Eight political parties in Osun State have endorsed and
adopted the candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Otunba Nurudeen
Ademola Adeleke as their choice in the forthcoming Osun West Senatorial
bye-election.
The opposition political parties under the aegis of the
Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) directed their members and
supporters to vote for Adeleke in the July 8 bye-election.
At a joint press conference held in Ede on Sunday, the
leadership of the opposition parties in the state told journalists that they
have unanimously agreed to support Adeleke to ensure his victory in the
election.
The chairman of CNPP in the state who is also the state
Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) Popoola Olatunji declared
that all the opposition political parties would work for Adeleke to defeat the
candidate for the All Progressive Congress, Senator Mudasiru Hussain.
Other political parties that adopted Adeleke include Action
Alliance (AA), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Green Party of Nigeria (GPN),
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).
The opposition parties also alleged that the Independent
National Electoral Commission was planning to sift the date of the election and
vowed to resist any attempt to postpone the bye-election.
In a communiqué released by the CNPP, the opposition parties
said postponement of the election would amount to unnecessary tension among the
political parties and cause confusion among the people of the state.
According to the communiqué, “Moral burden is on the INEC
not to shift the date of election. The APC had concluded their plan to rig the
election in rural areas of the State with the connivance of the State boys.”
“We have it on good authority that primary and secondary
school students are been used for data capturing and thumb printing, what for
and why? We call on security agencies and law abiding citizens of Osun State
and Osun West Senatorial in particular to prevail on the APC allow the election
to be free and fair.”
Reacting to the development, the spokesperson of APC in Osun
State, Kunle Oyatomi said the CNPP in Osun has turned itselt to an extension of
PDP and that the opposition political parties have compromised.
By Hameed Oyegbade
