BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

OSOGBO—AHEAD of the Governorship election in Osun State, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, have continued to disagree over impartiality of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Mr. Oluwatoyin Akeju.

While Governor Aregbesola asked Omisore to stop his campaign of calumny against the INEC’s Resident Commissioner, Omisore said Governor Aregbesola and the All Progressives Congress, APC, have something to benefit from the continued stay of the REC.

Speaking through the Director of Communications and Strategy in his office, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon in a statement, the governor argued that Omisore lost all moral grounds to condemn the Osun REC when he failed to approach the tribunal after he was thoroughly trounced in the 2011 National Assembly election in which he lost his bid to return to the Senate.

He said “Nigerians should know that it was actually that election (2011) that exposed the electoral weakness of Omisore who could only win his polling booth in his entire ward with just 45 votes. He did not only lose the election but lost woefully. One would have expected an arrogant politician like Omisore to challenge that humiliating defeat in the tribunal to show his credibility as a two-term senator. But to the chagrin of all, he could not even go to the tribunal to challenge the election anywhere to prove his electoral worth and it is the same man now wanting to use cheap blackmail to criminally manipulate electoral process to his advantage.

“A man that cannot challenge an election that thoroughly humiliated him is not fit to comment on the person who conducted the election. He has lost all moral rights. The only platter of accepting that is known to law, for accepting the credibility, transparency and the integrity of an election is the tribunal. You cannot leave the known legal way of seeking redress only to now want to seek the redress through the back door.

“The REC of Osun, competent or incompetent, can only be determined by the integrity, credibility, and the transparency of the election he conducted and this has not been in any way violated or indicted by any means known to law. ”

But, Omisore, in a reaction by his Director of Media and Strategy, Prince Diran Odeyemi said “the APC and Aregbesola have something to benefit from the stay of Akeju as the REC in Osun. That is why they are defending him. What does it cost to redeploy Akeju and bring a new person with integrity to conduct this election? A court has ruled that he should not preside as REC in Osun”.

“So why is the national chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega retaining him against the court judgment. For instance, if a litigant accuses a judge handling his case of bias and complain,  such judge will be changed, that is the norm.

But in this case, the INEC working in concert with the APC wants to force a bias umpire on us to conduct the election. That is why we are crying out and we won’t stop unless the right thing is done.”