The Chairman of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC), Hashim Abioye, has strongly criticized the police for arresting officials of the commission during the local government elections held on Saturday, insisting that they committed no offence.
Addressing journalists, Abioye described the election as peaceful and well-conducted, dismissing concerns earlier raised by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF).
However, he noted that the arrest of some OSSIEC officials led to delays in the arrival of materials at certain polling units.
“The only thing is that in some of the areas where materials were supposed to have arrived for voters to cast their votes, we received reports that police arrested our officials. I don’t know on whose order that was made because there is no court order to justify their arrest,” Abioye stated.
He assured voters that the commission had taken steps to ensure the continuation of voting in affected areas.
“For those who are still awaiting the arrival of our officials, I want to tell them that it is because the police arrested some of our officials for committing no crime at all or violating no lawful order of any court. But we have deployed materials to those polling units because we have enough on the ground. As I am speaking to you now, voting is ongoing in those places,” he added.
Abioye also apologized to journalists for the inadequate supply of accreditation tags and jackets, attributing the issue to the police sealing off the commission’s office.
“For our people in the media community, I want to apologize for the indirect inadequacy in the tags and jackets. We had enough, but the police sealed off our office, which was not warranted at all. We will sort these issues out, but generally, the exercise has been smooth, peaceful, free, and fair, and we thank God for that,” he concluded.
