OSUN 2022: Uncertainty grips Adeleke’s takeover, as Yiaga Africa’s Report ‘confirms’ Oyetola

*Thursday’s revelation vindicates my position – Governor’s aide

According to Mr Omipidan, the Certified True Copy (CTC) obtained from INEC after the election across 10 Local Governments in 749 polling units showed that accreditation through BVAS was less than the number of votes cast in those units.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Osun State Governor, Mr. Ismail Omipidan,has reportedly said the recent report by Yiaga Africa about the “inconsistencies” in data from the Osun governorship election serves as proof of the anomalies during the poll.

Omipidan, in an article, said he was surprised that the civic group’s report “was not critically analysed by the stakeholders at the event.”

“I said recently that my principal, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, did not lose the election but only lost the vote count. But a lot of people were wondering what point I was trying to make,” Mr Omipidan said in his reaction to the Yiaga Africa report on Thursday of week before, adding that the revelations by the civil society vindicated his position.

The DEFENDER reports that Yiaga Africa is a non-profit civic hub of change makers committed to the promotion of democratic governance, human rights and civic engagement, with focus on in-depth research, providing critical analysis on key democratic and governance issues, crafting practical solutions, training and empowering citizens to lead change in their community.

In the report in which it shared its findings in the Osun and Ekiti guber elections, Yiaga Africa noted that there were inconsistencies in the data on the permanent voter card collection across over 10 local government areas in Osun State.

“An analysis of the number of registered voters and the PVC collected by polling units revealed some inconsistencies in the data,” The Cable quoted Samson Itodo, YIAGA’s Executive Director, as saying.

“Findings from the analysis on the Osun PVC collection data revealed that the total number of PVCs collected for 30 polling units was greater than the total number of registered voters in those polling units. These inconsistencies were recorded in 12 LGAs.”

Ademola Adeleke, the PDP candidate, was declared the winner of the election, having polled 403,371 votes to defeat Governor Oyetola who got 375,027.

According to Mr Omipidan, the Certified True Copy (CTC) obtained from INEC after the election across 10 Local Governments in 749 polling units showed that accreditation through BVAS was less than the number of votes cast in those units.

“By implication, there were more voters than accredited by the BVAS. Let me give a few examples to drive home my point.

“In Ede-North ward 5, Alusekere Unit 004, Owode Primary School, where the governor-elect comes from, the total votes cast for that unit was 1,267 but BVAS recorded only 858 as accredited voters.

“Again, in Ward 5 unit 14, 206 number of votes were recorded for parties against 118 accredited through BVAS. In Unit 15 of the same ward 5 Alusekere, 177 votes were recorded in Form EC8A while the BVAS report says 108 voters were accredited.

So, consistently, there were more voters than BVAS accredited, and those are our issues with the Election Results as declared by INEC.”

Mr Omipidan said the report showed the governor has a case before the election tribunal.

Mr Oyetola is currently before the Election Petition Tribunal challenging Mr Adeleke’s victory at the governorship poll.