Africa-Press – Nigeria. The National Association of Ogun State Students, NAOSS, on Saturday faulted former Governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosun’s claim that the 2019 election was rigged in favour of Governor Dapo Abiodun.
NAOSS said Amosun admitted that the election that ushered him into the Senate in 2019 was also rigged.
Amosun, who is the Ogun Central Senator made the allegation at an award ceremony organised by the Abeokuta Club on Friday.
Dismissing the allegation, the student body described the lawmaker as a rabble-rouser.
A statement signed by National President, Ogunrombi Gbemileke, said the Senator was pained that his “evil plan” of godfatherism failed during the last governorship election.
Gbemileke recalled that the courts have cleared Abiodun of any wrongdoing during the 2019 governorship election.
He said: “Our attention has been drawn to statements credited to the immediate past governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, in some sections of the media indicating that the 2019 gubernatorial election in the state was rigged in favour of the incumbent Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun.
“As part of the critical stakeholders in the Ogun State project, we are concerned about the needless resort to unfounded allegations by the former governor in his attempt to play to the gallery and desperately heat up the polity. Several years after the appropriate courts of law have upheld the election that ushered in the Abiodun-led administration, it is quite bewildering that a supposed high-ranking citizen can still be making ludicrous claims to disprove the judicial verdicts.
“Perhaps, the ex-governor had forgotten that he was also a contestant in the 2019 elections which made him return to the Senate as the representative of Ogun Central Senatorial District. Going by his wild and ridiculous allegations, is it an admittance that the election that brought him in as Senator in the same year was also rigged in his favour since the same body and personnel conducted both the gubernatorial election he discredited and his own senatorial election?
“We are not unaware that Senator Amosun is still pained that his evil plan of becoming the godfather that determines who becomes public office holders in the state failed. He should not continue to express his frustration through the fallacious use of propaganda and cheap blackmail to drag the state back.
“However, since Senator Amosun claimed those who purportedly rigged the election had come to him to apologise, we challenge him to be bold enough to mention their names for the sake of truth, justice and posterity. Anything short of this will clearly portray Senator Amosun as a mere attention-seeker. This is a serious matter as regards the mandate of the people and cheap politics should not be played with it.
“Although we have always known Amosun to be a rabble-rouser, his latest outburst is a clear indication that he is embittered by the unprecedented achievements already recorded by the administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun within a space of three years, a feat that his eight years administration could not achieve.
“We challenge Amosun to substantiate his claim by providing impeccable evidence that the mandate overwhelmingly given to Prince Dapo Abiodun, as evident in the results of the 2019 election, was stolen from his stooge. The burden of proof lies on the former governor; he must provide the preponderance of evidence to validate his claim.
“At this juncture, we like to use this opportunity to caution Senator Amosun against heating up the polity of the state. He must desist from making unguarded statements capable of inciting violence and disrupting the peace the good people of Ogun State have been enjoying over the last three years.”
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