BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF OSUN IS TODAY(GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION)

About one million voters in Osun State will
today elect a new governor to pilot the affairs of
the state for another four years, but this will be
done amid tight security and tension.
The last one week has seen an unprecedented
influx of security operatives in the state and the
number keeps rising in the build-up to the poll.
Heavily armed security operatives from the
Nigerian Army, the Department of State
Services, the Nigeria Police and the Nigeria
Security and Civil Defence Corps have been
arriving in Osogbo, Osun State capital and other
major towns in the state in large numbers.
Meanwhile, the presence of the security
operatives, particularly military personnel, at
major junctions and entry points into the state
has led to apprehension among residents.
A resident, Mrs. Bunmi Ogunkeye, told Saturday
PUNCH that many voters would shun the poll
because of the heavy security presence in the
state. She said the activities of the security
operatives had been creating fears in the mind
of people.
She said, “Sometimes when the security
operatives are passing in their convoy of
vehicles with sirens, they harass motorists on
the roads and shoot into the air for no just
reason. It is good to have adequate security
during elections but there is a limit. We all
know the excesses of military men.”
Another resident, Mr. Oladeji Okanlawon, said
he would not vote for fear of being hit by stray
bullets.
Okanlawon said he would pray for his preferred
candidate in the comfort of his room.
He said, “With the way things are going, I will
not go out to vote and I will tell my family
members to do the same. With many guns
around, anything can happen. A bullet that is
not targeted at you could hit you even if you
have done nothing wrong.”
However, there are some residents who have
described the heavy security presence in the
state as better than having touts take over the
electoral process like it has been done in the
past.
Twenty candidates are vying for the Osun State
governor’s seat and last minute preparations
were in top gear ahead of the election on
Thursday and Friday.
Some of the candidates include the incumbent
governor, Rauf Aregbesola of the APC; a former
Deputy Governor of the state, Senator Iyiola
Omisore of the PDP; and the Labour Party
candidate, Fatai Akinbade.
According to the residents, the three candidates
are considered the strongest and the ones with
biggest shot at the keenly contested seat.
On Thursday morning, the Independent
National Electoral Commission began the
distribution of electoral materials to local
government areas ahead of the election.
INEC Public Relations Officer, Mr. Kayode Idowu,
told Saturday PUNCH that the “law provides
that a candidate must have 25 per cent in at
least two-thirds of the state and have the
highest number of votes to emerge the winner.
Meanwhile, on the streets of Osogbo, the main
subject of discourse was often centred around
politics and the chances of the candidates in
the poll. Often, residents were sighted in
clusters discussing their preferred candidates.
Findings by Saturday PUNCH showed that
Aregbesola had a stronghold in Osogbo but
Omisore was expected to keenly fight for votes
there too.
Findings by our correspondent who felt the
pulse of residents there showed that Aregbesola
had an edge over Omisore in the capital city,
also considering that his deputy, Grace Tomori,
is from the city.
Aregbesola is also said to be strong in his
hometown of Ilesha, which has two local
governments, Ilesha East and West.
Omisore’s strongest areas are in Ife town, which
has four local governments – Ife Central, Ife
North, Ife East and Ife South. His running mate,
Rafiu Bello, who is from Ede town, is expected
to deliver Ede North and South to the PDP.
In spite of Aregbesola’s suspected stronghold in
Osogbo, residents expect the final results in the
state to be close, considering that Osogbo and
Ife have the largest numbers of registered
voters.
While Osogbo has 110,670 registered voters, the
four local governments in Ife have a combined
figure of 266,891.
Akinbade is said to have a stronghold in his
hometown of Ogbaagba and the neighbouring
Iwo town.
The dynamics of Nigerian politics played out on
Tuesday with the defection of a former governor
of the state, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, an indigene
of Okuku in Odo-Otin Local Government Area,
from the PDP to the APC. But generally,
Oyinlola’s stronghold is in Osun Central
Senatorial District. His influence also extends to
Osogbo.
However, the PDP has been playing down
Oyinlola’s influence in Osun politics in the
build-up to the election.
The Zonal Chairman of the Peoples Democratic
Party, South-West, Chief Ishola Filani, on
Thursday dismissed the defection, saying it
would not affect the party’s fortune in the
state.
Speaking at a news conference in Osogbo, Filani
said, “He left the PDP in Osun State, but the
question is what effect will this have on us on
Saturday?
“And our submission is this. It will have no
effect whatsoever on the fortunes of Omisore
becoming the next governor of Osun State.
Where Oyinlola is coming from, there are many
people to fill whatever gap, if any, that he is
leaving behind.”
Filani expressed confidence in the PDP’s
chances in the election, saying the party had
gone round “the 30 local government areas in
the state”.
He also said Osun residents were tired of the
current government and needed change.
Filani said, “Aregbesola’s government has no
touch with the people. There is nobody in Osun
State who feels the impact of the APC
government just like it is everywhere, in Oyo,
Ogun and Lagos states. And there was a
demonstration of the rejection recently in Ekiti
State.”
He described the PDP candidate as a person
with a track record of success as a former
deputy governor of the state and as a senator.
Filani said, “We want to be in the mainstream of
Nigerian politics and that is why we have
started recovering our lost grounds. We started
in Ekiti State and we are now going to Osun.”
At a separate news conference in Osogbo on
Thursday, Akinbade urged security to pay more
attention to areas he considered hot spots in
the state. He said such local governments as
Atakunmosa East and West, Ife North and South
usually witnessed violence in past elections.
He said, “I want to appeal to the security
agents to monitor flash points to prevent
violence there. Places like Atakunmosa East and
Atakunmosa West, Ife South and Ife North
should be monitored.
“The security agents should also concentrate on
villages where hoodlums used to rig elections.”
Efforts to reach the spokesperson for Osun State
Police Command, Folasade Odoro, for comments
were not successful as she neither picked her
calls nor responded to text messages sent to
her mobile phone.
However, the Acting Inspector-General of Police,
Suleiman Abba, has vowed to crush attempt by
mischief makers to create problems on the
election day. He also defended the deployment
of huge security personnel in Osun State ahead
of the poll.
He, however, created fears among stakeholders
when he asked them to beware of the numerous
electoral offences they could easily fall into.
Citing relevant sections of the Electoral Act,
Abba said, “There are many offences that can
easily be committed. You must beware so that
you don’t fall victim of any of these offences.”
He noted that security agencies would be on
the look out to arrest electoral offenders who
within 300m radius of a polling unit, breach
any of the laws.
“Three hundred metres is a wide area and you
may handle a stone in your hands and it could
be interpreted as being armed, so beware.”
Meanwhile, there has been an influx of people
into Osun, particularly Osogbo, giving hotel
business in the city a major boost.
In the build-up to the election, customers
scramble for accommodation as most hotels in
the town are fully booked or occupied. The
visitors range from journalists to the
Independent National Electoral Commission
officials, election observers and officials of non-
governmental organisations.
The manager of White Plain Suites and Towers,
Ogundipe Bamidele, described the increase in
patronage as a “drastic change”.
He said, “For the past one week, our rooms have
been fully occupied. We are fully occupied in
terms of indoor and outdoor activities. Today,
we have served over 200 people in our banquet
hall.
“Normally, our hotel is one of the highly
patronised facilities in Osogbo with an average
booking of 60 per cent of our rooms, but now we
are fully occupied. People have been begging
us for rooms in the last one week but we cannot
manufacture rooms. We wish we could give
them rooms.”
Bamidele added that the hotel management
had maintained its room prices in spite of the
pressure.
“Our room prices range from N8, 000 to N20,000
and that is what we still charge,” he said.
At Yetty Hotel, Odi-Olowo, also in Osogbo, where
some renovations were ongoing in some of its
25 rooms, all the available rooms had been
occupied during our correspondents’ visit.
The hotel manager, Mr. Akin Oyerinde, regretted
that the management picked the election
period for the renovations.
He said, “We are the new managers, previous
people didn’t manage the hotel very well for
the owner. It was in a very bad shape when we
came in. But all the available rooms have been
taken by some officials who are in Osogbo for
the election.”

Copyright PUNCH