… Nobody gave them blank documents to sign – Oyetola’s aide
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
There was confusion at the Osun State Government House, Osogbo, on Tuesday, as many members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stormed the abode of the governor to protest alleged manipulation of primary elections results in favour of some aspirants by the leadership of the party in the state.
The members of the party who were party delegates from the 31 local government areas of the state, were summoned into the government house as earlier as 8.00am in anticipation that the outcome of the election results would be announced.
However, their expectations were dashed. Instead of the announcement at the banquet hall, they alleged that their party leadership asked them to sign blank results sheets.
This development infuriated the about 500 delegates who were in attendance at the meeting and they threw decorum into the wind to register their grievances to the move they described as undemocratic.
According to one of them who preferred anonymity, they were shocked when “they were ordered to sign documents, which they supposedly told them to be the results sheets, but no names were on it.”
When asked whether they know their mission of being invited for the meeting, they stated that, “the purpose of the meeting was not stated in the messages sent to them by the party hierarchy. We were only asked to show up at the government house.”
The meeting which had the presence of the State party Chairman, Gboyega Famodun, the Senate spokesperson and Director General of Oyetola campaign council, Dr Ajibola Basiru, former member of the House of Representatives, Ajibola Famurewa and Special Adviser to Oyetola on political Affairs, Sunday Akere, among others, saw the party members frowning at the development.
The delegates who refused to sign the documents until they know the names of winner to sign for in the documents, said they suspected foul play and maintained that, they cannot sign a blank document as they perceived the leadership of the party wanted to manipulate the outcome of the exercise by replacing winners of the election for losers.
They however charged them to announce the authentic results of the elections as the exercise was fairly and freely conducted.
According to one of the protesters, “delegates did not vote. It was the direct primaries. Why asking us to sign results sheets? They are thieves. They want to manipulate the results and we will continue to resist that. The choice of the people should be announced. We can’t sign blank results,” one of the delegates from Ila local government stated.
The protesters thereafter called on the national leadership of the party to prevail on the party leaders in the state to disregard manipulating and forging of results that they might have presented to them for ratification.
It will be recalled that pockets of protesters had last week stormed the state government house and the residence of the state party chairman to register their grievances on the non-release of the party election results since about six days ago.
Meanwhile, Special adviser to governor Gboyega Oyetola, Hon. Sunday Akere in an interview said nobody presented the delegates with blanket documents to sign, adding that they were only invited to come and ratify the results which some of them are ready to do but were disturbed to do so by those who perceived their chances were not auspicious in the exercise.
“We thought we should do it at the government house to make it easier and faster but, when we saw the development, they had to be referred to their various constituencies for the ratifications,” he said.
