TheCable

Ademola Adeleke, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun state, has declared himself the governor-elect.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the election inconclusive, saying the margin between the two leading candidates was not significant enough to declare a winner.

Adeleke had polled 254,699 votes ahead of Isiaka Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who had 254,345 votes, leaving a margin of 353.

The commission had announced that 3,498 votes were cancelled across seven polling units in four local government areas.

It, therefore, fixed a rerun for Thursday.

Speaking in an interview with BBC News Yoruba, Adeleke said the people of the state were robbed of their votes.

He said this was not new in the country, citing the annulled June 12, 1993 as an example.

“The people of Osun state voted and they voted me as their governor; as I am speaking with you, I’m the elected governor of the state,” he said.

“They robbed us of our mandate and this is not the first time something like this would happen. The same thing happened during the June 12 election, the mandate was stolen too. Till date, there are still controversies over the annulled election.

“That is why the international community does not love us again; they said Nigerians are not trustworthy. What happened last Saturday has shown that we were cheated; now is the time for the people of Osun to sit up and we know that by the grace of God, we will get our mandate.

“The international community is watching us. It is shameful; if a governorship election is conducted in this manner, that means the same thing would be replicated during the forthcoming general election.”

Asked if there are plans to get support from governorship candidates of other parties, he replied that he believes he will be supported.

“The other governorship candidates have decided to work with me to make Osun state a better place, to make it progressive. I know they are good people and I believe they will support me,” he said.

All the 48 political parties will partake in the supplementary election but the real contest is between Adeleke and Oyetola.