EVEN IN VICTORY AREGBESOLA SLAMS JONATHAN

Despite the re-election victory recorded by the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, in the state governorship election held on Saturday, the governor refused to show magnanimity in his victory and still slammed the federal government for what he termed the “militarisation” of Osun before and during the poll.

Addressing a crowd of his supporters in Osogbo after being declared winner of the election, the governor thanked the people of Osun for the support and for coming our en masse to vote for him.

He however stated that what should ordinarily have been a moment of joy and celebration was thwarted by the fact that the election showed that “democracy in the country is still endangered”.

“We witnessed the gross abuse of power and of due process before, during, and even after the actual voting process.

It is so sad and unfortunate that what should be a normal, routine process was maliciously allowed to snowball in to a needless virtual war by the federal government and the PDP,” he stated.

Aregbesola said his state was unduly militarised in an unprecedented manner through criminal intimidation and psychological assault on the people.

“This election witnessed an abuse of our security agencies and amounted to a corruption of their professional ethics and integrity.

The security agencies were unprofessionally utilised in Osun State to harass, intimidate and oppress the people whose taxes are used to pay their salaries and provide their arms.

“Hundreds of leaders, supporters, sympathisers and agents of our party were arrested and detained. Also, hundreds of other innocent citizens including women and the aged were harassed, brutalised and traumatised.

In spite of this condemnable repression and abuse of human rights, the unflagging spirit of our people triumphed,” he said.

He attributed his victory to the steadfastness and resolute determination of Osun people to assert and defend their rights, adding:

“The PDP obviously did all it could in a most desperate manner to steal the people’s mandate.

“A critical analysis of the election shows a trend of general low voter turnout largely because of the atmosphere of deliberate tyranny and fear caused by the excessive militarisation of the state.

“Despite our victory, it is pertinent to condemn and also point out the fact that the number of accredited voters in most local governments was less than half of registered voters.

Against this trend, it is curious that the bulk of PDP votes came from only four local governments – namely, Ife Central, Ife East, Ife North and Ife South.

“This suggests an inexplicable large turnout in his (Omisore) stronghold which is a curious departure from the general trend of voting across the state.

“The outcome of this election, once again, shows the unswerving determination of our people to ensure that democracy triumphs in Nigeria.

“We have sent a strong signal to all and sundry that no might is powerful enough to thwart the will of the people.
“This should always strengthen our resolve to ensure that as from now on, every vote must not only be counted but must count in this country.

“Nobody or party must ever exercise power unreasonably at any level except in accordance with the will of the people to whom sovereignty belongs.”