PRESS RELEASE
The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has commended the Councillorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Shawo South West ward in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State, Mr. Afolabi Olawole, for rejecting the victory attributed to him following the recent rerun election held in the local government.
Mr. Olawole was declared the winner of the ward election by the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission in the rerun election, but he stunned his party and the public when he declared that he did not win in the election.
Reacting to the news, the Coalition through its Executive Chairman, Debo Adeniran commended the giant stride of the councillorship candidate and urged the politicians to emulate such truthful stance.
He said, “It has become traditional for all the results declared by any state’s Independent Electoral Commission, particularly in local government elections, to be in favour of the ruling party in the respective state, irrespective of the strength of any other opposing party in the affected area. So, the action of Mr Afolabi Olawole is not only commendable, but worthy of emulation for our so-called leaders. He is an exemplar model of what our political class should be. What is the essence of sitting tight in government when your people have voted you out? Why won’t our politicians pick a cue from this and shun every form of electoral corruption?
The human rights activist however called on the INEC to probe the veracity of the declaration of Mr Afolabi and prosecute anyone found to have aided and abetted electoral corruption.
“This development like others, is no doubt sending a dangerous signal to the general elections billed for 2015. INEC should therefore, as a matter of expediency, carry out a thorough investigation into the councillor’s claim with a view to unearthing the dirty deals and compromise beneath the controversy surrounding the whole incident. It is only by so doing that INEC could be able to restore people’s confidence in its ability to conduct a credible elections in 2015.
Abimbola Adegoke
Media Officer, CACOL
17 September, 2013