The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has condemned the composition of the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODSIEC), describing it as a body peopled by political associates of Governor Olusegun Mimiko. The party speaking through its Ondo State chairperson, Barrister (Mrs.) Olajumoke Anifowoshe at a press conference in Lagos yesterday alleged that the commission members are card-carrying members of the Labour Party (LP).
“The Commission members are card-carrying members of the Labour Party. Mr. Bisi Ogundipe, a labour activist is well known in Ondo State. So also is Mrs Joke Adebusoye. Mr. Adeoye Omolekulo is a card-carrying member of LP and lives with the Chief of Staff to the governor, Dr. Ademujinmi while Mrs. Lola Adewunmi was a regular face in all the campaign rallies of Labour Party at the last general elections,” Anifowoshe noted. Anifowoshe said that the Chairman of the electoral commission, Dr. Gbenga Ige also lacks the requirement for the office which he was holding.
Her words: “Apart from these LP staunch allies, the chairman, Dr. Gbenga Ige lacks the prescribed qualification to be the chairman of the Commission. Section 4(2) of the law setting up the Commission states that: the chairman of the hearcommission shall be a person that has retired from a public office not less than the post of a Permanent Secretary or its equivalent, or a legal practitioner of not less than 10 years postcall experience. Dr. Ige’s current position at the university as an acting Dean is not equivalent to a Permanent Secretary’s position in the public service.”
Anifowoshe also explained that the way the ODSIEC members and the caretaker members of the local governments were sent to the House of Assembly and subsequently sworn in the same day did not allow members of the public to protest against any of them, describing the action as undemocratic. She said the ACN has no confidence in ODSIEC as presently constituted and that the party is yet to decide whether to boycott the forthcoming local government election in the state or not.
Anifowoshe, who described the Ondo State governor, Mimiko, as a despot who is using all available powers of the state to fight the opposition, cited the recent stoppage of a popular radio programme “Oja- Oro” on a private radio station, Adaba FM, through the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) as a return to the dark days of military dictatorship. She also condemned the way Mimiko kept the finances of the state under wraps, saying “even the Auditor General whose duty is to audit the state’s finances has abdicated his responsibility and has failed to present audited statements to the legislature since the inception of Mimiko’s administration.” In the meantime, the Ondo State government has told the ACN to go to court if it has grievances against the composition of the electoral body and any of its decision.
“On the issue of the ODSIEC, what we did was legal and the members were properly constituted and the Chairman, Dr Olugbenga Ige is an academic of no mean repute and he is eminently qualified. But if they feel a breach of the Constitution has been committed, they are free to go to court,” the government stated through a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Kolawole Olabisi. “In sum, the whole allegations bothered on fear by the opposition party.
They have been clamouring for elections into the local government councils and the governor has kick started the process that would lead to a free poll and all of a sudden, they become jittery. Indeed, what they are doing now is akin to the “working to the answer syndrome” common among lazy students. They are merely rehearsing their eventual failure in the coming local government election with all these phantom, spurious and wild allegations.”
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