By Michael Ofulue, Osogbo

The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), an umbrella body of all political parties in Osun State, announced on Monday that it will not participate in the forthcoming local government election in the state.

Recall that the Chairman of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) had fixed February 22, 2025, for the conduct of the local government election in the state.

Addressing journalists in Osogbo, the State Chairman of IPAC, Victor Akande, said the decision to boycott the poll became imperative because the Council has lost confidence in the Chairman of the Commission, Barrister Ashim Abioye.

Akande alleged that Abioye has perfected plans to use members of the PDP as electoral officers during the election slated for next February.

According to him, the Council expected up-to-date information from the Commission ahead of the election, but the reverse is the case, alleging that the Peoples Democratic Party in the state is intentionally creating an avenue for crisis to scare people away.

“Governor Ademola Adeleke submitted the name of a card-carrying member of his party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Barrister Ashim Abioye, to the rubber-stamped House of Assembly for confirmation as the Chairman, Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) in November 2023. We vehemently kicked against it.

“Our position then, as the Osun chapter of IPAC, was that Abioye is not legally fit to conduct a free, fair, and credible local government election in Osun.

“We opposed the brazen imposition of Abioye as OSIEC umpire as he was Adeleke’s Senior Special Assistant on Legal Matters then.

“Earlier this year, Abioye invited us to the headquarters of OSIEC in Osogbo where we made known our reservations for the February 22, 2025 council election. He thereafter pledged his allegiance to protect his integrity and promised not to disappoint us.

“But alas, the leopard in him that cannot change its spots roared as we watched him deviating from all his promises of conducting a reliable election in the state.

“We have reliably gathered that Abioye has perfected plans to use PDP members as Electoral Officers during the election, which we all know what it means.

“His intention is to trap us into conducting our parties’ primary elections without disclosing the amount each party will pay, which will, of course, lead to efforts in futility after announcing an exorbitant fee.

“We expected up-to-date information from Abioye as done by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but the reverse is the case as we always have information about Osun local government elections from PDP e-rats.

“We found it convenient to say that the PDP-led administration in the state is intentionally creating avenues for crisis all over to scare our people away from the forthcoming council election, as only a secured mind will have the courage to go out to vote for his/her choice.

“One of us, NNPP, that earlier wrote an intention letter for his party’s primary election has withdrawn the letter because we realized no good thing can come out of Abioye, who is Governor Adeleke’s stooge, OSIEC.

“It is on these notes that we resolved, after deliberations with our parties’ members, to BACK OUT of the forthcoming local government election in Osun state.

“Political parties involved in this include Action Alliance, African Democratic Congress, Accord Party, Social Democratic Party, African Action Congress, New Nigeria Peoples Party, Allied Peoples Party, and the Peoples Redemption Party.

“Others are All Progressives Grand Alliance, Zenith Labour Party, Action Democratic Party, Action Peoples Party, Labour Party, Boot Party, National Rescue Movement, and Young Peoples Party.

“We await the credibility in the poll involving only the Peoples Democratic Party.”