Election season is here again, a time to usher in new political leaders; and so all over the country, politicians are maneuvering their way through the election. One part of the country where this fierceness has been felt is Osun State. Presently referred to as Nigerian’s political fireworks capital, Osun state is witnessing a fierce battle between the winning political party (PDP) and the incumbent party (APC). While the PDPs are doing all they can to maintain their position as the winning party in Nigeria as a whole, the APCs are going all the way out to overturn the situation.
From the results of the just concluded election, it was obvious that despite the achievements of the incumbent governor, the state’s actual economic situation was still in bad shape. The governor, who has served for two tenures now was not able to deliver on his promises at the resumption of his office – what the people considered as basic dividends of democracy. The citizens saw this as a strong reason not to support his party anymore, as a result, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, APC’s candidate almost lost the election to PDP’s candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
This outcome was a clear note that although the incumbent governor possessed all necessary arsenal to influence the election, a force to also reckon with is the people’s support, which is determined by the productivity and performance of the governor.It went a long way in reiterating the importance of performance and greater service as a major kernel for electoral victory.
The election held on Saturday,22nd of September was declared inconclusive at the end of the day, and as a result, a rerun was supposed to be held on Thursday, 27th September. Rumors have it that the APC leaders were responsible for manipulating INEC to cancel the first polling unit election probably because their rival was already showing strong signs of winning. This move of theirs almost went haywire as Adeleke’s popularity rose even higher after the rerun was declared by INEC. Now, more than ever before, the people’s sympathy and support went to Adeleke.
APC knew that they wouldn’t be able to attract more votes than Adeleke. The only way out was a scandal.Thus, on the eve of the rerun, there was a legal suit that nullified Adeleke’s qualification to contest, plus an alleged exam malpractice presented by the authorities. APC finally succeeded in robbing off Adeleke of his deserved win.
Everybody knew Adeleke was the one who deserved to win according to the votes he earned, which would have still been replicated in the rerun, but for APC who supposedly influenced certain government agencies to meddle with political issues which was considered unnecessary.
Elections are a supposed to be a time when citizens get to give their verdict through their votes for the right candidate.With that said, it is only natural that any candidate or party that wants to be considered must be in right standing with the people by delivering on their every promise. This was not the case with APC and their candidate, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, who occupied the governorship seat for two tenures with nothing tangible to show for it. This gave room for their opposing party PDP to overthrow them. If not for external manipulations that were uncalled for, PDP would have had their way.