As polls open for the Osun governorship re-run election in a few hours, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has alleged that his life is being threatened alongside that of his supporters.
Adeleke subsequently wrote a letter to the International community which was sent to the United Nations; European Union; the United States as well as several other diplomatic missions in the country.
Senator Adeleke listed several alleged infractions in last Saturday’s poll which include; the refusal of INEC to declare him the winner in line with the constitution, the alleged killing and maiming of his supporters, the arrest of key leaders on trumped-up charges as well as the manipulations of the electoral process.
Read the content of the letter below;
“I am constrained to write this letter to intimate you, our diplomatic partners and friends of despotic happenings in Osun governorship polls which I won but for which I was not declared the winner. My life is under threat and the leaders of my party are under siege before and after Saturday main polls.
During the campaigns, we were subjected to countless attacks. I escaped about four assassination attempts. Our campaign vehicles were severally attacked and our rallies disrupted. We went through the pre-election process under constant onslaught from political thugs and merchants of violence.
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Despite the violence-prone climate, I still won the election. On live television, our votes were removed and protestations for re-addition of the votes were rejected. Votes for the ruling party were jerked up and again the electoral umpire refused to correct the arithmetical errors. After all the manipulations which saw about 4000 votes removed from my total votes, I still won by close to 400 votes.
In a brazen assault on democracy, the returning officer, in open breach of the constitution refused to declare me the winner even after fulfilling constitutional stipulations. The officer erroneously justified declaration of the election as inconclusive based on violence in seven out of about 3000 voting units across the state. It was a travesty of justice that is under challenge in the court of law.”
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