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How PDP shocked ruling party in Osun governorship election

By Seye Olumide
24 September 2018   |   4:16 am
Following the declaration of the Osun State election inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reached out to Social Democratic Party (SDP) to fashion ways of defeating the ruling party in the rerun election. The standard-bearer of PDP, Senator Ademola Adeleke led the APC candidate, Alhaji…

Director General, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki presidential campaign and former governor of Adamawa State, Mr. Boni Haruna (left), former President Goodluck Jonathan, receiving frontline PDP presidential hopeful, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki in Yenagoa at the weekend.

Following the declaration of the Osun State election inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reached out to Social Democratic Party (SDP) to fashion ways of defeating the ruling party in the rerun election.

The standard-bearer of PDP, Senator Ademola Adeleke led the APC candidate, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola with a margin of 353 votes but he was not declared winner.

Intrigues that determine the result

What was initially expected to be an easy win for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) because of its federal might and the continuation of victories against the major opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Ekiti and Edo States however came out differently in Osun State last Saturday.

The candidate of PDP, Senator Ademola Adeleke defeated the standard-bearer of the ruling party, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola with a margin of 353 votes in the inconclusive election.

The election was keenly contested under a peaceful atmosphere with a large turnout of voters across the state.

Security agents and staff of the electoral commission as well as other stakeholders attested to the peaceful conduct of the poll except for some hitches in few areas.

On one hand, the exercise showed the dwindling influence of power of incumbency in election and also the improvement in the nation’s electoral system.

It also revealed that the wishes of the electorate in voting could be respected as majority of the PDP supporters that besieged the INEC office confirmed to The Guardian when the result was declared.

The sentiment over the popularity of Oyetola as some members of the ruling party expressed before the election was proven by the outcome of the exercise.

First, there were issues concerning which of the three senatorial zones in the state should produce the next governor as Osun East and Central have produced governors at various times except Osun West.

Oyetola, a blood relation of the National Leader of APC, Bola Tinubu, was more or less foisted on the party in the direct primary conducted.

The incumbent governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as well as the former governor of the State, Chief Bisi Akande, were not comfortable with the candidate their party presented for the poll because someone from the west, which has not produced the governor, should have been presented.

Another factor that denied the ruling party victory is the participation of the former SSG to the governor, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, who left APC to contest on the platform of African Democratic Party (ADP).

His strong influence in Osun West particularly Iwo area seriously diminished the result of the ruling party would ordinarily have made in the area.

The undue influence of Tinubu in the election on the basis of his relationship with Oyetola further triggered anger of the electorate against the ruling party in the exercise.

The majority of the people who were supporters of APC had a change of mind because of the national leader.

Factor of poverty

From the feelers gathered across the state during and after the election, many youths were apprehensive of the Aregbesola style of governance, which was said to have left the people in poverty never witnessed in Osun before.

Some of the youths flayed the incumbent administration for having destroyed their morale and values due to the prevalent poverty in the state.

For instance, most of the young ladies in the state now survive by commercialising their bodies, which they claimed never happened even during the days of former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

Another related factor that obviously shaped the outcome of the poll in favour of the PDP was the internal infraction in the ruling party during the election.

It was alleged that the ruling party adopted five different approaches in the exercise with Tinubu having his and Aregbesola another.

It was also said that the son of the incumbent governor had his separate situation room, while the Lagos force, allegedly led by former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who defected recently to APC had its own.

In this regard, the ruling party could not have a central coordinating body to address the election coupled with the fact that the electorate themselves reacted negatively to the meddlesomeness of the Lagos factor.

The question some of the voters were asking on Saturday was why another Oyetola (Lagos man) when Aregbesola who was also a product of Lagos has failed to add value to their lives in eight years.

Adeleke factor

The PDP candidate, Adeleke, a younger brother to former governor of Osun, the late Isiaka Adeleke, who represented Osun West on the platform of APC, until his death, defected to the major opposition when the leadership of the party denied him the ticket to take his late brother’s position in the red chamber.

Adeleke defected to PDP to contest Osun west senatorial election and won.

Apart from riding on the popularity of his late brother, he is also well connected with the youths because of his dancing skills, which endeared him to the young voters.

If Adeoti of the ADP had not defected, Saturday election would have been an easy win for the ruling party.

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