16 parties plan boycott of Osun LG election

– Accuse PDP of hijacking process

The local government elections scheduled in Osun State to hold February 2025, is already being threatened, despite all the arrangements going on for the polls by the State’s Electoral Commission (OSSIEC), with a promise that it would operate a level playing ground.

Already, 16 political parties in the state have planned to back out of the election on the basis that the state’s electoral body could not be trusted, as it has been hoarding necessary and important informations about the the election, which is just about six months from now.

The 16 opposition political parties under the platform of the Osun State Intra-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), had already signified their intention to stay off the polls and indicated that they were convinced that the OSun State electoral body, has already set the tone for its bias in the election.

The chairman of IPAC, Mr Victor Akande has taken a swipe on the OSSIEC, accusing its chairman, Mr. Hashim Abioye of deliberately being economical with informations to guide other political parties in order to favour the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State.

According to Akande, it was discovered that OSSIEC has perfected plans to employ members of the PDP as electoral officers. He went further to state that the PDP wants to use OSSIEC to create chaos in order to scare other political parties and their supporters to vote candidates of their choice.

“It is, therefore, on this note that we resolved after meeting with our party members to back out of the forthcoming local government election.”

However, the Chairman of the State Electoral Commission, Abioye debunked the allegations against his organization, saying, the commission, only mapped out modalities for the conduct of the election and no information had been kept from all the parties and members of the public.

According to him, they have not been hoarding pieces of information about fees as it was already indicated, that those contesting the Chairmanship would pay N500,000 while councillorship candidates would pay N250, 000.

As it was also being speculated that the electoral body is under pressure, the chairman argued that they were not under any pressure and that they were putting everything in place according to the law, pointing out that the state Assembly has passed the State Independent Electoral Commission Amendment Bill 2024 to regulate the electoral body to conduct the elections in the 30 recognized Local government areas of the State.

“OSSIEC is not under pressure or legal hindrance to go ahead with its already scheduled times table and activities for the conduct of the election on February 2025.”

“Notice of Election goes to the very root and any defect in it knocks off the election, which will render it invalid with no basis and foundation and we are already guiding against anything that would affect the election”

He further argued that the notice they have given was in line with the Electoral Act of 2022 and OSSIEC laws 2022 and they are in good stead to go ahead with the election activities.

However, looking at the election from a political angle, it goes beyond the conduct and the roles of OSSIEC alone, as it is envisaged to be a determining factor for who or the party would control the state in the next governorship election.

This is why the two major political parties, which have been dominating the state are not taking the election lightly.

The ruling Peoples Democratic party and its arch-rival, the All Progressives Congress (APC), are strongly and seriously mapping out strategies to ensure that they have control of their strong basis.

Although, in the past, as it was the norm, the ruling political party would want to make sure it controlled all the local governments in their states, there were strong indications that the Supreme Court verdict, which has given the Local government autonomy, may change the scenario.

Since the local governments may not have any strong financial ties with their states and the state governors, who at will or at their beck and call dish out stipends to them to run the affairs of their councils, a situation, which always makes them to be subservient, the powerful people in the localities are poised to ensure that the candidates that would benefit them in their respective areas would be voted for.

As such, the situation could be a doom in some areas for the party, who fields an unpopular candidate and who is not loved by the people.

It was argued that the locals would not want to vote a candidate that would still be under the appendage, of the State governor, who would still determine how the dividend of democracy would come to them.

As a political analyst said, the autonomy will bring Nigeria back to the days of old, when the people have a say on who governs them at the local level.

It was argued that the local government elections which would happen in the 13 states that have come out with their plans, to conduct their local government elections immediately after the Supreme Court verdict, especially, in Osun State, would be a test case concerning, the autonomy of the local government and the actual will of the people, as there was an indication that “even in some local government, no single political party either ruling or otherwise, would be in control of the local government’s legislative council, as there could be some wards that would produce their councilors from the party of the choice of the people and the personalities of the candidates.

In Osun State, both the APC and the PDP are working hard on this.

This is what the chairman of the PDP Mr. Sunday Bisi highlighted, when he was interviewed by the journalist that, the party is working hard to present a credible candidate who will be accepted by his people and not through imposition as it was being alleged, in some quarters.

The PDP chairman declared that as far as the party is concerned, they have done their homework well, to pick candidates who are the choices of their people in their various localities and it won’t be a surprise to them. if at the end of the day “we still control the majority in all the local governments”

On the allegations that the party is in control of OSSIEC, he said that the PDP has nothing to do with the conduct of the election and that what they are working hard on, is to present sellable candidates in all the local governments. How OSSIEC conducts the election, is its business, and what they are saying, is that the Electoral body should be fair and transparent in the conduct of the election.

Also, the APC says it is working hard too to protect all its strong areas, as the local government election would be keenly contested pointing out that they would shock the ruling party this time around.

The spokesperson for the APC in Osun State Chief Kola Olabisi during a Telephone chat with the Business Hallmark, on the election said that what they care about is for OSSIEC to conduct a transparent and credible election and want the PDP in power, not to use cohesion and intimidation but should allow people to vote according to their conscience. He argued that anything short of transparency and credibility on the part of OSSIEC, is slapdash.

“Osun State Electoral body should not allow the election to be like in other climes that the ruling party influence the election.”

He pointed out that the autonomy for the local governments would have a lot of roles in the coming local government elections, not in Osun State alone, but all over Nigeria, as people in the localities, would want to know who represents them in their various ward and be able to monitor them, since they would want both the chairmen and the counselors to be accountable to the people who voted for them.

He, therefore, warned that OSSIEC should be very careful not to conduct an election that would bring chaos, as anything done contrary to conducting a credible election would end up in court, which is now the only last hope of the people.

Although the APC argued that it was sure of victory in many local governments of the state and ready to slug it out with the ruling PDP, it was argued that the unresolved crisis between the so-called mainstream of the party led by Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, a former governor and now Minister of Marine and Blue economy and the Omoluabi group of the former governor of the state as well and former Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, could still affect the party just at it did in 2022 governorship election.

It was argued that the PDP would also capitalize on that to outwit the APC as there were strong indications that the Alliance between Aregbesola’s group and the PDP is still intact and even stronger than in 2022 when they were still claiming to be in APC, with the hope that the result of the governorship election would call for repentance from the Oyetola’s group to see the reasons, why they should come together as a strong and formidable team to take power back in 2026 from the PDP.

In his reaction to the continued attitude and neglect of the Aregbesola’s group in APC, the former Commissioner of Information and the spokesperson of the group, Mr. Lani Baderinwa in a telephone chat, told the Business Hallmark, the people in the so-called mainstream of the APC led by Oyetola has failed to learn their lessons.

He said that they on their part are not worried about the local government elections, notwithstanding the Mainstream APC, which suspended indefinitely some of them from the party and expelled people like them including Ogbeni Aregbesola, outright from the party should know that they still have their followers in all the local governments in the state.

According to him, we have nothing to do again with the APC, but are mainly concerned with building the Omoluabi Progressives into a strong platform for people to join.

“To us, they are not remorseful and if they think that we are relevant and important to them, they would not say that we are not wanted in the party, which we brought to Osun State, as founding members.

“It is our group that did a lot, to solidify APC in Osun State, when many of them were nowhere to be found.”

Meanwhile, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, in Osun State has declared that it is prepared for the election and has put all its candidates in place for the poll.

The chairman of the Party, Dr. Tosin Odeyemi too, harped on OSSIEC conducting the free and fair election, saying “We are contesting all the positions and we have as well, mapped out our strategies to ensure that we give PDP and the APC a good fight and ready to as well give a good account of ourselves in the local government elections”