Ayobami Agboola 
The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) yesterday announced the withdrawal of 16 parties from the February 22, 2025, Osun State local government election.
IPAC is the umbrella body of political parties in the state. Addressing journalists in Osogbo, Chairman Victor Akande said they decided to boycott the election because they had lost confidence in the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC Commission Chairman, Ashim Abioye.
Akande alleged that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had finalised plans to use its members as electoral officers during the election. The group also accused OSIEC of deliberately hoarding information about the exercise from the opposition parties.
It said: “When Governor Ademola Adeleke submitted the name of a card-carrying member of the PDP Hassim Abioye to the rubber-stamped House of Assembly for confirmation as OSIEC Chairman in November 2023, we vehemently kicked against it. “Our position then was that Abioye was not legally fit to conduct a free, fair and credible local government election.
“We opposed the brazen imposition of Abioye as OSSIEC umpire as he was Adeleke’s Senior Special Assistant on Legal Matters then.
“Earlier this year, Abioye invited us to OSIEC headquarters where we made known our reservations on the election and he thereafter pledged his allegiance to protect his integrity and promised not to disappoint us.
“But alas, the leopard in him that cannot change its spots roared as we watched him deviating from all his promises of conducting a reliable election.
“We have reliably gathered that Abioye has perfected plans to use PDP members as electoral officers during the election which we all know what it means.”
