The African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate in the Osun State governorship election, Najeem Salaam, has alleged that some of the party’s agents were denied accreditation tags by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in several local government areas.
Salaam described the development as “worrisome and disturbing”, noting that the names of the party’s agents had been uploaded on the INEC platform ahead of the election.
He alleged that ADC agents in Ward 5 in Ijebu were not issued accreditation tags, adding that similar complaints had emerged from about 10 local government areas across the state.
“The report of my agent being recognised in most of the wards across the state is worrisome and disturbing,” Salaam said.
He emphasised the importance of party agents being present and recognised at polling units, particularly during the counting of votes.
“Because when they are counting the votes, it will be necessary for my agent to be recognised at the polling unit,” he said.
According to Salaam, the matter had been brought to the attention of relevant authorities, who were looking into the issue. He, however, said the election remained peaceful in Ijebu as of the time of his assessment.
The ADC candidate also questioned INEC’s preparations, saying the failure to provide accreditation tags to agents whose details had been submitted raised concerns about the transparency and credibility of the electoral process.
“When you request for the party to upload their party agent and we did, I don’t understand how and why the party agent will not be given a tag,” he said.
“So if at the end of the day we do not have this, then the process is very questionable.”
On his chances of winning the election, Salaam expressed confidence that he would emerge victorious if the exercise was conducted fairly and without rigging or manipulation.
“For it to be a fair and fair election, with no rigging, manipulation, a level playing field, I trust my God that I’m going to win the election,” he said.
Salaam also dismissed allegations that the ADC was involved in vote buying, insisting that the party had concentrated on presenting its programmes and policies to voters.
“Vote buying is out of it. I have never in my life bought votes,” he said.
He called for voters to be allowed to freely make their choices, while expressing concern over what he described as the large amounts of money allegedly circulating across the state during the election.