The president of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC), Segun Oladitan, revealed yesterday that only one political party showed interest in participating in the council election scheduled for Saturday.
The head of the OSIEC did not mention the name of the political party, but assured that the commission will carry out free, fair and credible polls.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state had canceled the campaign ahead of the controversial council election, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had said it would not participate in the polls, arguing it was illegal and a way of wasting public funds. .
The PDP and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the state have taken the OSIEC to court with different lawsuits challenging the planned holding of the polls.
But despite the lawsuits, Oladitan said the elections would take place on Saturday and that there was no court ruling to stop them.
Oladitan, who appeared on a monitored radio show in Osogbo, said: “OSIEC is constitutionally empowered to conduct the election. There is no judgment that prevents us from making the choice. Why are they fanning the sentiment. There is no legal restriction.
“Those political parties that have shown interest in participating collected forms but did not return them. Those who returned the forms were tested. In the last three weeks, only one party has been selected for the elections,” he said. However, he promised to declare the winners on Sunday, the day after the election.
