A group, the Centre for Good Governance (CGG), has urged the police to invite the senator representing Ogun Central, Ibikunle Amosun, for questioning over his allegation that the 2019 governorship election that brought in Governor Dapo Abiodun was rigged in his (Abiodun’s) favour and that the perpetrators had apologised to him (Amosun).
Amosun, ex-Ogun State governor, made the allegations while receiving an award in Abeokuta at the weekend.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday and signed by its Organising Secretary, Akeem Olanrewaju, CGG said Amosun’s declaration was weighty and could not be swept under the carpet, enjoining the police to invite him to prove the veracity or otherwise of his claims.
The statement said Amosun made his claim, knowing as a federal lawmaker that election rigging was a felony and that the quest for the validation of the election in question went as far as the Supreme Court, which declared that Governor Abiodun 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, urged 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.
The statement 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 police 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, Abiodun, the incumbent governor, did not have all the paraphernalia of government to swing votes in his favour. This 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. Abiodun 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 win 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 amounts to promotion of lawlessness and condone 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 apologised to him. This is crucial to unravelling the crime he claimed was perpetrated by “the people” he referred to in the statement.”
Credit : THE NATION.
