Osun LG election: APC, other parties violated law over candidates nomination – Abioye

Barr Hashim Abioye, chairman of Osun State Electoral Commission, on Wednesday declared that some political parties participating in the forthcoming local government election in the state violated the provisions and procedure regarding substitution of candidates.

Hashim who stated this at a press conference held at the Osun NUJ Correspondents’ chapel, Osogbo, noted that some of the affected political parties include the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), the Action Peoples Party (APP).

The OSSIEC chairman noted that the political parties committed an infraction by giving nomination forms to candidates whose names were not on the list.

He further revealed that virtually all the political parties contesting the elections committed one infraction or the other, but that while some were rectifiable, others were not.

He said, “the provision is not an innovation, it is as also contained in the Electoral Act, 2022. That is the provision we have now adopted. For this reason, some political parties, notably the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), the Action Peoples Party (APP) ran foul of the provisions and procedure regarding substitution of candidates.

“Being a major political party, I will take that of the APC as an example. In Atakumosa West Local Government, the Chairmanship and Vice-chairmanship candidates submitted by the party to the Commission were not the persons who filled nomination forms submitted to OSSIEC.

“In the same vein, the respective vice-chairmanship candidates submitted by the APC for Ede South, Egbedore, Ife Central, Ifedayo, Isokan, Olorunda and Oriade Local Government Areas were completely different from the persons that filled and submitted nomination forms to the Commission. Candidates of the APC in several Wards across various local government areas were affected by this anomaly.”