Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, on Wednesday inaugurated the new Osun State Independent Electoral Commission with a charge to members to conduct a free and fair local government election in the state.
The governor said that the people of the state deserved to have democratically-elected leaders at the helms of affairs at the 33 local governments in the state, saying he had begun a process which would culminate into this.
Aregbesola said he had done nothing to undermine the judiciary by constituting the new electoral commission, saying he waited for almost three years because he believed in the rule of law.
The Peoples Democratic Party in the state and the old OSSIEC members had accused the governor of undermining the judiciary with his attempt to constitute a new electoral commission.
But Aregbesola said that a court of competent jurisdiction had removed those who were serving at the commission before the inception of his administration. He stressed he had done no wrong.
The governor stated that he took the right step by appointing those to serve in the commission and saddled with the responsibilities of conducting local government elections.
According to him, his administration needs to demonstrate its commitment to good governance which explains why it abided by the injunction of the court on the removal of the previous OSSIEC members.
Aregbesola charged the members of the commission to conduct a referendum on the planned new local government areas by the executive. He said this would be sent to the House of Assembly for approval.
He said, “We pray to God to give you and members of the Commission the capacity to discharge your duties without fear or favour.
“The process we are observing today took us this long because we felt that we must obey every bit of court decision, it was the court who removed former members, then we held our peace and waited.
“When we came on board, there was a motion holding us back until it was vacated. We felt that having waited, we thought it wise that this is the right time to do what we have done to the benefit of our people.”
The Chairman of OSSIEC, Mr. Oladunjoye Oladitan, in his response, said that he and other members of the body had a duty to be fair to all parties.
“The commission will be an unbias umpire with the aspiration to raise the glory of Osun.”
Punch
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