Declare Ogun Guber Polls Inclusive, Order Re-run, Group Tells INEC

A group, under the aegis of Vanguard for Democracy and Good Governance, has called on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to desist from issuing the certificate of return to the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun.

In what it earlier term a ‘sham’, the group had earlier called on INEC to review the result of the just concluded governorship election in the state as, according to it, the election did not produce a winner yet.

In a communique made available to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday, the group urged INEC to not issue a certificate of return to Governor Abiodun, as the governorship election is inconclusive by all standards.

“While we commend INEC on the introduction of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) and the result viewing portal (IREV) which have largely improved electoral conduct in the country, we make bold to say that the election in Ogun State, despite being marred with all forms of electoral malpractices, still did not produce a winner, in accordance with the Electoral Act.

“As clearly observed, INEC flippantly went ahead to announce a winner rather than declaring it inconclusive, as the margin between the top two leading candidates is far lesser than the total number of cancelled votes in some areas. In this case, the difference between Governor Dapo Abiodun of the APC who polled 276,295 and the 262,383 votes polled by Ladi Adebutu of the PDP was only 13,912, with cancelled votes amounting to 33,750.

“The Electoral Act 2022 is clear on what should be done in such circumstance. We hereby refer INEC to the article in our supreme Electoral Act which states that, “Where the difference between the winner and the loser is less than cancelled vote, the results should be inconclusive.”

“This particular case is one fraudulent one and INEC need do the needful rather than taking steps that attract an avoidable litigation and put the commission in bad light.

“On this note, we enjoin INEC to embrace justice by withholding the certificate of return in the Ogun guber until a rerun election is declared and conducted,’ the statement read in part.