Group Asks Police to Interrogate Amosun over Alleged Rigging of 2019 Governorship

James Sowole in Abeokuta

A group, Centre for Good Governance (CGG), has asked the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to invite the senator representing Ogun Central, Ibikunle Amosun, to question his claim that the 2019 governorship election in Ogun that brought Governor Dapo Abiodun to power was allegedly rigged.

“The riggers must be disclosed. Consequently, the police must, without hesitation, invite him for questioning in order to avert possible anarchy in Ogun State and save our democracy from crisis,” the CGG stated. “And where he cannot substantiate the allegation, he must be brought to justice.”

Amosun, an ex-Ogun governor, was reported to have made the allegations while receiving an award in Abeokuta last Friday.
In a statement by its organising Secretary, Comrade Akeem Olanrewaju, the group said the allegations made by the ex-governor were weighty and should not be swept under the carpet.

The statement said: “Declarations or confessions about rigged elections touch on the very foundation of Nigeria’s democracy and can, therefore, not be swept under the carpet. The NPF should invite Amosun for questioning over his claim that election were rigged by some unnamed persons and that the riggers apologised to him. Nigerians want to know the riggers so they could be taken care of by law before the 2023 elections.”

The statement added, “Unlike Amosun, Dapo, the incumbent governor, did not have all the paraphernalia of government to swing votes in his favour.
Dapo only came with the goodwill of the people of Ogun state, with which he won the election. And as we all very well know, goodwill of the people wins elections; it does not rig elections! This was clearly validated and laid to rest by the Supreme Court where Amosun had initially tried out this false allegation of election rigging.”

By claiming that the 2019 governorship election was rigged, Amosun cast aspersions on the integrity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Supreme Court, the police and other security agencies, stressed the group.

“If indeed election riggers confessed to him and he refused to make such information known to the police, then he must be treated as an accessory after the fact and charged along with the felons that he referred to during his Abeokuta speech last Friday,” the group further noted.

According to the group, Amosun has a lot to tell Nigerians about the alleged rigging of the 2019 governorship election in Ogun because “this is crucial to unravelling the crime he claimed was perpetrated by “the people.”