‘APC’s Entire Rigging Machinery’ Failed In Osun, Victory Is ‘Advance Payment’ For 2027 –Turaki-Led PDP Faction | Sahara Reporters

The PDP faction alleged that the APC mobilised its “entire rigging machinery” to Osun State, boasting that it would replicate what it described as the “Edo experience.”

A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Tanimu Turaki has described Governor Ademola Adeleke’s victory in the Osun State governorship election as an “advance payment” against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), stressing that the outcome of the election is a “foreshadow” of the 2027 general elections.

The party, in a statement issued on Sunday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Interim National Working Committee, Ini Ememobong, said the result of the Osun State governorship election announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is a clear message from Osun voters and evidence of their resistance to the APC’s “entire rigging machinery.”

The PDP faction, which had declared its support for Governor Adeleke, said the victory came at the cost of “strong will, vigilance and resistance” by the people of the state, who the party said resisted attempts by the ruling party to win the election “at all costs.”

“That the APC wanted Osun, by fair or foul means, was not in doubt to anyone, which accounts for the unceasing intimidation, assault and arrests of opposition politicians, the ‘kill them’ directive by Senator Francis Fadahunsi and the performative invitation by the police, and his subsequent release to participate in the elections,” Ememobong stated.

The PDP faction alleged that the APC mobilised its “entire rigging machinery” to Osun State, boasting that it would replicate what it described as the “Edo experience.”

The party, however, said voters in Osun resisted the alleged machinations and protected the integrity of their votes.

“The ruling party that is ruining the country mobilized their entire rigging machinery to Osun, with nothing left to chance, boasting that they will repeat the Edo experience, but the people of Osun State resisted their machinations and ensured the sanctity of the ballot,” Ememobong stated.

The party also accused national institutions, particularly security agencies, of failing to maintain neutrality during the election.

“We must warn that the failure of national institutions to maintain unambiguous neutrality is dangerous and anti-democratic,” the party said.

The PDP accused security agencies, particularly the police, of “manifest partiality,” while condemning what it described as the “shameful intervention” by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in freezing the state government’s accounts.

The party further criticised INEC over what it described as the “intentional delay” of more than two hours in uploading results from 470 polling units.

According to the PDP, the alleged actions were “not just condemnable but are actions capable of derailing democracy.”

The PDP commended Osun voters for their resilience but urged Nigerians to remain vigilant ahead of the 2027 elections.

“While we commend the resilience of the electorate in Osun, we urge Nigerians not to rest on their oars as the 2027 elections approach,” Ememobong stated. “Nigerians must vote, protect and defend their votes.”

The opposition party warned that the APC and what it called its “accomplices in the critical national institutions” would not abandon their alleged attempts to undermine electoral processes simply because they lost Osun.

It said the ruling party would instead learn from the setbacks encountered in the state and seek to perfect what it described as its “dark art of subverting the wishes of the people.”

The PDP declared the Osun election result an early warning to the APC ahead of the 2027 presidential and other elections.

“Overall, the result from Osun is an advance payment by Nigerians against the APC; the balance will come in 2027, when Nigerians will send packing the most ineffective and destructive political class in the history of Nigeria, post-independence,” the party said.

The PDP insisted that election results must reflect the freely expressed wishes of voters rather than “the enforcement of the whims and caprices of a privileged minority of oppressors.”

“And to achieve this, Nigerians must never forget that the price for eternal freedom is vigilance,” the party added.