Unic Press UK: The People Democratic Party (PDP) has sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the Osun state gubernatorial election, which the electoral body has declared inconclusive.
In a press statement Monday, the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said:
“The Peoples Democratic Party is heading to the court to quash the illegal declaration of the September 22, 2018 Osun governorship election as inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“The party insists that the polls have already been concluded and results announced in all polling and the collation centers, thus bringing the exercise to its lawful conclusion and removing INEC powers to declare the election inconclusive.
“Section 69 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) states that inter-alia “in an election to the office of the President or governor whether or not contested and in any contested election to any other elective office, the result shall be ascertained by counting the votes cast for each candidate and subject to the provisions of sections 133, 134 and 179 of the constitution, the candidate that receives the highest number of votes shall be declared elected by the appropriate Returning Officer.”
“Concurrently, Section 179 (2), (a) (b) of the constitution directly prescribes that “a candidate for an election to the office of Governor of a State shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being two or more candidates – (a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and (b) he has not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the State.
“INEC’s action in declaring a concluded election as inconclusive is therefore an annulment, totally duplicitous, constitutionally illegal, ultra-vires and as such null and void.
“The PDP therefore demands the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Osun State Governorship Election Returning Officer, Prof. Joseph Fuwape, for succumbing to the pressure of the APC and declaring a decided election as inconclusive.”
