A group, Centre for Good Governance (CGG), has asked the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to invite the senator representing Ogun Central in the National Assembly, Ibikunle Amosun, for questioning over his claim that the 2019 governorship election in Ogun State that brought in Governor Dapo Abiodun as the fifth democratically elected governor of the State was allegedly rigged in his (Abiodun’s) favour and that the riggers had apologised to him (Amosun).
Amosun, the immediate past governor of Ogun State, had made the allegations while receiving an award in Abeokuta, the State capital, last Friday.
In a statement issued in Abuja, and signed by its organising Secretary, Comrade Akeem Olanrewaju, CGG said that the declarations made by the ex-governor and serving senator were weighty and could not be swept under the carpet, urging the police to invite him to prove the veracity or otherwise of his claims.
The statement said that Amosun made his explosive claims knowing full well as a federal lawmaker that election rigging is a felony, and that the quest for the validation of the election in question went as far as the Supreme Court, which declared that the incumbent governor won fair and square.
It added that the apex court’s position aligned with those of local and international observers that monitored the election, all of whom said that it conformed to laid-down rules and reflected the choice of voters.
It, therefore, charged the Ogun Central senator to tell Nigerians the facts in his possession which INEC, the apex court and local and international observers did not have.It said: “Declarations or confessions about rigged elections touch on the very foundation of Nigeria’s democracy and can, therefore, not be swept under the carpet. The NPF should invite Amosun for questioning over his claim that election were rigged by some unnamed persons, and that the riggers apologised to him. Nigerians want to know the riggers so they could be taken care of by law before the 2023 elections.
“Unlike Amosun, Dapo, the incumbent governor, did not have all the paraphernalia of government to swing votes in his favour. These include the arms and ammunition Amosun bought and stacked at the governor’s office which he released only after he and his surrogate lost the 2019 governorship election. Dapo only came with the goodwill of the people of Ogun state with which he won the election. And as we all very well know, goodwill of the people wins elections; it does not rig elections! This was clearly validated and laid to rest by the Supreme Court where Amosun had initially tried out this false allegation of election rigging.
“By claiming that the 2019 governorship election in Ogun State was rigged, Senator Amosun has not only cast aspersions on the integrity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), he has also cast aspersions on the integrity of the Supreme Court, and the police and other security agencies who were visibly on ground on the day of the election.
“If indeed election riggers confessed to him and he refused to make such information known to the police, then he must be treated as an accessory after the fact and charged along with the felons that he referred to during his Abeokuta speech last Friday. The riggers must be disclosed. Consequently, the police must without hesitation invite him for questioning, in order to avert possible anarchy in Ogun State and save our democracy from crisis. And where he cannot substantiate the allegation, he must be brought to justice.
“It is certainly curious and unpardonable that election riggers confessed their misdeeds to Amosun, then the governor of the state, and he refused to report it to the police and the state Security Service that were at his beck and call for necessary action. This amount to promotion of lawlessness and condonation of same for which the police should hold Amosun to account
“Amosun definitely has a lot to tell Nigerians what he knows about the alleged rigging of the 2019 governorship election in Ogun State, when he knew it, and the perpetrators who had apologized to him. This is crucial to unraveling the crime he claimed was perpetrated by ‘the people’ he referred to in the statement.”
