All political gladiators in the country are paying serious attention to Osun gubernatorial poll. The preparation for the election is already on top gear.
21 political parties struggle for one seat in Osun
Though there are 21 political parties in the race for the exalted office of governor of Osun State. But looking at the situation holistically, one can say that about six of the parties are actually presenting candidates who appear serious and committed to the contest.
They include Mr Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Fatai Akinbade of the Labour Party (LP), Elder Segun Akinwusi of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Niyi Owolade of the Accord Party (AP) and Senator Sunday Fajimi of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
The contest between the APC and the PDP
Out of these six candidates, only the candidates of the APC and the PDP have been carrying out elaborate political campaigns, while others say they are adopting silent door-to-door strategy.
This situation seems to have reduced the race to a contest between the candidates of the PDP and the APC who have large number of followers who are highly influential within and outside the state. Senator Omisore, who was a federal lawmaker in the National Assembly for 8 years, served as the Chairman of Appropriation Committee in the Senate. He enjoys the support of the Presidency. Aregbesola, the incumbent governor of the state, has the backing of a former Lagos state governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other top chieftains of his party as well as all APC governors.
Another candidate, who seems to be making waves in the race, is the LP candidate. He was the former Secretary to Osun State government during the tenure of Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola. Akinbade’s campaign activities have been very moderate but relatively small, given the strength of the PDP and the APC candidates. The AD candidate, Fajinmi also organised only one public political campaign in his hometown, Iwo, while other candidates, including Akinwusi, the former Head of Service in the state and Owolade, the former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state limited their campaigns to social media and few press releases to the media.
However, the tone of public campaigns of the PDP and the APC elicits concern because of the tendency to cause tension. Their campaigns also entertain the people of the state.
Removal of Osun REC
The campaigns got to feverish point when the PDP asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove the Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr Rufus Akeju, a demand which the APC opposed. Senator Omisore accused Akeju of having clandestine relationship with Aregbesola with the intent to connive and rig the election. But the APC insisted that the REC should stay.
The INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega was in Osogbo to meet the political parties. The meeting was disrupted over the demand for the removal of the REC. Subsequently, the electoral body asked Akeju to go on leave for his own safety. But this did not go down well with the APC. The PDP celebrated the exit of the embattled REC. Akeju was replaced with Olusegun Agbaje. Surprisingly, the APC is now accusing the electoral umpire under the leadership of Agbaje of having the tendency to rig the poll in favour of the PDP, insisting that card readers must be used to detect fake voters’ cards if the election would be free and fair.
The Osun State APC Director of Media and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi claimed that “INEC preferred to anchor the credibility of Osun election on the removal of Akeju at the insistence of the PDP. Obviously, INEC bowed to pressure from presidency”.
APC also alleged that there was a plot to arrest and assassinate the chieftains of the party through the use of a militia force in military camouflage, warning that any soldier or policeman that did not wear name tag and display identity card would be dealt with.
The APC Chairman, Elder Adelowo Adebiyi also accused the Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro and the Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan of planning to use soldiers and policemen during the election at the detriment of the APC.
Reacting to the allegations, the PDP Director of Publicity and Strategy in Osun State, Mr Diran Odeyemi described APC’s allegations as baseless. He said the PDP did not plan to rig the forthcoming election, adding that his party would win without the influence of any individual or group of people. The PDP spokesman said APC was desperate to holding on to power in the state.
Politics of ‘stomach infrastructure’
Beyond the allegations and counter allegations, the campaign of the two major parties has been going on peacefully. Both Governor Aregbesola and Senator Omisore have toured the length and breadth of the state canvasing for votes. From indications, the duo of Omisore and Aregbesola are not oblivious of the fact that presenting their manifestoes to the electorate is not enough to win their heart and get their votes. Therefore, they design strategic concepts to gain the attention of the electorate. One of the mechanisms is known as “stomach infrastructure”. This involves the distribution of food items, including rice and indomie noodles to the people.
On this, the two parties are trading blame over the distribution of food items to the electorate. The APC spokesperson alleged that PDP was enticing voters with a bag of rice and N10, 000 per person. Oyatomi lamented that the action constituted an abominable insult on the Yoruba nation.
In his reaction, PDP spokesperson said the APC, which had no programme, could not convince Osun people on why they should vote for Aregbesola again. He said the PDP was busy with campaigns and had no time for the allegations coming from the APC.
Odeyemi said it was the APC that started the distribution of money and rice in Ekiti, adding that the party was planning to use the same tactic in Osun.
“APC has already offloaded many trailers, containing bags of rice and cartons of indomie noodles. They want to give money, rice, indomie noodles among other things to our people to induce them to vote for Aregbesola. But our people are smart enough to know that APC is full of deceit and lies,” he added.
In another allegation, the APC accused the PDP of distributing kerosene to Osun people in order to lure them to vote for Omisore, stressing that Omisore was deceiving Osun people with the way he had been doing what he would not have done ordinarily. Oyatomi said the PDP candidate was going round in artificial status by posing with roasted corns and pretending to be riding on Okada.
However, Omisore’s spokesperson, Odeyemi explained how Omisore came about the corn and the reason why he was on Okada.
“Senator Omisore does not just pose with the corn to deceive anyone. We were at a political rally and some spectators offered him the corn. He collected it and ate it. On the issue of the Okada ride, it happened when we went to a village to campaign and the road was bad to the extent that our vehicles could not pass. We told Senator Omisore that we needed to turn back. But he said he did not want to disappoint the villagers who had been waiting for him there. The only alternative was for him to ride on bike which we also did. As for the kerosene distribution, there is no big deal in it. Someone brought the kerosene to support our party. Nothing is wrong with that. Meanwhile, the distribution of kerosene is not new to our people. Even when there is no election, the kerosene is distributed to Osun people and it is just a way of telling them that we care for them,”Odeyemi said.
Whether this tactics by these politicians will work for them at the poll, the outcome of the August 9, 2014 governorship election in Osun State will surely decide.
