Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were allegedly pressured by suspected agents loyal to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to invalidate ballots cast for the Accord Party at the polling unit of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, during Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State.
According to TheCable, the incident occurred at Lado Hill polling unit in Boripe Local Government Area, where no Accord Party agent was reportedly present to monitor the collation of results.
A man wearing an APC identification tag allegedly confronted INEC officials and demanded that ballots cast for Accord be nullified, claiming the instruction had come “from above.”
The presiding officer initially resisted the demand. However, after police and other security personnel reportedly moved away from the immediate area, the officer allegedly succumbed to the pressure.
The APC agent and another unidentified man were then said to have obtained ink from the electoral officials and thumb-printed the Accord ballots, apparently in an attempt to invalidate them.
When the results were eventually announced, the APC was credited with 242 votes, while the African Democratic Congress (ADC) received five votes, the Action Alliance (AA) secured two votes, and the African Democratic Party (ADP) recorded one vote.
A total of 14 candidates contested the Osun State governorship election.
