The outright defeat of the incumbent governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, in Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State, has raised concerns over the chances of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South West ahead of the 2023 general election.
The two major political parties in the country, the governing APC and opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday expressed divergent views on the implication of the keenly contested poll in which the PDP candidate, Sen Ademola Adeleke, defeated Governor Oyetola of the APC.
While some PDP stakeholders and party chieftains said the Osun election has given the party a better foothold in the South West zone ahead of 2023, the APC described the victory as a fluke, saying the intra party feud that contributed the party’s defeat in the election would have been resolved.
Basking in the euphoria of the victory, the PDP has expressed confidence that the Osun governorship election would impact on its fortune in the 2023 general election.
Commenting on the electoral victory, Olabamiji Oladele, spokesperson of the party’s caretaker chairman in the state, Dr Akintunde Adekunle, said the outcome of the election will negatively affect the performance of the APC.
According to him, the importance of the Osun election was made manifest at the mega rallies of the two dominant political parties.
He noted that the importance of the election informed the presence of the two presidential candidates, their party chairmen and arrays of governors and chieftains during their final electioneering campaigns.
Oladele noted that Osun, being the abode of the source of Yoruba race, has always dictated political direction for Nigeria in the past, hence the determination by both parties to win the state to their side.
In his appraisal of the outcome of the Osun governorship poll, a chieftain of the APC, Chief Ibraheem Saka Ominiwe, however, declared that the outcome of the election will not have any negative effect on the party’s presidential candidate, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu come 2023.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP in Ibadan, he said the popularity of the candidate transcends the party, adding that it cuts across political parties in Nigeria.
He, however, warned that the party should put its houses in order and “beware of molls among us who are ready to destroy the party and pretend as friends but are working against the public and party’s interest at the back “.
Noting that the APC was the choice of the majority, Ominiwe said, “We know that the Peoples Democratic Party members are manipulators and this has unfolded like branding different results before the final results by INEC. APC is the choice of the majority.”
On the governorship election result, Ominiwe who is the BoT Secretary, Bola Ahmed Tinubu Intellectual Coalition (BATIC), disclosed that the party was still scrutinizing the outcome because of some discrepancies.
He said before the official result, the PDP had been branding different results, claiming that the party was leading by 30,000 votes.
Not perturbed by the outcome of the Osun governorship election, the ruling APC in Ondo State has boasted that the party will win the 2023 general election in South West despite the loss of the party in the last weekend election in Osun State.
APC described the Osun State gubernatorial poll as an isolated case, which they have put behind them in their calculations to garner the support of the people in the zone.
The state’s publicity secretary of the party, Alex Kalejaye, said, “The Osun 2022 experience is no doubt a bitter one, but has emphasized a pivotal idea in political arrangement. In an election, one expects the results to come in bits to make a whole.
According to Kalejaye, “What this means is that everyone should contribute from his units and wards. This can only happen where there is cohesion, understanding, and all gladiators are on the same page.
“I think this was missing in the Osun All Progressives Congress and that appears to be the crux of the problem there.
“To answer your question pointedly, no, it won’t affect us in 2023. I want to view it as an isolated case, which we have put behind us in our calculations to garner the support of our people in the geopolitical zone.
“In the Ondo State chapter, for example, we set up a reconciliation committee a few weeks ago. It is a 7-man committee under the chairmanship of a former deputy governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Lasisi Oluboyo.
“The team has a mandate to consider, and dispassionately too, the issues that cropped up before and during the recent party’s primaries, identify all the aspirants that are embittered by the process, and look into their grievances.
“As a party, we must strive to apologise or appeal where necessary so that we can present a common front during elections. I am not unaware there is a limit to which one could plead with an aggrieved adult, but we should be seen to have made sincere efforts.
“So, while the case of Ekiti State is settled, I do not envisage any upset in Lagos and Ogun States, while the party will definitely capitalize on the non- performance of the People’s Democratic Party in Oyo to win the State back into APC fold.”
But the PDP in the state said the outcome of the Osun State gubernatorial election “is a tonic for the South West erroneously assumed to be APC stronghold ahead of 2023.”
The party, through its publicity secretary, Kennedy Ikantu Peretei, said, “As it stands, Oyo and Osun States will be firmly under the control of PDP before the election. Don’t forget, even as a sitting President, Buhari lost Ondo State in the 2019 Presidential election.
“Therefore, the PDP is squaring up seriously with the APC in the Southwest. The Osun election is a major testimony in this direction.”
For Phillip Aivoji, Lagos State PDP chairman, the success of the PDP in the Osun election will improve the party’s chances in the South West in the 2023 election.
He said, “Osun and Oyo States are hot spots of South West politics and our party controls the two states. Look at the number of local government areas in Osun; it has 30 local government areas and Osun is the ancestral base of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. He hails from Osun. In his home and everywhere he was roundly defeated.
“All along people have been saying many things about him that they almost rate him as God. There is the feeling that he can do anything and get away with it. APC members tried to rig the election; they tried all manner of things but the people stood.
“On the day of the election, the APC tried to buy votes of the electorate but they refused. They turned down their offer. They chose to vote their conscience. I know the politicians and youths will learn a lesson from it. Gone are the days that the two dominant parties would be behaving as if they were gods and careless about the people.
“Now, the people have a voice; they can decide on who governs them. The country is coming back to the good old days, and not just manipulating the election and you go to court and the court will decide who rules. Look at what happened in Imo State. Is that not madness? Sanity is coming back to Nigeria.
Nigerians Urged To Vote For Tinubu
“What I notice is that the good old days are coming back. There is sanity in the electoral system; people will now respect the electorate. For the last ten years the politicians haven’t respected the electorate. They will tell them their vote doesn’t count; ‘if you like to vote for me, I know who will win’, they do say.
“The fact that despite all odds, the people of Osun State defeated the incumbent governor, I give kudos to the people of Osun State. So many people will learn from that. Politicians have to sit up and do their homework very well by goy after the electorate and beg them to vote for them. They should not depend on the money they want to dole out. It is a lesson for all of us.’’
In his part, chairman of APC in Ekiti State, Chief Jide Awe, said the South West zone of Nigeria remains a stronghold of the party.
Awe said the loss the party suffered in the Osun state governorship election to the PDP will not in any way affect the fortunes of South West APC in the 2023 general poll.
The APC chieftain who attributed the defeat of the party candidate in the Osun poll to the leadership crisis in the state chapter of the party said APC in other states of the zone are united and determined to win the 2023 election for the party.
He said, “The party’s loss in the last Saturday governorship election in Osun State will not affect the chances of APC in the 2023 polls in the Southwest geo-political zone.
“The leadership of APC in Osun State is to be blamed for the defeat because they failed to resolve their internal crisis before the poll. Once they could not resolve their differences, they sowed the wind and reaped the wild wind, and that made the outcome easy”.
He, however, expressed confidence that APC will have a good story to tell in the four years when it returns to power in the state.
But the PDP publicity secretary in Ekiti state, Hon Raphael Adeyanju said the party’s victory in the Osun State governorship election will give the party a better foothold and boost its chances in South West ahead of the 2023 poll.
Adeyanju said, “Sincerely, the South western electorate are sophisticated voters who know what they want. The last election was a statement that the people are done with the APC. It showed that they are not carried away by tribal sentiment that the presidential candidate of the APC is a Yoruba man.
“It also showed that the power of incumbency has little to do with the election. The party had only one governor in the region, but with an additional one governor, the morale of the party members will be boosted.
“The party in government is bound to be financially stronger than an opposition party. So this will give the ruling party more advantage at the poll. The party will also gain from the bandwagon effect of the Osogbo victory on the electorates. Many Nigerians don’t vote based on ideology or manifesto of any political party; they are influenced by the chances of the party.
“That is why it is very difficult for any party apart from the APC and the PDP to win an election in Nigeria.
“In Ekiti State, people would have preferred the PDP to the ruling party,bbut the party was engulfed in internal crisis. Despite the fact that the SDP had a very strong candidate it could still not dislodge the ruling party”.
Similarly, Sikirulahi Ogundele, Ogun State Chairman of PDP, said the outcome of last Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State is a clear manifestation of the fact that power does not belong to those in position of authority, but actually belongs to the people.
He said, “Again, the interpretation of that guber contest which eventually gave victory to Senator Ademola Adeleke and the PDP is that people of the South West have rejected APC and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, particularly when such devastating defeat was coming from his home state. It is a clearer indication that the people have rejected his presidency.
“I mean, if the incumbent governor could lose such an important election, people have clearly spoken that power permanently belongs to the electorate and that is good for Nigeria’s democracy.’’
