‘I have brought light to Osun State’ – Adeleke

[By VICTOR NZE]

Barely minutes after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officially declared him winner of the Osun Governorship Elections, conducted across the 30 local government areas of the state, two-time contestant and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ademola Adeleke says he has ‘brought light’ to the South West ancient state.

Declaring in a tweet via his verified Twitter handle (@AAdeleke_01), Senator Adeleke said in response to his victory at the poll on his second attempt, that: “I have brought light to Osun State.”

Senator Ademola is brother to billionaire, Deji Adeleke, the father of contemporary music star, David Adeleke (Davido).

Adeleke, is also the younger of now late Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke, who was state governor of Osun between January 1992 and November 1993. The late Isiaka’s bid to return to the Osun Government House under the APC platform was ended after he was allegedly poisoned to death, an event which threw Senator Adeleke into the political mix as he contested the seat in 2018 under the platform of the PDP.

It would be recalled that Adeleke was allegedly denied the seat of the Osun Government House back in 2018 when an official of INEC mysteriously declared the poll in progress as ‘inconclusive’ with the senator seemingly coasting home to victory.

When INEC then called for a run-off poll among the three top finishers; Senator Iyiola Omisore of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), now incumbent state governor, Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Adeleke of the PDP, the former (Omisore) pulled out and aligned with the APC candidate, even further directing his supporters to vote for the latter.

Adeleke bitterly lost that election.

However, heading into Saturday’s election, the Ede-born politician, Adeleke was determined not to allow that incident repeat itself, as he moved to plug the loopholes which cost him victory in 2018.

To Adeleke’s aid was the newly-signed Electoral Law which demanded electronic transmission of election results immediately after polling. This compelled INEC officials to immediate transmit results to the collations centre, thereby eliminating the previous practice of tampering with figures.

Also, INEC had deployed the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for facial recognition of voters which served to eliminate fraudulent votes.

Out of the 1,955,657 registered voters in Osun, 1,479,959 voters had collected their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) and were fully prepared for the exercise.

Also, the security agencies played a huge role in determining the outcome of the election, as their deployment served to deter vote buying by political parties, which had marred the 2018 exercise.

Ahead of the election proper, the Nigeria police had deployed high-ranking officers in addition to the 21, 000 lower cadre personnel drafted to monitor the polls.

This is also as operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NCDC) and those of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were deployed to boost security and arrest voter buyers and sellers during the exercise.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Usman Alkali Baba, had directed a further drafting of 21, 000 personnel to monitor the Osun Governorship Elections, in addition to one Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) and four Assistant Inspectors General (AIGs), four Commissioners of Police (CPs), 15 Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) and 30 Assistant Commissioners (ACPs) already dispatched to the state for the exercise.

The IGP said the massive deployment was to prevent miscreants from hijacking or disrupting the election process, adding that the deployed officers would provide security, protect the electorate, INEC personnel and materials before, during and after the election.

He added further that the officers deployed had already been trained and made aware of the rules of engagement, adding that the police remained apolitical and they were to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

Even before Saturday’s exercise, the Osun State Commissioner of Police, CP Olokode Olawale had been temporarily redeployed to the Police Force Headquarters in Abuja ahead of Saturday’s poll, on the orders of the IGP Baba.

Similarly, the Commissioner of Police and Provost Marshall at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, Mr Julius Alawari, was temporarily deployed to Osun for the election and would be there until the conclusion of the exercise.

The police team deployed to Osun to monitor the election was headed by the DIG in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Mr Johnson Kokumo, who was to oversee the implementation of the Operation Order evolved from the Election Security Threat Assessment.

The police said the idea was to ensure a peaceful and conducive environment, devoid of violence for law abiding citizens to freely perform their civic responsibilities without molestation or intimidation.

He said other senior officers deployed would coordinate human and other operational deployments in the three senatorial districts, 30 local government areas and 3,753 polling units in the state.

The personnel deployed were drawn from the conventional police officers, Police Mobile Force (PMF), Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), Special Forces personnel, Explosives Ordinance Disposal Unit (EOD), Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) and INTERPOL. Others were drawn from the Special Protection Unit (SPU), Police Airwing, Public Relations Department (FPRD) and the police medical team.

The police said the personnel would be on ground to guarantee free, fair, credible and acceptable election.

Five Armored Personnel Carriers for patrol, as well as three helicopters and six  Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for aerial surveillance amongst other unique operational assets were also deployed.

Police spokesman, Olumuyiwa Adejobi said the Nigeria Police Force was satisfactorily prepared for the election and reiterated the commitment of the Force to synergise with INECand other stakeholders for the election.

He said the synergy was to protect democratic values, provide level playing field for all political actors, ensure adequate protection of voters, INEC officials, equipment, accredited observers and other key players.

On his part, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, INEC National Chairman, assured that the commission was fully ready to conduct the Osun election, adding that five INEC National Commissioners, 12 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and other senior INEC officers would be in the state to support the Osun office to deliver a credible, free, fair and conclusive election.

Mahmood also added that INEC would also be setting a record as Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) would also be deployed as ad hoc staff selected from NYSC corps members for the election, asking the electorate to cooperate and protect them.

For the losing incumbent state governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, the squabbles within the ruling APC did not help matters.

Prior to the elections, a chieftain of the party in the state and current Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola had pull his support, over his allegedly marginalization at the state governorship primary conducted by the APC.

Aregbesola had alleged that his preferred candidate, Adeoti was schemed out of the exercise by the faction of the party in the state loyal to Presidential candidate of the APC in the 2023 General Elections, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The factionalisation of the APC in Osun was not resolved as the Oyetola/Tinubu group called the minister’s bluff heading into Saturday’s poll. The outcome meant the party lost significant Aregbesola votes in the poll.

Also, this time around, the Ife strongman, Omisore failed to deliver his political stronghold of Ile-Ife, even while fully a member of the APC following his defection the following year after the 2028 poll.

And while the PDP’s own squabbles arising from its highly-contested governorship primary was resolved early, that of the APC lingered to cost the party victory at Saturday’s election.

It should also not be under-estimated the role played by nephew of Senator Ademola, the popular contemporary music star, Davido (David Adeleke), who rallied support among the youth of Osun State ahead of the poll, and dissuaded them from selling their votes.

For Osun, this will be a new beginning. Perhaps, the APC should start to put its house in order and move all grievances which have continued to be swept under the carpet.

Ahead of the 2023 General Elections, the incumbent National Chairman of the ruling party, Adamu Abdullahi, had previously admitted that while he served as the chairman of the Reconciliation Committee set up by the APC to resolve disputes arising from its controversial state congresses, last year, hundreds of unresolved grievances and factions still exist within the party.

If the ruling APC does not wish a repeat of the Osun incident, it is perhaps expedient on the party to begin addressing these issues before the 2023 polls set in.

Meanwhile, now outgoing governor, Alhaji Oyetiola, reacting to his defeat at last Saturday’s governorship poll in the state, said his government is still studying the results of the election and will respond accordingly.

A statement issued by Governor Oyetola’s Chief Press Secretary, Ismail Omipidan, Sunday, said the APC would react after appraising the outcome of the election.

Oyetola called on his supporters in the state to remain calm and go about their businesses without hindrance.

He called on security operatives in the state to ensure the maintenance of law and order.

The Chief Returning Officer for INEC, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, declared Adeleke the winner after winning in 17 local government areas against Oyetola’s 13.

Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe said Adeleke of the PDP polled 403,371 votes to defeat Oyetola who got 375,027 votes.

Senator Adeleke is expected to be inaugurated as the next Governor of Osun on November 27, this year.