Osun decides: Salaam raises concern over non-recognition of ADC agents

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate in the Osun State election, Dr Najeem Salaam, has raised concerns over the alleged non-recognition of the party’s agents at several wards across the state.

Speaking with newsmen after casting his vote at Ward 4, Unit 13, Ejigbo, in Ejigbo Local Government Area, he said the ADC had uploaded the names of its agents on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) platform as required, but some of them were allegedly denied tags.

“Despite the fact that we uploaded all the names of our party agents on the INEC platform, especially here in Ejigbo, the agents in Ward 5 for the ADC were not given tags. The same thing happened in about 10 local governments across the state.

“I don’t understand why we are now being denied the opportunity to have our party agents present,” the candidate said.

Salaam said the matter had been reported to the relevant authorities, who were looking into it, stressing that the presence of party agents was important during the counting of votes.

He said the party could not accept a situation where its agents were not recognised at polling units.

“The importance of having party agents at the polling units cannot be overemphasised. If, at the end of the day, we do not have this, then the process becomes very questionable,” he said.

The ADC candidate, however, said voting in Ejigbo Local Government Area had been peaceful at the time of his assessment and expressed hope that the situation would remain so until the end of the exercise.