In Sunday morning,the headlines buzzed with jeers and taunts ; the social media inclusive, as news of Ademola Adeleke’s victory in Osun State governorship election did the rounds.
Adeleke defeated his closest challenger, incumbent Governor Gboyega Oyetola, and 13 other candidates. He garnered a total of 403,371.
Oyetola scored 375,027 votes and won in 13 local government areas of the state to place second in the election.
The real battle, mudslinging and politicking has begun in the race for 2023 presidential polls. The ruling All Progressive Congress(APC) cannot afford to be complacent,it doesn’t get tougher than this.
It certainly promises to be a titillating show as the political theatre heats up with actors playing the game of chess in their heads and getting their scripts to work.
In football, enthusiasts say money is the name of the game. In Nigeria’s politics too, it is the heart and soul of the game.It is not out of place to say those with the wallet of Croesus will certainly beat their chest,preen and boast of their chances.
But, regardless of the power of a deep pocket, with an impressive performance, the power of incumbency and the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu factor, observers and supporters had anticipated a landslide victory for Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
Oyetola had hit the ground running when he assumed office.He tinkered with some policies introduced by his predecessor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. Most notably the single uniform for pupils, school merging and re-classification, among others.
The incumbent Governor Gboyega Oyetola himself was confident of re-election.
He said APC will be victorious citing his impressive achievements in the last three and a half years in office.
“I am very confident that I will be re-elected by the electorate, today, and by God’s Grace I will be celebrating the victory…,” he said.
Nevertheless, Adeleke’s victory has raised dust in certain quarters. Civil Society Organisations (CSO’s) have alleged that vote-buying ensued. According to codes and coupons were deployed to get buy over voters.
The convener of the CSOs, Ene Obi, said the group observed another means of vote trading.Obi said vote trading took place in most of the areas observed, bar Osogbo.
“There was open negotiation of buying and selling of votes well-coordinated by the polling agents in many of the polling units.
“Codes and coupons were used to extract commitments from voters as opposed to the blatant money exchanging hands observed in the Ekiti State governorship election,” she said.
Oyetola has also said the leadership of APC in the state will respond in due course “after studying the results and consulting with critical stakeholders of the party.” He called for peace and calm among supporters.
As the battle for Aso Rock intensifies, the APC cannot afford to go to bed, especially with Senator Jim Nwobodo statement that Adeleke’s victory is precursor to Atiku’s.
He said: “Adeleke’s victory is a forerunner to the electoral fortunes of the Presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Adeleke’s victory shows that Atiku will win the Presidency and also an indication that the PDP will do well in the South West and the other geopolitical zones.”
It is time for the APC to rethink it strategies and work it’s socks off. The words of Robert Greene in his popular book ,” The 48 Laws of Power”, readily comes to mind– “For the future, the motto is, “No days unalert.”
The stage is set.
Comments
Post a Comment