By Samuel Akpan

Suspected agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) prevented officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from counting votes cast for Accord at the polling unit of Gboyega Oyetola, minister of marine and blue economy, during Saturday’s governorship election in Osun state.

No Accord agent was present at the Lado Hill polling unit in Boripe LGA of Osun state when the votes were counted.

The agent, who was seen by TheCable reporter with an APC tag, demanded that INEC officials at the polling unit void the ballot papers cast for Accord, saying the directive had come “from above.”

The presiding officer initially resisted the demand but eventually relented after police officers and other security personnel moved away from the immediate vicinity of the incident.

The APC agent and an unidentified man subsequently obtained ink from the electoral officials and thumb-printed the Accord ballot papers, apparently in an attempt to invalidate them.

The incident occurred after voters had left the polling unit, leaving only security personnel and some party agents at the scene.

The presiding officer declared 1 vote for the African Democratic Party (ADP), 5 for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), 2 for the Action Alliance (AA), and 242 for the APC.

Candidates who participated in the governorship election include Ademola Adeleke of Accord; Bola Oyebamiji of the APC; Najeem Salaam of the ADC; Farinloye Olarenwaju of the AA; Esan Olajide of the African Action Congress (AAC); Adeagbo Opawoye of the African Democratic Party (ADP); Adesina Adeyemi-Doro of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA); and Saliu Oyelami of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP).

Others are Ogunsakin Olalekan of the Young Progressives Party (YPP); Adefemi Adesuyi of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP); Adewale Adebayo of the Allied People’s Movement (APM); Clement Adesuyi of the Action Peoples Party (APP); Masilo Adeleke of the Boot Party (BP); and Taofeek Adeleke of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).

Source: TheCable