You cannot play God over Oyetola’s election, ex-Governor Aregbesola’s Aide, Okanlawon, replies Obasanjo
A former Special Adviser
in the administration of former Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, has advised former
President Olusegun Obasanjo to be wary of
references that could take down his integrity and totally cast him in bad light in the estimation of right-thinking
Nigerians.
Okanlawon was reacting to Obasanjo’s claim that
the election that brought in Governor
Gboyega Isiaka Oyetola was one of those instances that cast doubts on the ability of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) to
conduct a free and fair election.
Okanlawon said Obasanjo, in his desperate
attempts to rubbish the integrity of the
INEC and the Muhammadu Buhari administration, has collated false claims presenting them as facts.
He said that Obasanjo misfired using the Osun
September 2018 electionas an instance of electoral fraud.
“Obasanjo, in his claim, said what was
conclusive was declared inconclusive. He
said that the rerun was unnecessary. This is rather unfortunate coming more so from a former President of Nigeria
who has been assigned the
responsibilities for monitoring electoral processes on the continent of Africa.
“If Chief Obasanjo could not recognize the need
for a rerun as deemed proper by INEC, the
authorities constituted to administer the exercise,
how much of credibility can we then say had been applied in his supervision of some of the elections he had
monitored in Africa?” Okanlawon asked.
The former spokesman of the Aregbesola administration said that while the dispute arising from the Osun governorship election is currently at the tribunal, it is instructive to note that a huge sum of votes belonging to the APC candidates were voided; the reasons for the voiding to be determined appropriately by the tribunal.
“The fact is that
Governor Gboyega Oyetola was validly elected as Governor of Osun. The mere realization that very huge
numbers of ballots that were APC votes
but voided is a clear indication that APC won
the election,” Okanlawon stated.
He said the Peoples Democratic Party made
dubious efforts to manipulate the
election last year adding that however, the people of Osun have become so vigilant knowing the implications
of the return of PDP to power.
