The battleline is drawn in Osun governorship as the two major political parties in the state have nominated their flag-bearers for the September 22 governorship election in the state.
While the Peoples Democratic Party’s member representing Osun West Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Ademola Adeleke emerged for the PDP governorship ticket with 1,569 votes, Isiaka Oyetola, who is also the cousin of Bola Tinubu, National Leader of the party, won the ticket for the All progressives Congress.
Oyetola’s victory came off the party’s first-ever direct primary in which he polled 127, 017 votes to beat Yusuff Lasun, Deputy Speaker of the House of representatives, who recorded 21, 975 votes to place a distant second. Najeem Salam, Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, occupied third place with 17, 958 votes
Adeleke defeated the Chairman of Mutual Assurance, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, his closest rival, who initially scored 1,559 votes at the first count.
Ogunbiyi’s votes increased to 1,562 after they were recounted.
A former Secretary to the Osun State Government, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, scored 52 votes while a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Nathniel Oke, polled three votes. A total of 56 votes were rejected.
Adeleke will contest the governorship election with the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.
Some of the aspirants announced their withdrawal from the governorship primary before the exercise, which was held at the premises of GMT Hotel and Events Centre, started.
Some of the aspirants, who announced their withdrawal from the governorship primary, were Prof. Adeolu Durotoye, a former Minister of Youth Development, Olasunkanmi Akinlabi and Felix Ogunwale.
Other aspirants, who equally withdrew their participation, included Chief Lere Oyewunmi, former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Adejare Bello, and Ayoade Adewopo.
The Chairman of the Osun State PDP Governorship Electoral Panel, Seriake Dickson, had a hectic time as he was almost on his feet throughout the duration of the voting, which ended at 7.30pm.
Dickson, who is the Bayelsa State Governor, had earlier in his speech said the delegates would pick the most popular aspirant as the flagbearer of the party in the governorship poll holding on September 22, stressing that the panel would not tamper with the wish of the people.
He said, “This exercise will be free, fair, transparent and credible. The delegates will pick the candidate of the party. We won’t tamper with the wish of the people.”
Security agents had to fire tear gas canisters at the crowd towards the evening when some hoodlums, outside the venue, were said to have attempted to force their way inside.
In the APC primary, Najeem Salam, Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, occupied third place with 17, 958 votes.
Before the start of Friday’s primary, Moshood Adeoti, Secretary to the Osun State Government, had accused the party of manipulating the exercise, saying a lot of things were done to render it a mere endorsement of Oyetola.
“The primary was arranged, skewed and designed to favour Alhaji Isiaka Gboyega Otedola, the cousin of the National Leader of our party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Adeoti’s campaign organisation said in a statement.
He alleged that there was no credible register of members with which a free, fair and transparent direct primary could be conducted, but only a “cooked-up register comprising handpicked persons loyal to the emergence of Oyetola, printed in a firm owned by Oyetola in Lagos”.
Before Friday, 12 of the 17 aspirants had criticised the directive of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) for the election to hold via direct means, which meant every card-carrying member of the party could vote. However, the 12 maintained that the party had no comprehensive register of APC members across Osun State.
A second aspirant and current senator, Babajide Omoworare, withdrew not long after, but without acrimony. Omowoware, who represents Osun East at the Senate, said he stood down in the party’s interest.
“This development is with the ultimate view of ensuring party cohesion and for All Progressives Congress to secure victory at the September 22nd governorship election in the state,” Tunde Dairo, his Director of Communications, told SaharaReporters.
- The Rainbow with online reports
