“WE won and PDP lost. I think that for democracy to flourish, only people who can accept the pain of rigging, sorry, of defeat, should participate in an election.”

Those were the exact words of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, when he spoke to journalists on Friday with regards to the just concluded Osun State governorship election.

Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC was declared the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but many, including international and local observers, have criticised the entire process, especially the supplementary poll that held on Thursday, September 27.

Watch the video below, as shared on Twitter by former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Chidi Odinkalu.

Adams Oshiomole has confirmed what most people of goodwill know – #OsunWasRigged pic.twitter.com/0dPGUYidMA

— Chidi Odinkalu (@ChidiOdinkalu) September 29, 2018

Oshiomhole’s comments may well be a slip of tongue, but many say he was stating the facts, albeit inadvertently.

Farooq Kperogi, a Nigerian-born, US-based journalist and academic, described the phenomenon as “a Freudian slip”. The Urban online dictionary describes the term thus: “A Freudian Slip is when someone means to say something but accidentally says something else, which reflects their true thoughts/ opinions or suppressed desires about something.”

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were leading in the Osun governorship poll with over 300 votes when the election was declared inconclusive because the number of cancelled votes in seven polling units across four local government areas, was higher than the number of votes with which PDP led.

However, the result of the supplementary polls, as announced by INEC saw PDP polling just 325 votes to APC’s 1160, enabling the ruling party to close up the gap and emerge victorious with a total of 255,505 votes to PDP’s 255,023.

In one of the polling units where the supplementary election was held, the PDP had as little as two votes while the APC 126. In another polling unit, the APC scored 455 and the PDP, just 36. And the fact that in some of the polling units, security agents and thugs refused to grant access to accredited journalists and observers to monitor the voting process, further fueled speculations of malpractice.

Meanwhile, the candidate of the PDP in the Osun election, Ademola Adeleke has vowed to challenge the INEC’s decision to announce Oyetola as the winner of the election in court.

Adeleke said he has concrete evidence of malpractice against the APC and he is ready to bring all the facts when the matter is taken to court.

“I don’t want the APC to know about what we have on them until we get to court. I am so confident (of victory),” he told Channels Television.