted.
However, in a counter statement dismissing the police’s advisory, the state government stated that the grounds for rejecting the advice were based on the rule of law and aversion to police partisanship.
The state government said in the statement signed late Friday by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, that it had reviewed the advisory and concluded that it was biased, partisan and in contravention of democratic tenets.
The state government also accused the police of pursuing partisan interests rather than obeying court orders and working for the rule of law.
The ICIR reported that there were gunshots in the state as supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clashed following the attempted reinstatement of sacked council chairpersons in the state on Monday, February 17. The ensuing melee led to the death of seven people, including a former local government chairman of Irewole Local Government Area, Aderemi Abbas.
The crisis followed a disagreement between the state Governor Ademola Adeleke and the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, over the interpretation of the Appeal Court’s ruling on the chairpersons who were elected on the APC platform but sacked by the Federal High Court in 2022.
The ICIR reported on Sunday that Adeleke raised the alarm over a plot by Oyetola, a former governor of the state, to reinstate the sacked chairpersons. The APC in the state confirmed the plot, which turned out to claim the lives of seven people the following day.
Though the Federal Government through the Attorney-General of the Federation, instructed the state to suspend the conduct of the LG poll, the state governor ignored the order.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.