APC’s kangaroo victory in Osun cannot stand - Former APC chieftain

- Reactions continue to trail the just concluded Osun governorship election

- Former APC chieftain, Comrade Timi Frank, has described the exercise as a sham

- He urged the people of Osun to rise up and reclaim their mandate

Former deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has described the declaration of the APC as the winner of the Osun state governorship election as a sham which cannot stand.

In a statement sent to NAIJ.com on Friday, September 28, Comrade Frank stated that the results from the rerun exercise stands rejected and urged the people of Osun to rise up and reclaim their mandate.

He stated that true to his earlier alarm that the APC is out to brazenly rig the elections notwithstanding the presence of the media, local and international observers, the ruling party's candidate was still declared winner of the exercise.

Frank lamented that there was massive violation of existing electoral guidelines through intimidation, harassment and attacks against peaceful voters, as witnessed and confirmed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on its verified twitter handle @inecnigeria.

He called on the chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, and all national commissioners of the electoral body, to immediately resign their appointment adding that, “Nigerians and the international community have lost confidence in their ability and willingness to conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2019."

Frank said: “We saw it in Ekiti state. We have seen it in Osun state. Democracy in Nigeria has been hijacked by demagogues. The open electoral robbery in Osun is a clarion call to all Nigerians to rise up and defend democracy in the country beginning with the demand for the urgent restoration of the mandate of the Osun people freely given to the PDP on September 22.

“We must rise up to ensure that the ebbing embers of democratic governance in Nigeria, occasioned by APC’s continuous electoral banditry is not completely snuffed out.”

While calling on the Osun people to fight to reclaim their mandate, Comrade Frank added: “It remains to be seen if the great people of Osun will sit by and watch as the governorship mandate they freely gave to Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on September 22 is stolen and allowed to go for good!

“This is the time for Osun people to rise up and demand for their right. This is the time for the great descendants of Oduduwa to rise up and demand for the restoration of their mandate. This is the time for all PDP governors and national leaders to band together and fight for the sustenance of democracy in the country.

“Let them realize that the Osun APC’s banditry is a foretaste of the indecent and criminal path the ruling party is prepared to toe to hang onto power in 2019."

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Meanwhile, one of Nigeria’s most respected election monitoring groups in the country, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), has said the Thursday, September 27, re-run election in Osun state was neither free, fair nor credible.

The group in a statement shortly after the poll also called for government institutions who participated in alleged fraud during the election to be investigated.

The CDD insisted that the poll fell short of the global best practices in democratic elections which Nigerians desire.

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