Osun Governorship Election And Matters Arising

The July 16, 2022 governorship election of Osun State has come and gone with the winner taking it all and the losers counting their losses. The incumbent governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) lost out to Senator Ademola Adeleke, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Poor performance of APC in general, is said to have contributed to Oyetola’s loss. Insecurity, high cost of living, unemployment, deteriorating education sector among others constituted in no small measures to the rejection of APC in Osun State.

For the PDP’s candidate, Senator Adeleke, his emergence may also be viewed as an act of providence. It is said that Adeleke succeeded as a result of division in the camp of Oyetola, rejection of APC and goodwill of Osun electorates for his brother, late Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke.

While Adeleke in his acceptance speech promised to deliver on his electioneering promises, Governor Oyetola noted that he and his party would make his decision known to the general public after they might have studied the outcome of the election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission put in place various measures to curb electoral malpractices in Nigeria, managing that of Osun State election effectively. However, there still remained the ugly hydra headed monster called vote buying that marred the elections, with inducement of voters by political parties.

Achievements recorded may not have been made possible without the contribution of the law enforcement operatives who were massively deployed for the election in. They came without compromising their integrity, performed in a civil manner and enforced peace, except for pockets of violence as recorded in Ikire, where a PDP agent and a few others sustained gunshot wounds.

Yiaga Africa, a nongovernmental organisation through its board chairman, Hussaini Abdu, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission for a job well done. He attributed the success made by the electoral umpire to the significant improvement in logistics management such as early arrival of personnel and essential materials which included the voters register, BVA, voting cubicles and ballot boxes.

He however called for even distribution of registered voters to polling units to avoid excessive concentration of too many people in a voting unit, that could lead to voting apathy in future elections.

Abdu who condemned vote buying during the election, however, noted that it did not affect the credibility of the exercise.

Yiaga Africa also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to promptly appoint commissioners to vacancies generated by recent exit of many Resident Electoral Commissioners, especially now that general elections are approaching.

Addressing newsmen on post-election observations in Osogbo, the founder and executive director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, also made case for the inclusion of women for the sensitive assignment, to give room for gender balance.

He commended Osun people for their support for the sustainability of democracy with the hope that all the lapses observed during the election would be improved upon in the near future.