* Carpets INEC over Ondo guber poll

BY DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE – THE Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in the October 20 election in Ondo State Chief Olusola Oke yesterday hit back at the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC over allegation that he lied over the last election.

Oke’s special Adviser on Media and Publicity Kunle Adebayo in a statement in Akure described recent reaction of INEC as diversionary and unhelpful to the inappropriate conducts alleged against Ondo INEC.

He said INEC must learn from the victory of US President Barrak Obama in a truly free and fair election that Spartan election administration and management will always be the first mark of credibility of the electoral process.

Earlier in the week, the electoral body in a statement reacting to earlier comments by Oke had said the PDP candidate was attacking INEC for no just cause.

INEC Director of Legal Services in the state, Mr. Oluwole Uzzi had said Oke’s complaints were “vain and fruitless attempt to denigrate, discredit and belittle the nation’s progress and achievements in its path to free, fair and credible elections and a robust, enduring democracy”.

However, Oke said Ondo PDP will relentlessly lead the war against the practice where unscrupulous officials compromise transparency and administer elections with the basest moral conduct and then hide behind the highly encumbering  legal tussles where the real criminal minded individuals who compromised the system hide behind institutional defence and get away.

“Free and fair elections are not defined by arbitrary administration of voting procedure, declaration of controversial results, self appraisal and  organized credibility campaign, rather the credibility of an election consists of the sanctity and transparency of the process and procedure of voters’ registration, voting, counting and collation, all of which  INEC inadvertently violated in Ondo State,” he said.

He said while the American election officials did not neglect to conduct election in  any remote part of America, INEC, for inexplicable reason abandoned its sacred duty to conduct election in key wards and units in the state.

“We are sure that no single voter in the American election failed to see his name or find his name cloned on the voters’ register, unlike here where INEC list suffered the injection of over 150,000 strange and amorphous names? Did voting materials arrive  election venue hours after accreditation was over in America as was the case in several places on October 20th?”

Oke insisted that more shocking revelations will be made soon.