By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described Senator Ademola Adeleke’s success, despite overwhelming intimidation and the massive deployment of state power by the ruling party, as not just a personal victory for the governor, but also a victory for the people of Osun State and for opposition leaders and supporters who worked together to defeat what it called “the APC tyranny.”
The party said this on Sunday in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi in Abuja .
The ADC however asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to explain why the uploading of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) was halted for nearly four hours on election night.
The opposition party said Nigerians deserve to know who directed the INEC to stop uploading the results when it became clear that the APC was going to lose.
The statement by Abdullahi reads, “The African Democratic Congress (ADC) congratulates H.E. Ademola Adeleke on his decisive victory in Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State.
“We also congratulate the courageous people of Osun State who stood against overwhelming forces of intimidation and manipulation to deliver this victory for themselves and for democracy.
“This election has once again demonstrated a simple but powerful truth: when a people make up their minds about the future they want, there is a limit to what intimidation, money and the machinery of government can accomplish against their collective will.
“The people of Osun have shown Nigerians that no political machine is greater than a determined electorate.
“When citizens resolve to vote for the candidate and political direction they prefer, the ballot can still prevail.
“This lesson is particularly significant because of the extraordinary resources deployed by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun.
“The APC’s entire political machine descended on one of the smallest states in Nigeria, with more than 30 state governors leading the invasion. The Senate President was there. The Speaker of the House of Representatives was there. “Hundreds of federal and state legislators and other senior government officials were mobilised from across the federation.
“All of them trying to outdo one another in an unprecedented show of sycophancy to help President Bola Tinubu capture Osun.
“They wanted to make Osun an example of what we should expect in 2027. What they got instead was a chastening lesson that, in a democracy, you may control the government and all the forces it commands, but you can not control the people’s minds or obtain their consent by force.
“The sheer scale of security deployment could easily have discouraged ordinary citizens from exercising their democratic rights, but it only succeeded in making the people more determined even as they faced instigated violence, arrests, and intimidation.
“The lesson is unmistakable: no deployment is large enough to defeat a people who have lost their fear.
“Across Nigeria today, that idea is gathering strength: that citizens do not have to endure bad leadership; that we do not have to surrender to tyranny, that hardship does not have to be our permanent national condition; and that bad governance can be brought to an end peacefully and decisively through the ballot box. Osun has shown that this is possible.
“However, even as we celebrate the outcome of this election, there is one incident that can not simply be buried beneath the congratulations.
“ADC’s intelligence report indicated that at approximately 8pm last night, INEC was directed to stop uploading election results on IREV when it became apparent that the APC was losing. This resulted in what election monitors and observers noticed as several hours of interruption in the uploading of results.
“The ADC hereby demands a comprehensive explanation from the Independent National Electoral Commission regarding the observed interruption in the uploading of election results to the IReV portal for nearly four hours on election night. INEC must tell Nigerians precisely what happened.
“While we await INEC’s explanation, ADC have reasonable grounds to believe that an attempt was made by the ruling party to tamper with the results of the election and to render the process, at least, inconclusive.
“Perhaps, if not for the timely alarm raised by Governor Adeleke himself, as well as election monitors and observers , they would have gotten away with it.
“ADC believes that this attempted heist is indicative of what the APC is capable of doing in the coming general elections. This is why INEC must give a full account of what happened in those few critical hours.
“We must not allow the euphoria of this victory to blind us to the dangers that lie ahead.
“What is clear is this: APC will not surrender power easily unless they are confronted with inevitability as it happened in Osun. In the coming days, the ruling party will attempt to frame their defeat in Osun as evidence of their commitment to democracy and free election. But this is only damage control, and no one should be deceived by it.
“In reality, APC did everything in line with President Tinubu’s doctrine of “all is fair in politics,” yet the APC invading army had to leave Osun in humiliation, defeated by a determined people, with opposition actors working together, and the vigilance of election monitors and observers.
“If Osun has taught us anything this weekend, it is this: A government may deploy power everywhere, but it can not deploy it inside the ballot booth.
“The time to end APC bad governance has come”, the statement ended.
END
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