The All Progressives Congress (APC) said on Thursday that it would do everything to ensure a peaceful conduct of the Aug. 9 governorship election in Osun.
Sen. Chris Ngige
Sen. Chris Ngige, APC chieftain and former governor of Anambra, made the statement in when he spoke with newsmen after a meeting of the party’s leaders at Government House, Osogbo.
Ngige said the meeting was centred on how to ensure that peace prevail before, during and after the election.
“Peace is what we have been talking about because we need peace to conduct election but sometimes to achieve peace, we have to make extra efforts,’’ he said.
Also, Mr Segun Oni, a former governor of Ekiti, said the party would do everything possible to ensure that Osun election was credible, free and fair.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Oni defected from the PDP to the APC shortly before the Ekiti June 21 governorship poll and became the party’s National Deputy Chairman (South).
“We are going to prevent what happened in Ekiti. What we have seen in Ekiti is a new dimension to voting; it is a new dimension to election rigging.
“Congratulatory message from the party to the PDP does not mean we cannot exercise our right.
“Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti said if the election was the will of the people and did not say it was the people’s will.
“We have since discovered that the election was actually not the will of the people. Fayemi’s position has always been in tandem with that of the party,’’ Oni said.
According to him, there is no shade of disagreement between Fayemi and the APC on the election; hence the party can go to court to seek justice.
It would be recalled that Mr Ayo Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defeated Fayemi, the incumbent governor in the June 21 poll.
The meeting was attended by Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun, Sen. Babafemi Ojudu and Sen. Sola Adeyeye, among others. (NAN)