The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has suspended two of its top electoral officers in Osun State for their alleged involvement in electoral malpractices during the 9 August, 2014, governorship election in the state.
According to a report published by Punch online on Wednesday 3 September, 2014, a source close to Senator Iyiola Omisore, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the Osun polls, told journalists of the suspension of the two INEC officials.
“INEC has suspended two electoral officers for electoral malpractices during the August 9 governorship election. Their offences included: sale of ballot papers to the APC, manipulation of form EC8 series to favour the APC and voiding of PDP votes counted in favour of the APC.
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“INEC headquarters tried them and found them culpable of working for the APC to rig the election,” the source informed.
It was gathered that form EC 8 series are forms where election results are entered into from the unit level to ward, local government and state.
The Supervising National Commissioner Osun governorship election, Ambassador Mohammed Wali, confirmed the suspension of the two electoral officers.
Wali, however, said the officers were suspended to enable the commission to properly investigate them.
“Presently, the electoral officers are under suspension. They are not guilty yet but they are being investigated,” Wali opined.
However, the Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Osun State, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, when contacted on the issue, accused the PDP of using INEC to get what it lost at the Osun election
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He added that the opposition party in Osun would not achieve it aim in the state.
“If the PDP is the party announcing the suspension of officials of an organisation over which it has no control, then it clearly shows that the PDP is working on INEC to get what it could not get from the people of Osun State on August 9,” Oyatomi said.
It would be recalled that the incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the APC defeated Senator Omisore in the results of Osun gubernatorial election declared by INEC on 10 August, 2014.
Thousands of supporters of Aregbesola went on wild jubilation across the state after the results were announced.
Few days later, Omisore went to the election tribunal to challenge the result of the poll, saying there were many electoral malpractices perpetrated by the APC in favour of Governor Aregbesola.
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