Why INEC ordered rerun in Osun - Witness tells election tribunal
- A witness at the Osun tribunal, Adegboyega Rasaki Adeosun, has opened up as to why there was a rerun for the election
- Speaking before the tribunal, Adeosun said the rerun was mandatory to prevent disenfranchisement of some electorate
- According to him, the margin between the scores of the two leading candidates was less than the number of registered votes
With post-electoral tussle ongoing at the tribunal following the 2018 Osun gubernatorial election, the state collation officer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adegboyega Rasaki Adeosun, has opened up as to why there was a rerun for the election.
Speaking as a witness to the election before the tribunal, Adeosun revealed that the rerun was mandatory to prevent disenfranchisement of some electorate in the poll.
Recall that APC's Gboyega Oyetola was declared winner of the keenly contested election that was reportedly marred with controversies, with PDP's Ademola Adeleke heading to tribunal to determine the actual winner.
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Shedding more light as to why the returning officer in the state suggested a rerun, Adeosun, who testified as a witness of the second respondent, said the margin between the scores of the two leading candidates was less than the number of registered votes in the seven polling units where elections were declared voided.
He said: "At the state collation centre, when the local government collation officers came to report local government by local government, the LG returning officers gave explanations on what happened at some polling units and said the results could not be finalised.
“That led to the cancellation of the results of these polling units. At the point of aggregation of all results from the 30 LGAs, the RO of the state informed us that the number of voters in these polling units exceed the margin between the scores of the two leading candidates- the second petitioner and the second respondent.
“The margin showed that difference is small compared with the number of the registered voters, and they cannot be disenfranchised. All the party agents were there as reflected by those who signed the Form EC8D."
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that confusion ensued at the hearing of the Osun governorship election tribunal on Wednesday, January 30, as the APC's witnesses presented conflicting statements against their previous testimonies.
In their responses to a confirmation that they had tendered earlier in court that there was over-voting, with no ballot accounting in areas where the PDP won at the election, the witnesses disagreed with the defendant’s counsel, Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN), and agreed that there was ballot counting contrary to their allegations in their statements.
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Osun Election: Can PDP’s Adeleke defeat APC’s Oyetola? Osun residents speak | Legit TV
Source: Legit.ng
