2nd July, 2017
The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) in Osun, says it has endorsed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dr Ademola Adeleke, for the July 8 senatorial by-election in Osun-West.
Secretary of the conference in the state, Mr Gbade Adelakun, made this known at a news briefing on Sunday in Ede in Osun.
Adelakun said that the group endorsed the PDP candidate because it believed that he would deliver the dividends of democracy to people in the constituency.
He said that nine political parties had supported Adeleke’s candidature for the by-election, and listed them as All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Action Alliance (AA), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Green Party of Nigeria (GPN).
Others, according to him, are Alliance for Democracy (AD), Democratic People’s Party (DPP), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), People’s Party of Nigeria (PPN) and People’s Democratic Movement (PDM).
Adelakun urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to postpone the election as being rumoured, and warned that the group would resist such action.
He alleged that INEC had been under pressure from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to shift the election date.
“Postponement of the election will amount to unnecessary tension among the political parties. The moral burden is on INEC not to shift the date of election,” he said.
The conference’s scribe also alleged that APC was planning to rig the by-election with the help of “State Boys”.
“We call on security agents and law-abiding citizens of Osun and Osun-West Senatorial District in particular, to call on the APC to allow wise counsel to prevail in this matter, a stitch in time saves nine,” he said.
The APC Director of Publicity and Strategy in the state, Mr Kunle Oyatomi, dismissed the allegations as baseless.
Oyatomi said that APC would win the election, adding that the party had no plan to rig any election.
Director of Publicity and Voter Education at INEC, Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, had on Thursday, said that the commission was not planning to shift the election as being alleged.
The by-election was prompted by the death of Sen. Isiaka Adeleke, the representative of the district in the Senate, on April 23.
His younger brother, Demola, was subsequently given the mandate by the PDP to be its candidate in the election. His closest opponent is Mr Mudashiru Hussain of the APC.