As the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) works round the clock to ensure the conduct of local government elections in the state, the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) announced on Monday its decision to pull out of the exercise.
The IPAC Chairman, Pastor Victor Akande, who also doubles as the state chairman of the Accord Party, made this known at a press conference in Osogbo.
Pastor Victor stated that IPAC does not have any confidence in the leadership of Barrister Hassim Abioye, appointed by the state governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, as the Chairman of OSIEC, arguing that he was a card-carrying member of the governor’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He maintained that Barrister Abioye would serve as a puppet and rubber stamp for the PDP before, during, and after the elections.
“Our position then, as the Osun chapter of IPAC, was that Abioye is not legally fit to conduct free, fair, and credible local government elections in Osun. We opposed the brazen imposition of Abioye as the INEC umpire since he was Adeleke’s senior special assistant on legal matters.”
“Earlier this year, Abioye invited us to the headquarters of OSIEC in Osogbo, where we made known our reservations for the February 22, 2025, council election, and he thereafter pledged his allegiance to protect his integrity and promised not to disappoint us.”
“But alas, the leopard in him that cannot change its spots roared as we watched him deviate from all his promises of conducting a reliable election in the state. We have reliably gathered that Abioye has perfected plans to use PDP members as Electoral Officers during the election, which we all know what it means.
“His intention is to trap us into conducting our parties’ primary elections without disclosing the amount each party will pay, which will, of course, lead to efforts in futility after announcing exorbitant fees.
“We expected up-to-date information from Abioye, as has been done by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but the reverse is the case, as we always have information about Osun local government elections from PDP e-rats.
“We find it convenient to say that the PDP-led administration in the state is intentionally creating avenues for crises all over so as to scare our people away from the forthcoming council election, as only a secured mind will have the courage to go out to vote for his/her choice.
“One of us, the NNPP, that earlier wrote an intention letter for his party’s primary election has withdrawn the letter because we realised no good thing can come out of Abioye, who is Governor Adeleke’s stooge at OSIEC.
“It is on these notes that we have resolved, after deliberations with our party members, to back out of the forthcoming local government election in Osun State,” IPAC submitted.
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