Commentaries have been made concerning the Osun 2014 governorship election convincingly won by the APC flag bearer, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
There were losers, who have the right to either raise their voices in favour or against the conduct of the election. This was the path of honour taken by the Labour Party and its flag-bearer, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, who conceded defeat and congratulated Aregbesola. What a true democrat Akinbade is?
However, the major opposition party in Osun, the PDP, has been crying wolf where there is none. Again, they are entitled to freedom of expression as enshrined in our Constitution. But through their utterances and actions, Osun PDP is standing truth on its head to whip up sentiment. But one is happy that despite the odds put on the ways of the Osun electorate, before and during the election, with the deployment of the so-called federal might, PDP was denied victory.
In order to give a dog a bad name, to justify hanging it, the Osun PDP has gone to town to wrongly assert that the two officials suspended by INEC, on one allegation or the other, connived to ‘rig election’ in favour of the APC. And in a jiffy, a press release was sent out by the Osun PDP to confuse the electorate on the issue.
On the eve of the election, the Electoral Officer (EO) for Obokun Local Government, Anthony Olusegun Eshinoye, was said to have been arrested while allegedly attempting to divert some electoral materials to the residence of a PDP big-wig in the council area and he was promptly handed over to law enforcement agents. But what happened thereafter is better imagined.
Be that as it may be, one is happy that the Public Relations Officer of INEC in the State of Osun, Mrs Adenike Tadese, has categorically stated that the suspension of the two INEC officials has nothing to do with electoral malpractices to favour APC, as the action resulted from “administrative lapses” on the part of the officials, who are still under further investigation.
Having tried all kinds of behind the scene maneuver, ranging from a call to change Osun Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ambassador Rufus Akeju, which was effected ahead of the poll, to the issue of deployment of battle-ready security operatives, which failed woefully, Osun PDP has resorted to painting APC as the tormentor and intimidator in the election, whereas that is exactly what the Osun PDP show-cased.
Osun PDP should stop its campaign of calumny against INEC and APC and go to the tribunal to prove its case. If the Osun electorate refused to be cowed into submission by the PDP, is it right for the party to continue to insult the collective intelligence of the people, who stood solidly behind their darling party-APC-and gave it the much-desired victory on August 9?
The APC thoroughly prepared for the election relying on God and the good works of Aregbesola, who positively impacted on the peoples’ lives, whereas the opposition party just wanted power for its sake and to satisfy the yearnings of an individual. They forgot that ultimate power belongs to God. But one good thing the national leadership of the PDP did on the election was that it congratulated APC. Ditto President Jonathan. What therefore is the “stolen mandate” that Osun PDP wants to reclaim? Again, the tribunal will resolve the matter.
During the poll, many commissioners, the first civilian governor of Osun, Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, among other APC members, were intimidated, harassed and arrested by the security operatives brought to Osun for no just cause. So, who were the hunters and the hunted? The slogan of “we are going to war to capture Osun” by some PDP big wigs fell flat.
The Osun electorate was there for the APC and Aregbesola 24/7 and shall continue to.
If I were Jeleel Adesiyan or Musiliu Obanikoro, I would have resigned as minister, following the defeat handed to them by the enlightened electorate who, like the biblical David, messed up these GOLIATHS in their raw and forceful manner of wanting to capture Osun.
Jonathan should, by now, know that these two ministers are paper-weight politicians back at home, who could not win their polling units, as shown in Adesiyan’s case at Ago-Igbira polling unit, Odeomu where his party lost the election.
I will like to appeal to APC teeming supporters to remain like the Rock of Gibraltar behind Aregbesola.
Whatever impediments the opposition may wish to create in the battle concerning the election petition tribunal shall be overcome.
I praise my boss, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, for being a game changer going by the good performance he recorded at the August 9, 2014 governorship election. His experience at an hotel in Osogbo, sometime ago, has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him and the APC.
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All is well in Osun state, if u come in true the tribunal and you go out true tribunal its still a good thing so let God decide