The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially declare the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ademola Adeleke, the winner of the just concluded governorship election in Osun State, South-west Nigeria.
Adeleke, a former senator and younger brother to the state’s first civilian governor, Isiaka Adeleke, defeated the incumbent governor and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gboyega Oyetola, by a margin of 28,344 votes.
Based on Newsclickng.com’s monitoring and computation of the final results announced by the electoral commission, INEC, the PDP polled about 403,371 votes while the APC polled about 375,027 votes.
Meanwhile, there were 13 other candidates that took part in the election including Akin Ogunbiyi of the Accord Party, Goke Omigbodun of the Social Democratic Party, and the former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Lasun Yusuf, who contested under the platform of Labour Party.
Why Oyetola lost?
The keenly contested governorship election was more like a rehash of the 2018 episode where both political heavyweights slugged it out at the arena. While Adeleke led with some 300+ votes at the first leg, a rerun with Sen Iyiola Omisore (who came a distant third under Social Democratic Party platform) bought over by the APC saw victory coming the side of the APC. The Supreme Court judgement put a seal to the victory after a rigorous legal challenge by the PDP. Though the turnout of voters for the election is higher than it was 2018, however, the pendulum swinging in Adeleke’s direction was not without it’s early signs to Governor Oyetola as gathered by this medium.
Avoidable face-offs with his predecessor, Aregbesola
Newsclickng.com exclusively gathered that if there was any early factor of Governor Oyetola’s imminent defeat, it was the alleged face-offs between him and his predecessor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. The now Minister of Interior shook the state’s political structure to its foundation early this year in his outbursts against Governor Oyetola. He stated in clear terms that Oyetola completely sidelined him and was after the destruction of his legacies in Osun which the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised him (Aregbesola) Oyetola would uphold. Aregbesola noted that he had his own candidate he was nurturing to takeover from him but he allowed Tinubu have his way with Oyetola as his leader and boss. He said he regretted supporting Oyetola and would do everything to stop his re-election.
Meanwhile, Aregbesola was also conspicuously missing on the campaign train that stormed Osun for Oyetola’s mega rally last week. The media aide to the Minister said Governor Oyetola did not invite his boss hence his decision to attend to other official assignments. Aregbesola was also in faraway Germany when the elections held in Osun on Saturday.
Alleged sidelining of party officials
Unlike the tradition in Aregbesola’s time, party officials said the Governor was high handed and never carried them along with governance in the state.
“He is not accessible. That was not Aregbesola’s style. Aregbesola is a grassroots man. He did something like a roadshow every now and then in what people see as a way of carrying them along. We understand that resources are scarce but that shouldn’t stop you from oiling the party’s machinery from time to time. He failed in that regard and the consequences is what we are witnessing today,” a party elder told Newsclickng.com.
Poor communication/feedback mechanism
Newsclickng.com further gathered that the governor’s communications team did a poor job from inception of his administration.
“He did well but chose not to let the people know! He failed shamefully in the area of public communications – he built a wall so high that he fenced himself off the people he was supposed to be serving while working really hard for them. Can you see the irony! His communication team, unfortunately, some of whom I know in persons failed him. He did well to serve, he failed to communicate. Politics needs both trust and empathy – trust that you can serve, empathy that you can listen and feel! Oyetola only had one of these two. I congratulate Aregbe and others who taught him a hard lesson in politics!,” a political commentator told Newsclickng.com
Revenge and sympathy for PDP’s ‘stolen’ mandate in 2018
Meanwhile, words from the streets in the three senatorial districts visited by Newsclickng.com correspondents was that Ademola Adeleke’s mandate was stolen in 2018. Some residents said they are ready to do all it takes to make sure a similar scenario did not play out this time around.
”Oyetola is riding on a stolen mandate. Even the blind and deaf knew Adeleke won that election in 2018 but they chose to mess with the peoples’ choice by inventing some political abracadabra for his emergence. We won’t tolerate that this time around. We’ll not be intimidated and will follow the procedure from the polling units to INEC office,” an eager voter told Newsclickng.com in one of the polling units in Osogbo on Saturday.
Adeleke’s victory
The PDP’s Adeleke won in 17 local government areas out of the state’s 30 while Oyetola of the APC claimed victory in the remaining 13 local government areas.
More so, for the first time in a couple of years, the PDP won overwhelmingly in Osogbo, the state capital, a base that naturally determines winner of the election. It was common sight to see voters dancing and screaming in the APC stronghold where PDP won.
A public commentator while situating what could have accounted for PDP’s success at the polls gave what this medium terms the ‘Jihovah Witness’ analogy.
According to the Commentor in a post he made on social media on Saturday night : “PDP in Osun and Oyo campaign like Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are terrible. They play dead until two weeks to the election and then fire up their reserves 24 hours to the polls.”
