The Osun State chapter of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, has appealed to the All Progressives Congress to withdraw its suit against the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, OSSIEC, in order for democracy to thrive.
The Chairman of the IPAC, Pastor Victor Akande in a statement obtained by InsightMedia in Osogbo on Wednesday, said the call becomes necessary in the overall interest of the people of Osun State.
InsightMedia recalled that the All Progressives Congress penultimate week dragged the OSSIEC and Governor Ademola Adeleke to court over the local government, citing removal of some of its candidates from the polls.
Akande said the Electoral Commission has been doing its best to carry all Stakeholders along in the process and major decisions were approved by political parties.
Akande said, “OSSIEC set up a screening committee whose members are experienced and non- partisan members of the public. After their work, the Committee submitted their report to OSSIEC, and OSSIEC in turn made public the said report in which the nominations of some of our candidates were held to be void on account of conflict between the list submitted by the affected political parties and names on the nomination forms. This incident didn’t go down well with us and we met with the OSSIEC Chairman for explanations in a meeting held at OSSIEC Conference Hall on the 8th October, 2024 during which several questions were asked by the chairmen of the 16 political parties that were present.
“Having been satisfied by the explanations offered by the OSSIEC Chairman, and having seen the sincerity, fairness, transparency and capacity of OSSIEC to conduct free and fair election, a communiqué was released where vote of confidence was passed on OSSIEC leadership and appeal was made to the Federal Government not to stop Osun State Local Government monthly allocation since Osun already started the process of conducting local government elections even before the Supreme Court judgment, and the notice given by OSSIEC was in accordance with the law and pronouncements of the courts, and moreso there is no caretaker committee at the local government level in Osun State, The call was then necessary in the overall interests of the citizens of Osun State. All Progressive Congress (APC) representative was on seat on that day and was actively part of the communique.
He appealed to APC and any other party that wishes to go to court to shelve such plan in the interest of democracy and the people of Osun. He added that political parties have invested a lot of time and resources to the process.
“We were taken aback last week when we read in the news that one of us (APC) has gone to court requesting for the cancellation of the whole process. While any aggrieved political party or candidate has the right to approach the court for any seeming wrong, we have all invested a lot of time, energy and resources into the process of local government elections, therefore we appeal to our friend (APC) to reconsider their action and to withdraw the case from the court because we consider such a request to be detrimental to the progress and development of democracy at the grassroot and not in the interest of the citizens of Osun State. Politics is about interest, but we are citizens of Osun State before we became members of different political parties.
“Therefore, common interest of Osun State citizens and its political stability should be the priority of any progressive politician. We are in solidarity with OSSIEC and the entire good people of Osun State as far as the process of local government elections is concerned.”
