EKITI: How APC won the election —PDP candidate Eleka

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) In last Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State, Professor Kolapo Olusola Eleka, has described the poll as the most audacious electoral robbery in recent history.

This was as he rejected the outcome of the election in which the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of the state, Kayode Fayemi, was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Eleka, in a statement he entitled “I reject the INEC results of the July 14, 2018 Ekiti governorship election,” claimed that he won 70 per cent of lawful votes cast as well as won in almost all of the state’s 16 local government areas.

On how the election was allegedly rigged he said, “To rig this election, the APC leveraged on its well-advertised but patently obnoxious and anti-democratic ‘Federal might’ to intimidate, harass, victimize, oppress, and brutalize PDP leaders, members, and the voting public all over Ekiti. This brutal and barbaric process, which started well before the election, did not spare Gov. Ayo Fayose and me; as the whole world had seen and had condemned. It is quite unfortunate that the harassment has continued even after the election.

“On Saturday, July 14th, the security agencies and INEC upped the ante, threw all caution to the wind, went back on their promises to be impartial and to conduct credible elections; they sided with APC and Fayemi to the chagrin of our party, myself, and the good people of Ekiti State. Despite the alarm we had earlier raised, the security agencies not only supported but also supervised.”

“You are all aware of the unfortunate and dangerous events of the past 24 hours, in which our governorship election was hijacked by political desperadoes leveraging on ‘Federal might’ to pervert the electoral process, subvert the will of Ekiti people, and viciously steal the mandate willingly and freely given to me on a massive scale by our people.

“PDP and I won the election overwhelmingly, receiving more than 70 per cent of lawful votes cast and winning in almost all of the State’s 16 local government areas. I therefore reject the falsified results being bandied by the Independent National Electoral Commission, which purportedly gave the election to the All Progressives Congress and its Candidate; Dr. John Kayode Fayemi.

According to him, “This is the most audacious electoral robbery of our recent history. It shall not stand. By the grace of Almighty God and your support, I will pursue and regain my mandate,” he said in the statement he directed to Ekiti citizens, PDP, and election monitoring groups (Local and International), among others.

Other things he said was allegedly used to rig the poll were “Indiscriminate arrest of our party leaders and agents, the harassment and brutalization of voters on a massive scale, especially in Ado-Ekiti, Ikere and the suburbs; giving cover, tacit as well as active support to thugs imported into Ekiti by APC to snatch ballot boxes, create confusion, cause mayhem, and drive away voters in PDP strongholds.”

He also accused the security agents of “Giving cover to APC agents as they financially and openly induced voters and bought votes at polling stations; and driving away our polling agents from collation centres and illegal seizure of documents and materials in their possession, among many other infractions.”

On how INEC contributed to allegedly compromise the poll Eleka said, “INEC on its own part reneged on its promise to have results counted, declared, and pasted on the wall of each polling station. There was nowhere INEC transmitted results from the polling centres as earlier promised. Ballot boxes were illegally moved to INEC offices while our agents were disallowed from following the process.

READ ALSO: Ekiti election model should be replicated in Osun and 2019 elections— Fayemi

“INEC also allowed late voting by APC in hideouts when it was obvious the figures still would not add up after all the infractions mentioned above. Still, when all of these shenanigans still failed to give them the figures they needed, they stopped the announcement of results ward-by-ward, caused a deliberate power outage at the collation centre, with no alternative source of power provided for a long time, and then wrote results in favour of APC and its candidate.

“Without doubt, what has played out in Ekiti is the APC template for the 2019 general election, where they have mapped out Rivers and Akwa Ibom as states they must capture at all costs, like they are now trying to do Ekiti. It is now left for the opposition and opposition figures, most especially presidential hopefuls in 2019, to stand up to be counted in the struggle to roll back President Muhammadu Buhari’s creeping fascism, or throw in the towel without a fight.”

Among other thing Eleka added, “Those bent on setting this country on fire for selfish reasons must be restrained and turned back by the international community, mindful of the recent experience of Rwanda, Kosovo, Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, to mention but a few.

“The struggle has just started! I thank you.”

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