Intense grassroots campaign by political parties and candidates, allegations and counter allegations as well as inter party defections, have characterized the build up to the July 16 governorship election in Osun State, reports Assistant Editor, ‘Dare Odufowokan.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are no doubt the frontline political parties contesting the July 16, 2022 governorship election holding in the state. The two leading parties have recently been joined by the little known Accord Party (AP) since a former PDP governorship aspirant, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, berthed there and emerged its gubernatorial candidate.
Only fifteen out of the eighteen registered political parties in the country will be slugging it out at the governorship contest next month, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The commission had last month disqualified three political parties from participating in the Osun governorship election. INEC said that the parties did not comply with the regulation of its guidelines on political party operations.
The disqualified parties are Action Alliance (AA); the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and African Democratic Congress (ADC). A statement signed by National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye Esq, disclosed that “AA did not submit a nomination jointly signed by the National Chairman and Secretary of the party while the ADC and APGA nominated candidates that do not meet the age requirements for the office of deputy governor as enshrined in the constitution.”
Nonetheless, pundits say the election is likely going to be a contest between incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola who is the candidate of the ruling APC and PDP’s Senator Ademola Adeleke. Checks by The Nation revealed that the two political parties are leaving no stone unturned in their struggle to win the governorship election next month. Both parties, it was gathered, have embarked on intense grassroots campaigns across the state to solicit the supports and votes of the electorates ahead of election.
Some respondents who spoke with our correspondents said the campaign has been very intense with the APC and the PDP leading the pack. “The politicians are really campaigning across the state. Unlike in the past when all they do are grand rallies in the big cities and town, they are coming to us even in the rural areas with their candidates. This is a sign that they have come to realize that the people’s vote matters during elections,’ a respondent said.
Intense campaigns
For Chief Jimoh Owolabi, a village head in Ile-Ogbo town, it was the first time a governorship candidate will be visiting his domain. “They came here. They didn’t stop at Iwo as usual. They even didn’t stop at Ile Ogbo but they came all the way to our local village. The governor came with them and we saw them on our soil. We will vote for them. Now they know we are here and they can imagine the level of our needs,” the septuagenarian community leader said.
The Director-General, Oyetola Campaign Council, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, told The Nation that the governor’s campaign train has traversed the length and breadth of the state to talk directly to the people, not just to ask for their votes, but to also get to know more about their needs. He added that unlike some other political parties and candidates, the APC takes the people very seriously. “That is why we are busy campaigning while others are busy complaining.
In the last few weeks, Oyetola’s campaign had berthed at villages, towns and constituencies in Iwo, Ede, Osogbo, Ilesa, Ife, Atakumosa, Ila-Orangun, Ikirun and other areas of the state among others, to talk to the people and pay homage to traditional rulers. “We are confident of victory given the impressive performance of Governor Oyetola so far in office. But we aren’t taken the people for granted. We are meeting them and telling them what our party has in stock for them, for another four years,” Senator Bashiru said.
In his addresses at the various campaign venues across the state, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola constantly reiterated his message that he had no money to give voters before, during or after the election as a form of inducements, he can assure the people of good governance that will impact positively on the lives of Osun residents. The governor expressed joy at the reception he got from his supporters, saying it heightened his hope of victory come July 16 governorship in the state.
Similarly, the PDP and its candidate are also not resting on their oars ahead of the governorship election. Sunday Bisi, the Director-General of the Ademola Adeleke Campaign Organisation, said the PDP campaign team is working hard to ensure Adeleke’s victory on Julyn 16. “And with the work we have done so far, we are sure the people of the state have seen why they should vote for PDP,” The PDP chieftain said. According to Bisi, the PDP campaign train has been moving across the state to talk to the electorate.
A fortnight ago, a political support group, PDP New Generation, constituted a 120-member Youth and Women Gubernatorial Campaign Council (YWGCC) for the July 16 election. The group said its decision was “in line with the vision and mission of the PDP New Generation in creating a platform for youth and women participation and inclusion in political activities. The team will help the PDP candidate, Senator Adeleke, with his campaigns ahead of the election.”
During the week, PDP’s Omooba Dotun Babayemi, directed his supporters across the 332 wards in the state to embark on house-to-house campaigns as a way to further create awareness for the party in the July 16 gubernatorial election. He also enjoined PDP members across the state to swing into action by evolving ways of entrenching the party in all areas of the state to ensure victory in the coming election.
Defections
With the Osun election fast approaching, the ruling APC and the leading opposition party in the state, PDP are daily losing and winning members as some aggrieved politicians and their supporters continue to cross-carpet from one political party to the other as part of preparations for the July 16 political contest. Pundits claim the APC and the PDP are the worst hit by these pre-election defections, heightening the rivalry between the two parties.
While the two parties continue to deny that the defections are capable of affecting their chances at the polls negatively, The Nation gathered that both the APC and the PDP are now working harder at appeasing aggrieved chieftains and members, especially those angered by the outcome of the primary elections held to select candidates for the 2023 general elections in the state. According to party sources, the leadership of the two parties recently held meetings with affected chieftains to prevent further exodus from their parties.
THE Nation gathered that worried by the developments, prominent elders of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the state have resolved to wade into the crisis generated by the gubernatorial primary election of the party. According to party sources, the intervention of the elders followed the failure of several peace moves aimed at placating aggrieved party chieftains and uniting the party ahead of the election.
Dropping a hint about the peace move recently, while featuring on a live radio phone-in political programme in Osogbo, the state capital, Chief Shuaib Oyedokun, a PDP Board of Trustees member, assured that the current crisis rocking the party in the state will be resolved by party elders who are already meeting. The elder statesman however blamed the defections and the failure of peace moves on the winner takes all attitudes of some people.
Last month, a former PDP gubernatorial aspirant, Ayoade Adewopo, dumped the party and joined the APC with his teeming supporters. During the week, in continuation of the cross-carpeting, some key members of the PDP decamped to the ruling APC in Boripe Local Government Area of the State. Party sources claimed not less than 500 chieftains and members of the opposition party jumped ship. The defectors were received into the APC at a campaign rally held in Iragbiji, the hometown of Governor Oyetola. The defectors attributed their defection to what they described as the convincing manner Oyetola has been managing the affairs of the state. Weeks earlier in Ayedaade Local Government Area hundreds of PDP members also dumped the party and pitched their tent with the APC.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ismail Omipidan, said the defectors attributed their decision to dump the PDP to modest achievements that Governor Oyetola has recorded since coming on board. He added that the defectors were members of five different PDP groups within the local government area. Hon. Raufu Lukman, explained that Oyetola’s performance attracted them to the APC. The Osun State Commissioner for Finance, Bola Oyebamiji, while receiving the defectors, commended them for taking a bold step to join the APC. Several other chieftains and members of the PDP also joined the ruling party in recent days.
Also, the PDP claims it has been harvesting defectors from the ruling party ahead of the July 16 elections. Restating that the opposition party would clinch the gubernatorial position, party sources recalled how the PDP received a large number of APC members who had defected en-masse to the opposition party in Ife zone recently. Receiving the decampees, who were led by Kayode Ogundele, Professor Wale Oladipo, the Chairman, Ademola Adeleke Campaign Council, assured that none of them will regret their action. He promised that the party was going to set-up the next government in the State.
Last week, scores of APC members who are supporters of former governor of the state and current Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, defected to the PDP. A former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs during Aregbesola’s tenure, Kolapo Alimi, led the defectors. PDP’s governorship candidate for the July 16 election in the state, Senator Adeleke, received the defectors at the PDP Secretariat in Osogbo, the state capital. Alimi said the defectors were ready to work with PDP to unseat Governor Oyetola.
A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Prince Diran Odeyemi said the defection was an indication of victory for Adeleke in the next gubernatorial election. Shortly after he joined his new party, the PDP announced Alimi as a Deputy Director General of Adeleke’s campaign. But the spokesperson for APC in the state, Kunle Oyatomi, said Alimi and his followers had done a lot of damage to the party before they left and that they would not be missed. Observers of the politics of the state however insisted that Alimi and his co-travelers could not have acted without the support of Aregbesola who remains an APC chieftain till date.
Counter allegations
As the date of the guber election draws closer, the Osun State chapter of the ruling APC, and the main opposition party, the PDP, are constantly in war of words over alleged plots to rig the election. Recently, PDP had accused Governor Oyetola of conspiring with some staff of the electoral body to rig the forthcoming governorship elections. Sunday Bisi had insisted that the APC had comprised some staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to rig the gubernatorial elections.
But the Director-General of the IleriOluwa Campaign Council, Senator Bashiru, dismissed the allegation as baseless. He added that the allegation was meant to aggravate the prevailing tensions already in the State. “Sunday Bisi, who is either scared of telling his funder the truth about his slim chances against a proven man of substance or is as delusional as the dancer himself, is only trying to play mind games with the good people of Osun by shamelessly making allegations he cannot substantiate,” he said.
In another development that heightened the tension in the state ahead of the election, the two political parties traded accusations over alleged plot to foment trouble during the election. Two chieftains of te PDP, Niyi Owolade and Diran Odeyemi, alleged a plot to inflict direct violence on PDP leaders and supporters, appointment of a compromised State Returning Officer in person of the Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, and deployment of ill-gotten wealth to buy votes and compromise the electoral process. The Osun PDP further accused the APC of collating Permanent Voter Card details of public servants, teachers and pensioners in the state for the purpose of vote-buying.
However, while refuting the allegations, the Special Adviser on Political Matters to Governor Oyetola, Sunday Akere, said PDP is accusing others of what it is presently doing. Akere said, “They are been hunted by their shadow. We are aware of their evil plans to sabotage the electoral process but we keep quiet. Keeping quiet doesn’t mean that we don’t know what they are plotting. We just don’t want to be dragged to their mess. Governor Oyetola has done so well in the state since he was sworn into office, so we don’t need to buy anybody’s conscience before they would vote for him for the second term. It is the PDP that is involved in vote-buying, they are engaging in fire-for-fire politics. We urge the security operatives in the state to watch them closely to prevent their evil plots in the state.”
In a move that further complicated the matter, the leadership of Accord party in the state accused the two leading parties of planning to unleash violence on the state on Election Day. Sub-Chairman of the New Media of Akin Ogunbiyi Campaign Organisation, Stephen Owolabi, said “It is known across the state that both the APC and the PDP are engaged in breeding, rearing and funding of thugs and we can see how they waylaid each other. We are sure that agents of these rejected political parties are all out to cause infraction in the security of this state”, he said. Owolabi therefore called on the police and other security outfits in the state to nip in the bud what can degenerate into free for all.”
Explaining why the competition between the two leading parties is so fierce ahead of the election, Donald Ikuejuyinu, State Representative of the Voters’ Right Agenda, said barring unforeseen developments and factors, the July 16 governorhsip election in Osun state is a two horse race between Governor Oyetola of the APC and Senator Adeleke of the PDP. The contest is more or less a rematch of the 2018 governorship election and both parties have a lot at stake. This explains why there is so much tension ahead of the poll.
“But I can tell you as someone who is on ground here that the situation is not as tense as the politicians are painting it. Asides the regular allegations and threats, I am yet to see much act of violence even as the candidates go about campaigning. Expectedly, the PDP, being the opposition party, have been accusing the ruling APC of a lot of things. Many of these are mere propaganda but some also need to be investigated by the security operatives ahead of the election. All in all, I think the two major contenders have just decided to go for broke ahead of the contest.”
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