Chairman of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, OSSIEC, Barrister Abioye Hashim, has assured electorate of the state that the commission under his leadership will not bend rules to favor any political parties ahead of the February 22, 2025 local government election .
Hashim made this known on Thursday while granting interview to newsmen at a day workshop for (OSSIEC) organized by Justice, Development and Peace Makers’ Centre, JDPMC, funded by European Union and held at Reginal Suit, Osogbo.
ADULAWO NEWS reports that some chairmanship candidates of All Progressives Congress, APC, and other political parties were disqualified from participating in the election
But when asked if all registered political parties are still committed to participating in the election the OSSIEC boss said yes added that even though some political parties are in court challenging the non inclusion of their candidates for reasons the commission has already advanced in the past .
According to Hashim “You know we addressed the press when the verification committee concluded their exercise, the report of the verification committee is what we acted upon and upon our action we could not bend the rules for any political party.
He added that “If you have not followed the rules we can not help it and that is what some of the political parties are battling out the couse now.
“The issue is not about all that process is about some people not having the opportunity of participating in the election as candidates because of the factors that affected them, so it is the generality of the process and is not about all the political parties.
He disclosed that contrary to reports that some political parties have pulled out of the upcoming election saying the commission have the commitment of all the political parties participating in the election.
Speaking on the commission facing litigations ahead of the election, Hashim said “we have been facing legal challenges, litegation is part of the election processing and as we have it now I can not say that we can’t have another one tomorrow, we are having it already, infact, today we were in court, last week we were in court, so that is not a problem at all, as they come we tackle them.
He also dismissed the possibility of the election not holding as planned saying “there is nothing as we have it today that has stopped the election process and I don’t think there could be anything that will stop the election process.