Chief Press Secretary to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun, Ismail Omipidan, has described the claim by YIAGA Africa that he ‘twisted’ facts as untrue and misleading, saying all he did was to analyse the outcome of the July 16 election as presented by the group on Thursday, September 9, 2022.
He also urged YIAAGA, a civil society organisation, CSO, not to allow itself to be misled by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Osun State, whose stock in trade are lies and propaganda.
Omipidan was reacting to the rejoinder by YIAGA where the group accused the governor’s spokesman of ‘twisting’ facts.
He wondered which report YIAGA read to have drawn the kind of conclusion it drew on his person and personality, arguing that what he did in his article was simply to place the report of YIAGA side-by-side Oyetola’s petition before the Osun Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, subject both to critical analysis and make his deductions therefrom.
He said further: “Did the YIAGA report not state that an analysis of the number of registered voters and the PVC collected by polling units revealed some inconsistencies in the data? Did YIAGA not assert that findings from the analysis on the Osun PVC collection data revealed that the total number of PVCs collected for 30 polling units was greater than the total number of registered voters in those polling units? Did it not state that these inconsistencies were recorded in 12 LGAs?
“Did YIAGA report not state that based on results entered on the ERAD database, there was a variation in the total number of rejected ballots, and the figures announced by INEC at the final collation? Did it not say that the total rejected ballots as compiled from the polling units by the ERAD is 21,886, while the total number of rejected ballots as announced at the INEC’s state collation in Osun state is 18,674? So, which fact did I twist, Omipidan queried?
“Based on my analysis, I reiterated my earlier assertion that Governor Adegboyega Oyetola only lost the vote count and not the election. So, show me the facts I have twisted? I want to appeal to the respected CSO and its leadership not to allow the Osun PDP, whose stock in trade are lies and propaganda to mislead them,” Omipidan said.