The battle line drawn between Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola’s re-election bid and the Minister of Interior and former governor of the state, Rauf Aregbesola’s preferred candidate turned up anxieties in the state.
The disharmonious state of Osun All Progressives Congress, APC worsened as Aregbesola’s faction named The Osun Progressives (TOP) and Oyetola’s group called Ileri-Oluwa Movement intensified their fierceness against each other.
Their controversies were characterised with attacks, assaults and insults. They embarked on tours to different local government areas to engage the indigenes, gather more followers and make their intention known.
Aregbesola publicly denounced Oyetola and declared Moshood Adeoti, the former Secretary to the State Government who served with him when he was the state governor as his preferred candidate.
The minister canvassed for Adeoti’s support in the February 19 primary election for him to emerge as the party’s flag bearer for July 16 governorship election. He described Governor Oyetola as an ingrate and a traitor whom he assisted in 2018 to assume office but destroyed his legacies afterwards.
However, loyalists of the incumbent governor have said Aregbesola is not God that would determine Oyetola’s fate in the election. The governor was described as one who has absolute faith in God and the people of Osun.
They remained loyal to him, canvassing for party members’ support as they embarked on ‘Strategic Engagement Tour’ to all the nine federal constituencies in Osun State.
The two factions ended their separate tours on Thursday, February 17, 2022 and appeared before the Primary election committee from the party headquarters in Abuja on Friday evening ahead of the primary election on Saturday.
The three contenders for the party’s ticket– Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti and ex-deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Lasun Yusuff expressed readiness for the election after the address of the chairman of the electoral committee, Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, the governor of Kwara State.
The party adopted the direct election mode in all the 332 wards in the state. Accreditation was slated to begin by 8 am and end by 12 noon after which the accredited voters would queue behind their preferred candidates and would be counted and recorded.
Investors King who monitored the election process in several wards observed that there was a massive turnout of voters. There was no tension as predicted by members of the public due to the factions’ confrontations. Security personnel consisting of Nigerian Police Force, Amotekun Corps, Joint Task Force and Hunters Group of Nigeria were on ground to man the wards. Not less than ten security operatives were seen in each ward.
However, in some wards visited, there were controversies on the pasting of the party membership register. The party register was not pasted, names were being called which didn’t go down well with some party members but it was resolved by the security personnel. Also, at ward 12 in Iwo, accreditation started by 9 am, hence was still on the accreditation till around 1:47 pm which ought to have ended by 12noon.
Moving to Governor Oyetola’s ward, Ward 1 at St Peters Primary School in Iragbiji, Boripe Local Government Area, Investors King reports that he was largely welcomed by members after which he was accredited. After counting the votes, the election official, Samson Oyebode announced that the governor had 1612 votes while Adeoti and Lasun had no vote and no party agent.
Speaking with journalists shortly after the election process in his hometown, Oyetola expressed satisfaction over the massive turnout and orderliness.
He appealed to the party members to maintain peace as he said, “all the members of the party have the opportunity to decide who will carry the flag of the party. This election process should not be a battlefield. It should not be a do or die affair.”
Confident of victory, Oyetola reiterated his trust in God to emerge the winner and urged the party members not to indulge in any violent act.
To his co-contenders, he said, “I want to appeal to them to ensure that we have an opportunity for reconciliation. It’s a family thing. It’s APC all through. We should brace up for the challenge ahead. We are going to face another party in this campaign we don’t know yet.”
The deputy governor of Osun, Benedict Alabi, in his hometown, Ikire at ward 6 was present to cast his vote.
Speaking in an interview during the process, he said the primary election was well organised, timely and orderly in Ikire, Irewole Local Government Area.
According to him, Governor Oyetola is the candidate to beat as the other two aspirants are not visible in the area.
At Hon. Lasun Yusuff’s ward, ward 05 in Ilobu, Irepodun local government area of the state, Oyetola had 323 votes, Adeoti had 62 votes while Lasun had 10 votes. With this, Oyetola emerged the winner in Lasun’s ward.
In Ward 8, Ilesa East Local government area which is Aregbesola’s ward but was absent at the election, Oyetola had 309 votes and Adeoti had 146 votes. But this was not without controversy as the factional chairman of the ward explained that the absence of the minister who was on an assignment for President Muhammadu Buhari robbed them of a fair, unbiased election.
The factional chairman of ward 8, Saheed Adegoke stated that the election didn’t go well in his ward, pointing that the voters’ register brought was not accurate.
“During the accreditation, there are some people that belonged to us and their names could not be found in the register book they brought. I challenged them. I made them know that the register has been doctored. They did not listen because they are incumbent and they are many.
“The most unfortunate is that the leader of the electoral process showed that he is for their side. If I raise any observation, he will tell me to go to court. I told him he was wrong to be biased. The security could not do anything. They did not show us the result sheet. They packed the whole thing and started running,” Adegoke lamented.
The factional state chairman, Alhaji Rasaq Salinsile of ward 04, Isale-Oba in Iwo Local Government Area of Osun also decried their inaccessibility to the party’s register.
“Up till today, we have not seen the register of the party, which is against the rules of the game. At least, each of the aspirants is expected to have a copy of the register of members but none of them has it. We raised it at the stakeholders meeting at the party secretariat. Many of our supporters can’t find their names on the register,” he said during an interview at the ward.
Salinsile averred that “whatever comes out of this exercise is a nullity, we won’t take it.”
After the collation of the results from each ward and local government areas in the state, the electoral committee declared Governor Adegboyega Oyetola as the winner of the election in the early hours of Sunday as he polled 222,169 defeating the Minister for Interior, Rauf Aregbesola’s candidate, Moshood Adeoti who had 12921 votes and Lasun Yusuff who polled 460 votes.
Here’s the official results released for each local government area:
Atakunmosa East LGA
Registered voters: 8628
Accredited voters: 2917
Oyetola: 2637
Adeoti: 165
Lasun: 0
Atakunmosa West LGA
Registered voters: 8964
Accredited voters: 5055
Oyetola: 4655
Adeoti: 305
Lasun: 07
Ayedaade LGA
Registered voters: 15185
Accredited voters: 4371
Oyetola: 3615
Adeoti: 540
Lasun: 0
Ayedire LGA
Registered voters: 6763
Accredited voters: 3664
Oyetola: 3204
Adeoti: 279
Lasun: 03
Boluwaduro LGA
Registered voters: 9422
Accredited voters: 6527
Oyetola: 6399
Adeoti: 62
Lasun: 0
Boripe LGA
Registered voters: 18410
Accredited voters: 15531
Oyetola: 15034
Adeoti: 05
Lasun: 0
Ede North LGA
Registered voters: 11908
Accredited voters: 0834
Oyetola: 0110
Adeoti: 311
Lasun: 02
Ede South LGA
Registered voters: 7372
Accredited voters: 3525
Oyetola: 2664
Lasun: 0
Adeoti: 628
Egbedore LGA
Registered voters: 10089
Accredited voters: 6334
Oyetola: 5500
Adeoti: 420
Lasun: 0
Ejigbo LGA
Registered voters: 12579
Accredited voters: 8367
Oyetola: 8007
Adeoti: 360
Lasun: 0
Ife Central LGA
Registered voters: 14331
Accredited voters: 11881
Oyetola: 10843
Adeoti: 334
Lasun: 01
Ifedayo LGA
Registered voters: 6586
Accredited voters: 4678
Oyetola: 4214
Lasun: 0
Adeoti: 141
Ife East LGA
Registered voters: 15922
Accredited voters: 12529
Oyetola: 12030
Lasun: 0
Adeoti: 326
Ifelodun LGA
Registered voters: 16789
Accredited voters: 12971
Oyetola: 11873
Adeoti: 631
Lasun: 27
Ife North LGA
Reg: 9329
Acc: 3795
Oyetola: 3377
Adeoti: 242
Lasun: 05
Ife South LGA
Registered voters: 11435
Accredited voters: 8673
Oyetola: 8268
Lasun: 0
Adeoti: 043
Ila LGA
Registered voters: 11359
Accredited voters: 9223
Oyetola: 8834
Adeoti: 47
Lasun: 0
Ilesa East LGA
Registered voters: 11132
Accredited voters: 5846
Oyetola: 4857
Adeoti: 483
Lasun: 1
Ilesa West LGA
Registered voters: 11552
Accredited voters: 4660
Oyetola: 3877
Adeoti: 446
Lasun: 0
Irepodun LGA
Registered voters: 20563
Accredited voters: 9692
Oyetola: 7928
Adeoti: 732
Lasun: 294
Irewole LGA
Registered voters: 14085
Accredited voters: 8432
Oyetola: 7560
Adeoti: 537
Lasun: 0
Isokan LGA
Registered voters: 14366
Accredited voters: 6899
Oyetola: 6468
Adeoti: 279
Lasun: 13
Iwo LGA
Registered voters: 24543
Accredited voters: 14690
Oyetola: 9432
Adeoti: 2543
Lasun: 01
Obokun LGA
Registered voters: 13048
Accredited voters: 5910
Oyetola: 5245
Adeoti: 527
Lasun: 02
Odo-Otin LGA
Registered voters: 14304
Accredited voters: 8119
Oyetola: 7735
Adeoti: 384
Lasun:0
Olaoluwa LGA
Registered voters: 8747
Accredited voters: 4134
Oyetola: 3771
Adeoti: 363
Lasun: 0
Olorunda LGA
Registered voters: 18402
Accredited voters: 8087
Oyetola: 7103
Adeoti: 555
Lasun: 01
Oriade LGA
Registered voters: 16186
Accredited voters: 11384
Oyetola: 10935
Adeoti: 438
Lasun: 11
Orolu LGA
Registered voters: 8927
Accredited voters: 7768
Oyetola: 6652
Adeoti: 130
Lasun: 0
Osogbo LGA
Registered voters: 37771
Accredited voters: 23711
Oyetola: 22265
Adeoti: 655
Lasun: 170
Total number of registered voters: 408697
Total number of accredited voters: 247207
Total number of votes cast: 235550
Oyetola: 222169
Lasun: 460
Adeoti: 12921
The chairman of the electoral committee, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasak had earlier commended the peaceful conduct of members as he monitored the electoral process.
Abdulrasak who spoke at Governor Oyetola’s ward in Iragbiji, noted that the huge turnout and orderliness contradicted the expectations of many over the exercise.
The Kwara State Governor further said that Osun APC is strong and peaceful against the images painted by news outfits. He commended the party members and aspirants for conducting themselves well.
Aregbesola has, however, reacted to the outcome of the election. He described the election as a sham, biased electoral process.
He highlighted the irregularities of the exercise and expressed readiness to challenge the election in court.
The minister commended his loyalists for conducting themselves peacefully and encouraged them to remain unflinching in their commitment to the democratic ideals.
“Democracy is for the long haul. As you all know, we never tire and we never give up on the cause we believe in. Be rest assured that victory is ours,” he concluded.
Governor Oyetola, in his acceptance speech sued for peace and cooperation in preparation for the July 16, governorship election in the state.
The Governor extended olive branch to the co-contenders, Adeoti and Lasun just as he urged members of the party to close ranks and eschew bitterness in all forms saying the time has come for all the aggrieved members to have a rethink and join hands with him to further strengthen the party and deliver outstanding results at the gubernatorial poll.
He also reiterated his Administration’s commitment to running all inclusive, equitable and participatory governance in the State.
While the former governor of Lagos State and APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, south west governors, his cabinet members and others have congratulated the governor on his victory, the election result has been threatened with legal action.
Civil societies who served as observers during the election have commended and condemned the exercise.
While a group said it was conducted well and done peacefully, another pointed that it was below international standard, stating that the election was disrupted by violence in some areas.
Political analysts have tagged the victory of Oyetola as a disgrace to Aregbesola who according to them shouldn’t fold his hands and watch as he (Aregbesola) had earlier bragged of his candidate winning the election.
Eyes are wide open longing to know if Aregbesola’s faction would come into the open embrace of Oyetola and accept his olive branch before the July 16 governorship election.
