The Osun State Chairman of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Hon. Adewale Adebayo, has dismissed the local government election conducted by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) on Saturday, alleging that it was a sham.
Adebayo claimed that no real election took place across the state except in Ede, the hometown of Governor Ademola Adeleke. He accused OSSIEC of staging the election to justify allocated funds, describing the process as fraudulent.
“What we witnessed in Osun today was not an election but a lockdown because people refused to participate in the illegal poll. Only a few PDP members voted in some polling units in Ede,” he stated.
He further alleged that the OSSIEC chairman, Hashim Abioye, is a PDP member and a Special Adviser to the governor, making a fair election impossible.
According to Adebayo, elections did not hold in several local governments, including Irewole, Isokan, Boripe, Ifelodun, Olorunda, Egbedore, Irepodun, and Orolu. He also questioned reports that voting in Ede concluded by 8:30 a.m., comparing it to the 2022 governorship election where voting extended late into the night.
He called on Governor Adeleke and OSSIEC officials to apologize to residents for what he described as an electoral sham.
However, the Secretary to the State Government, Teslim Igbalaye, countered the claims, stating that the election was free and fair with a massive voter turnout. “I voted in Osogbo Ward 7, Unit 7, and the turnout was impressive,” he said
