A candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Ekiti House of Assembly, Sunday Omosilade, on Friday withdrew from participating in the election. In a letter dated March 1, 2019, Omosilade personally signed and addressed to the State chapter of the PDP and copied to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the candidate said he cannot partake in an election the outcome was already determined even before votes were cast.
Omosilade, who is the PDP candidate for Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Constituency II, said the neutrality and independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had been called to question with the conduct of previous elections, especially the Presidential and National Assembly elections which held on February 23 across the country and saw the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) eventually declared winner ahead of PDP’s Atiku Abubakar.
The letter to inform INEC of his withdrawal from the coming elections read: “Please be informed of my withdrawal from the Ekiti State House of Assembly Irepodun/Ifelodun Constituency ll coming up on the 9th of March, 2019. I have personally lost confidence in the electoral process most especially with the last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections that were brazenly manipulated in favour of the APC coupled with the unchecked harassment and intimidation by security agencies before, during and after the elections.”
He went on in the letter to state his doubts over INEC’s trustworthiness in conducting the coming elections” “The neutrality/independent of INEC has been called to question in previous and the just-concluded elections in Nigeria, hence my lack of confidence in the process. I have copied INEC this letter to intimate the commission of this development. While thanking the party and its members for the opportunity given me to represent them, I feel I can’t operate under an already determined end of a process.”
This comes after PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, presented what was described as “grievances and observations” to the National Peace Committee (NPC) chaired by a former Head of State, retired Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. “Atiku presented his grievances and his observations, he did not present any conditions, he gave his complaints, which we have come to presented and discuss with Mr President to see what can be done,” Abubakar said.
What are your thoughts about the PDP candidate’s withdrawal? Do you share Omosilade’s skepticism of the coming elections on March 9? Do share your opinions about the matter in the comments section below.
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