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| Barrister Segun Oladitan |
A life-threatening message has been sent to the chairman of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, Barrister Segun Oladitan, about the organization's plans to hold local government elections in the state.
In order to assure the public that it would not break the law in doing its duties, he noted that the commission had set October 15 for the performance of the exercise.
Speaking to reporters on Monday at the Commission's office in Osogbo, Oladitan, the election umpire, said that the exercise would not use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, or BVAS, as the commission is not yet able to do so. However, she added that she is aware of the Electoral Act 2022 (Amended) and that her position does not conflict with the act.
He said:
“I want to use this medium and use your media to appeal to the people of Osun State that there’s no need for us to heat up the polity. I’m aware of cases in court, people have been threatening me that they are going to arrest me, that they are going to imprison me and so on.
“Let us do everything in accordance with the law, when your case is already in court you don’t have to threaten the person you have sued, you have to allow the law and the court to take its course so I want to appeal to members of the public that there’s nothing we are doing today that is new. If anybody disagree with what I’m doing they should not attack me physically.
“Let me assure you that OSIEC does not contravened the 360 days notice as couched by the electoral act. I am aware of section 28 of Electoral Ac 2022 and we will not go outside of the law. OSIEC is creation of the constitution and stipulated its duties in accordance with the laws enacted by the House of Assembly.
“The Electoral Management Body in conjunction with political parties that will field candidates had to agree before an election can hold, and once they understand each other, the election can proceed. The issues before OSIEC is holding election in tandem with the law.
“We have not been fully enabled to use BVAS, but we will still hold election in accordance with the law of the country”,
Tosin Odeyemi, the chairman of the New Nigeria People's Party, NNPP, praised the organization for its thorough strategy to hold the election and stated that the party is completely prepared to take part in the process.
People's Democratic Party, PDP, on the other hand, branded OSIEC's decision to proceed with the exercise as illegal and said it would not fold its arm and allow such activity to flourish in a statement released by its Chairman, Dr. Akindele Adekunle.
The Statement by PDP Chairman.
“Apparently, the OSIEC Chairman seems adamant in going ahead with the illegal election and as such, we in the PDP will not fold our arms and watch the APC turn our dear state into the lawless entity. We will ensure that the sinister and dangerous plan of OSIEC that has become an appendage of the APC does not see the light of the day”,
