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.
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