APC clears Oyo LG poll

The All Progressive Congress (APC) has won all the chairmanship and councillors’ seats in the results announced, so far, on the local government election held in Oyo State, on Saturday.

As at 7:25p.m. yesterday, the state Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) had announced results of the election into the 68 local government areas and local council development areas.

The state comprises 33 ocal government areas and 35 local council development areas, making a total of 68.
The electoral umpire had announced that a total of 12 political parties participated in the poll, which was the first to be held in the state in the past 11 years.

The last time council poll was conducted in the state was on December 15, 2007.
The election, which was described as peaceful, free and fair by observers, was said to have witnessed a low turnout of electorate on Saturday.

But, a splinter group within the APC, known as APC Unity Forum, in a statement by its secretary, Dr. Wasiu Olatunbosun, described the council poll as a referendum on the party and said the low turnout is an indication that the party needs to be re-invigorated, to stand a fair chance in the next year’s general election.

“We, therefore, call on the leadership of the APC to rescue the party from the hands of undertakers, whose performance in today’s (yesterday’s) local government election has confirmed will bury the party in Oyo state, if left unchecked.

Also, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman in the state, Alhaji Kunmi Mustapha, in a statement by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Akeem Olatunji, said the party did not participate in the exercise because doing so would have been tantamount to a “tacit endorsement of an illegality, as the election failed integrity test right from the inception of the electoral process.

“We, in PDP, give kudos to the people of the state for the general apathy witnessed during the kangaroo election, in line with our party’s directive to the electorate and our members to shun the election.

“We call for a full-scale investigation into the incident to ensure justice for the bereaved family.”
Regardless, Governor Abiola Ajimobi has congratulated winners in the state’s council election and the APC congress, and urged them to be magnanimous in victory.

The governor conveyed his message through a statement by his Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, Mr. Bolaji Tunji, shortly after the release of the results of the election by the OYSIEC.
Meanwhile, the APC has dismissed the parallel local government congress purportedly held by what it called “a dissident group within the party,” as a joke taken too far by the masterminds.

The party said the purported parallel congress is illegal, null and void.
State Secretary of the party, Mojeed Olaoya, who disclosed this in a statement, yesterday,  said the purported congress, was a sheer waste of time.

As follow-up to the ward congresses held across the state, last Sunday, he said the APC held a very successful local government congress conducted within the 33 councils headquarters by the Alhaji Musa Halilu-Ahmed-led congress committee, yesterday.