Ekiti State Police Command on Wednesday declared Mr Saliu Adeoti, the Acting Speaker of the House of Assembly, wanted in connection with the alleged burning of INEC office at Ido-Ekiti.

INEC office at Ido-Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Government Area, which was the collation centre for the governorship re-run election, was burnt down by suspected political thugs on April 25.

In a statement signed by Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Sikiru Olalekan, and made available to the The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ado-Ekiti, the command urged the public to contact the police with any useful information that could lead to Adeoti's arrest.

"This is to inform members of the general public that the acting Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly is being declared wanted by the Ekiti State Police Command.

"This is in a matter that may not be unconnected with the burning of Ido/Osi INEC office which was even widely reported in the national dailies that he did lead a group of thugs to perpetrate inglorious and dastard acts during the election.

"It is on these premises that we are requesting anyone with useful information of his whereabouts to contact the nearest police station or police headqurters at Ado-Ekiti," the statement said.

Oni's victory, wish of Ekiti people, says Agagu

AKURE-FORMER governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu, has congratulated Engineer Segun Oni of his victory at the re-run election in Ekiti state saying it was "the wish of the good people of Ekiti State."

According to Dr Agagu, "this victory is a direct manifestation of the investment of labour and honesty that characterized your performance since 2007 when you were first elected governor".

A letter made available to Vanguard in Akure by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation under Dr Agagu, Olorogun Eddy Olafeso, the former governor also saluted "the people of Ekiti who defied all nebulous propaganda to freely express for a noble man whose commitment to their development is unquestionable".

Also, the state PDP described Oni's victory as "a clear vindication of the wish of the people and an acknowledgment of his good work when he was at the helm of affairs in Ekiti State during his first coming".

The PDP letter which was signed by its State Publicity Secretary, Adeyemi Adedipe also congratulated the people of Ekiti "for their steadfastness in the face of suffocating propaganda and violence unleashed on them by a desperate opposition.

PDP victory, endorsement of election rigging-AC

The Action Congress (AC) has described PDP's 'victory' in the Ekiti state governorship re-run as a bold endorsement of election rigging and violence, and an indication that democracy remains in chains in Nigeria.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also described the sudden U-turn by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the state, Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, in accepting the cooked-up result for Ido-Osi - which she had earlier rejected - as a blow to decency and integrity, lamenting: "We celebrated her prematurely."

It said the PDP's so-called victory was a culmination of acts of deceit and failure of leadership by President Umaru Yar'Adua; the continuous and brazen thwarting of the peoples' will by the Maurice Iwu-led INEC and a clear indication that the Nigeria Police Force has indeed metamorphosed into the PDP Police Force.

But the party said while the outcome of the Ekiti re-run did not reflect the will of the people of Ekiti, it has shown what can happen when a people are determined to defend their votes - as shown in Oye where Iwu had said 18,000 votes were up for grabs, when indeed the entire total was far less, and even just a little over 2,000 votes were eventually recorded, as the people gave no chance for anyone to fabricate votes!

It insisted that the 15,939 votes recorded for the PDP in Ido-Osi were just impossible and could not be supported by the trend of voting anywhere else in the state. It said the PDP votes in Ido-Osi constituted over half of the total number of votes cast for both parties in five local governments!

"Tuesday was a sad day for democracy in Nigeria, a grim reminder that all lovers of democracy and believers in free, fair and violence-free elections have a long, hard way to travel before warding off the anarchic, vote-rigging and vote-manipulating cabal called the PDP.

"It is also a timely reminder that the number of men and women of integrity is fast depleting across the land. Or how else does one describe a situation in which Mrs. Adebayo quit her job just because she does not want to act against her conscience and Christian belief by announcing the well-garnished result from Ido-Osi, only to do exactly that (betray her conscience and Christian belief) when it matters most?

"For a country desperately in need of heroes and heroines, this woman gave the whole country, and indeed the international community, a false sense of hope! She made us believe that indeed, some electoral officers can still be redeemed despite having honed their deceptive skills under the shamelessly incompetent and ever-malleable Iwu. Then, she showed her true self and helped to deny the people of Ekiti of their votes.

"Why did she take the entire country through the whole controversy over her resignation, only to do exactly what she said she would not do? Who then were those pressuring her? What has happened that suddenly made the conjured votes at Ido-Osi acceptable? Or was that resignation nonsense part of the pre-election plan?" AC queried, wondering what a 74-year-old woman was out to prove by living a lie.

The party said while President Yar'Adua said all the nice things about the REC acting in accordance with her conscience and religious belief, he helped set the stage for the rape of democracy by simply looking the other way as the heinous crimes were being committed in Ekiti by his party folks.

"This President simply failed to show leadership when it mattered most, unlike former Ghanaian President John Kufuor who did not hesitate to put his country above his party during the stalemate in the country's last election - a move that probably saved his country from a descent into anarchy.

"It is not impossible that President Yar'Adua simply sacrificed democracy on the altar of a second term as president by allowing his party hawks to thwart the will of the people in Ekiti," it said.

AC said the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, and INEC Chairman Maurice Iwu simply took a cue from the President's body language, not what he said and was widely reported in the newspapers about the will of Ekiti people being allowed to prevail.

"During the Ekiti re-run, the police, under Okiro, simply threw away any pretension about fairness and non-partisanship. Allowing a PDP senator to ride to Ekiti in a police chopper on the eve of the re-run in Oye is perhaps the biggest indication that Okiro will rather serve the PDP than serve Nigeria. What a sad way to end an otherwise illustrious career!

"As for Iwu, we will not waste our time talking about him because he is simply irredeemable. It is now crystal clear why Yar'Adua has continued to keep him at INEC despite the shame he has brought on Nigeria. He is the PDP's trump card for 2011!" the party said.

AC urged its supporters to remain calm, in the face of this egregious provocation, saying the battle to ensure the conduct of free, fair and violence-free elections in Nigeria remained on course.

"Nobody says this battle will be easy, because it will not be. But victory is certain if democracy lovers all over the country are willing to sustain their commitment to that system of government. Like South African cleric Desmond Tutu said, no one could have convinced him that apartheid will end in his country in his lifetime. But it did.

"So, we in the AC believe the PDP's stranglehold on this country, which the party maintains by ensuring that only the vote counters, not the voters, count in every election, will soon come to an end," the party said.