PDP, APC Pledge To Shun Rigging In Osun State Elections

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Alliance (APC) on Saturday in Osogbo pledged to shun thuggery and rigging in the forthcoming 2014 and 2015 elections in Osun.

While the gubernatorial election is scheduled to hold in Osun in 2014, the people of the state will join the rest of Nigerians for the Presidential and National Assembly election in 2015.

The Osun gubernatorial election is slated to hold on Aug. 9.

Mr Diran Odeyemi and Mr Kunle Oyatomi, spokespersons of PDP and APC respectively made the pledges in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Odeyemi said that the PDP would play its part towards ensuring that the elections were peaceful and devoid of malpractice.

Odeyemi, who is the PDP Director of Publicity and Media, advised political parties to make peace their watchword and ensure that their supporters were of good conduct.

Also speaking, Oyatomi, who is the APC Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, said the party had zero tolerance for thuggery.

Oyatomi said Gov. Rauf Aregbesola believed in the rule of law and attached premium to the conduct of peaceful and hitch-free elections.

“The INEC election time table is a welcome development. The world is expecting the best kind of election and INEC cannot afford to fail this time around.

“The conduct of these elections is the greatest test for political class in Nigeria and as for the APC, we are ready anytime.

“We have worked for our success because we know that only performance can ensure electoral success, not violence, not fraud or rigging of course,” he said.

According to the INEC time table, the National Assembly and Presidential elections will hold on Feb. 14, 2015 while governorship and state Assembly election are slated for Feb. 28, 2015.

Also, the commission scheduled the Osun and Ekiti governorship elections for Aug. 9 and June 21, 2014 respectively.