The chairmanship and councillor candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Saturday’s council elections in Ondo State have condemned the decision of the party to boycott the exercise.
The PDP had said on Thursday, in a statement by its Director of Media, Leye Igbagbo, that it would not participate in the elections.
Igbagbo said the decision was taken after several layers of consultations with party leaders, stakeholders, and the National Secretariat of the party.
He said, “Our party fielded 15 chairmanship candidates in 15 local government areas and 131 councillorship candidates.” But, from all indications, ODIEC’s credibility, transparency, and impartiality have failed the integrity test.
“Recent observations and reports point to a troubling pattern of double standards by ODIEC, raising serious doubts about their ability to conduct a free, fair, and credible election.
“As a responsible political party committed to democracy and the rule of law, we cannot, in good conscience, confer legitimacy on this compromised process by participating in the election.
“We have, therefore, resolved to withdraw our participation in this exercise to uphold the integrity of our party and our unwavering belief in credible electoral practices.”
The PDP spokesperson stated that the commitment of the party to sanitize the electoral process was irrevocable.
However, the candidates of the party have kicked against the decision to boycott the council polls, describing it as a betrayal.
The PDP chairmanship candidate in Akure South, Tuyi Adekanmbi, on Thursday, led vice chairmanship and councillorship standard bearers of the party to the NUJ Press Center in Akure, the state capital, to protest the withdrawal.
Adekanmbi said: “The party was aware of our contest; they screened our forms; they have been to ODIEC; everything we did, they gave us the go-ahead to place the posters, banners, and canvass for votes.
“Everybody will agree with me: you don’t go to an election without money, no matter how small; being a councillor candidate, you know how much money it took to canvass people to vote for you.
“They came up in less than 72 hours of the election and without the consent of the aspirants and said the PDP was going to boycott that election.
“We see this as an infringement of our rights and if they are going to do it, it should not be done to loyal party members like us. In this party, we have carried our cross through thick and thin.
“We knew a lot of things we have lost. Many of us have been begged and wooed to another party in which we claim that our interest is our party.
“The party has come not only to disappoint us but to disappoint the entire Akure people. As we speak, we know the level of popularity and the depth of acceptability we have in the Akure metropolis.
“All our candidates are capable and the people of Akure, be it big or small—the party people, the traditional leaders, the religious people, the opinion leaders, everybody—have rallied their support behind us.
“We have a chance of almost 85 per cent in winning this election, and if the party has now come up without our consent to declare that that election will not hold, we consider that not only as an aberration, as an infringement of rights and even a sin against God and humanity.
“It is because of this we have come to address the public and to tell the whole world that nobody bought us over, contrary to the impression that people are having that probably some people are scammed to buy us over or gave us money; that is why we are boycotting the election.
“It is the upper body of the party that claims that this election cannot be held and we think that if a local government election, as they rightly claim, is an election that they don’t have confidence in.”
