Osun election: Catholic Church raises alarm

Worried by the outcome of events at the just concluded Osun elections, the Catholic church of Nigeria has raised alarm over Nigeria’s peace.A statement by the Caritas Nigeria and Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), organs of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria for relief and development, INEC was in the predicament of having to respect its guidelines with regard to declaring elections inconclusive if the cancelled results are higher than the margin of winning votes. On the other hand is the constitutional provision, which gave INEC the latitude to declare the elections conclusive even if it meant overriding its guidelines, as it has done previously in favour of the ruling party.

The statement, which was signed by its Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Fr. Evaristus Bassey, said, “the preponderance of public opinion is therefore that INEC uses its discretion mainly to benefit the ruling party.

He said some people have questioned the process of cancellation of the votes, whether it was not premeditated to arrive at the supposed inconclusiveness most especially as INEC eventually declared the election in favour of the ruling party after conducting the bye-election in the few polling units. “We’re concerned about the peace of Nigeria, a peace that must be hinged on justice.”