Hacking Claims Ridiculed: Advocate Vows Legal Battle Against ‘Faceless’ Osun Election Accusers

Hacking Claims Ridiculed: Advocate Vows Legal Battle Against ‘Faceless’ Osun Election Accusers

The Advocate for Citizens’ Justice and Democratic Accountability ( ACJDA)  has expressed its disappointment and utter rejection at the unfounded statement by a faceless organization claiming that the Osun election result was hacked to favour Governor Ademola Adeleke.  

ACJDA in a blistering attack on the purported Liberation Movement of Nigeria and Vanguard for Human Rights described their allegation that the Osun election result was hacked as a reckless, unsubstantiated and politically dangerous but failed attempt to discredit the outcome of the recently concluded Osun State Governorship Election. 

The CSO group described the allegation that the election result declaring Governor Ademola Adeleke the winner was “hacked” as a grave claim that is dead on arrival as it has no compelling, independently verifiable evidence and runs contrary to widely available facts and figures of the just concluded elections.

It accused the group of high electoral treason for attempting to rubbish the Osun election which has become a benchmark for electoral credibility, citizen electoral vigilantism and demonstration of technical independence by the national electoral commission.

According to the Advocate, the real story of the Osun election is how the people resisted a series of attempts to undermine their democratic choice from the pre-election period through voting, collation and declaration. 

Results that produced Governor Adeleke as a winner was not the outcome of hacking operations; it was the supremacy of peoples will despite heavy vote buying by the opposition APC

The group recalled allegations of voters’ cards being stolen or unlawfully taken in Odo-Otin, daylight shootings, intimidation, arrests of political actors and massive vote-buying allegations, intimidation of all sorts in Boripe, Irewole, Ilesa east, Ife Zone, Osogbo zone especially Olorunda(Oba ile) among other incidents, pointing out there are credible evidence that Osun APC was all out to rig the elections.

Yet, despite the alleged pressure and attempts to compromise the process, the people of Osun turned out to defend their votes. The people did not surrender their mandate, the Advocate said, insisting that attempts to rewrite the outcome through unsubstantiated narratives after the ballots had been counted would amount to an insult to the intelligence and democratic courage of Osun voters.

The Advocate also rejected narratives suggesting that the election was manipulated at the highest level, pointing to the resolve of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the relevant electoral institutions to allow the process to run its constitutional course.  

It further recalled the claims by some political gladiators and interests that the election should be declared inconclusive, arguing that such pressure ultimately failed to alter the electoral process. 

The organisation maintained that reports by local and international election observers judged the outcome of the Osun election as a true reflection of the will of Osun people, noting that a responsible group would take the report to form part of any serious assessment of the poll, rather than anonymous allegations and politically convenient narratives. 

It warned that attempts to delegitimize an election simply because its outcome does not favour a particular political interest are capable of weakening democratic institutions and creating unnecessary tension in the state. This anti-democratic line is a failure before its take off.

The Advocate for Citizens’ Justice and Democratic Accountability has consequently issued a strong warning to the two groups to desist from what it described as the circulation of false, defamatory and inflammatory claims or be prepared to face appropriate legal action. 

It urged the people of Osun not to be distracted or provoked by what it called a “jester coalition” allegedly attempting to manufacture controversy after the election. 

Democracy is not a game of propaganda where defeated narratives are resurrected through faceless platforms, the Advocate declared, stressing that genuine grievances must be pursued through INEC, the courts and other constitutionally recognised mechanisms. 

The organisation further called on citizens to reject every attempt to incite violence, assuring that it would continue to scrutinise public institutions, demand accountability and defend the democratic rights of citizens through lawful means. 

“The mandate of the people cannot be hacked by propaganda, and Osun must not be dragged into political chaos because some interests refuse to accept reality.”

Signed:
Comrade Mayowa Ogundijo,
Advocate for Citizens Justice and Democratic Accountability,