*Akala wants CNPP, rights groups to caution him

BY OLA AJAYI

IBADAN – FORMER Governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Lamidi Adesina  has alleged that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the state has concluded plans to buy ballot papers from electoral officers in order to win the elections.

Specifically, Adesina accused Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of ordering all the caretaker chairmen in the 33 local government areas in the state to make available at least N100,000 per each polling centre to buy the ballot papers.

He said the latest move was informed by the revelation that dawned on the party that its time of misrule was over in the state. The ex-governor who said he was not used to making frivolous allegation said the governor had allegedly voted about N5 bilion to rig the election.

He called on INEC to be careful and warn all those electoral officers not to set the state on fire by selling ballot papers to the PDP.

But responding to the allegations, Akala, through his Special Adviser on Public Communication, Prince Doptun Oyelade asked civil rights organisations, INEC and Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, to caution Adesina over unsubstantiated allegations that bordered on security of the state.

According to him, If Lam Adesina is not restrained quickly, he stands to diminish the quality of discourse and make the onerous job of security men more difficult.

To him, Alhaji Adesina is getting “a little bit schizophrenic by allegations against INEC, police and the state government and it is time that leaders who make wild unsubstantiated statements be rebuked and reprimanded”.

The former governor stated without any equivocation that the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, would not sit down and watch the elections being rigged in the state.

He said, “we would not allow some political rascals to trample upon the rights of the people in Oyo State .

For a free and credible election to be actualized in the state, he urged the INEC to ensure the withdrawal of all mutilated ballot papers used in the last Saturday botched election.

Besides, he advised the electoral body to investigate all allegations against the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mr. Ayo Adakeja, arraign the suspects arrested in connection with the six Direct Data Capture Machines,DDC, last month.