THE Bola Ige House has a familiar occupant: Ademola Adeleke! The Osun State governor has won a fresh four-year term to lead the South-West state after defeating his closest rival, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
News Point Nigeria reports that the teturning Officer for the Osun governorship election, Joshua Ogunwole, who announced the results at the INEC Collation Centre in Osogbo early Sunday, said Governor Adeleke polled 511,067 votes to emerge as the winner of the keenly contested exercise.
Oyebamiji of the APC came second with a total vote count of 444,815. Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) was a distant third, having gotten 17,180 votes.
According to Ogunwole, 1,005,800 votes were cast in the election, which was held across the 30 local government areas of Osun State, while 985,079 valid votes were recorded. The Returning Officer said 1,010,684 voters were accredited for the poll.
Adeleke’s victory was particularly significant as he contested the election on the platform of the Accord Party, having left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), under which he won his first term, in December.
“We opted for the Accord Party because its mission of welfarism aligns with our passionate focus on citizens’ and workers’ welfare. Since I joined, I have been fascinated by the philosophy of this great party,” the governor said while announcing his defection from the PDP, one of Nigeria’s main opposition parties. “The primary essence of a government is the welfare and well-being of the people.”
The declaration ended months of campaigning in the South-West state, with 15 political parties participating in the election. The period leading to Saturday’s exercise was marked by accusations and counter-accusations, with security heightened across the state. Both the ruling party and the APC traded blame, accusing each other of being behind killings and the destruction of property.
Police authorities, in the wake of the heightened tensions, deployed 15,000 personnel across the state alongside 30 commissioners of police as part of preparations for a hitch-free election.
Force Public Relations Officer Anietie Iniedu also said a police helicopter and a drone unit were deployed to the state to conduct area surveillance.
To ensure a hitch-free exercise, President Bola Tinubu mandated the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, and other heads of security agencies to provide adequate security at polling units in Osun to forestall any disruption of the process.
“I have charged the Inspector-General of Police and other heads of security outfits taking part in the election to provide maximum security at polling units. No room should be allowed for troublemakers to disrupt the process,” the president said, urging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure the “orderly conduct of the election”.
“The election must be transparent, free and fair. I urge INEC to ensure the integrity of the process,” the president said in the statement a day before the election.
Days before the election, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) froze an account belonging to the Osun State Government, a move which raised concerns and questions among Nigerians.
But President Tinubu intervened, directing the anti-graft agency to unfreeze the account, saying the timing of EFCC’s action was embarrassing, especially as it came a few days before the Osun governorship election.
The race for the governorship election also took another twist days before the poll when a court ordered the inclusion of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the contest, creating fresh logistical challenges for INEC.
SDP’s inclusion meant the electoral umpire had to make adjustments to its preparations, including the production and distribution of election materials for the election and other logistical arrangements.
“In spite of the fact that the thing came late, we were able to print all ballot papers, millions, within 36 hours, because hours had no meaning to us anymore. Days had no meaning to us anymore,” INEC’s National Commissioner supervising Osun State, Kunle Ajayi, said on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“We were working day and night as if it were day. So, we were able to complete the printing, and we moved all the materials, all the sensitive materials, ballots, everything, to the Central Bank yesterday, late last night.”
“In spite of the late judgment, which came very late after we had printed all the sensitive materials and moved to the appropriate quarters, the judgment just came on a Friday, and we had only Saturday, Sunday and Monday,” he said.