Date: 2012-05-14

Chairman of Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State Prince Saheep Popoola has accused the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of not cooperating with the Local Government Election Petition Tribunal.

The PDP and its candidate, Abdulwaheed Olanipekun are challenging the election of Prince Popoola of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at the October 31, 2010 council poll.

Popoola who spoke with reporters at the weekend in Offa, expressed concern about the development.

He specifically accused KWASIEC of refusing to present the used election materials to the tribunal as requested.

The council boss warned of the dire consequences of subverting the wishes and aspirations of the people, stressing that no attempt should be made to throw the town and indeed the local government into a needless political crisis.

His words: "We have on good authority that the KWASIEC is not cooperating with the election petition tribunal, whatever the motive is, we want to make it abundantly clear that the present administration in Offa local government is the clear reflection of the wishes and aspiration of the good people of Offa, and that any attempt to tamper with it will incur the wrath of the people of Offa and the local government.

There is the need to also state categorically that any election in Offa will reflect the free will of the people as they willingly did in the last election and that unlike probably in other places, no amount of intimidation and harassment could change that pattern of voting."

He expressed the hope that Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed will wade into the matter with a view to sustaining the cordial relationship between the state and the local government.