IT is no longer news that Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) comfortably beat Senator Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to retain his seat for another 48 months in power in weekend’s Osun State polls. What perhaps is news is the avalanche of reasons for Aregbesola’s convincing victory.
1. THE EKITI WAKE-UP CALL
Although many APC stalwarts refused to acknowledge it openly, the party went into the Ekiti election knowing defeat was a likely outcome. Some party chieftains were unhappy with Governor Kayode Fayemi whom they accused of alienating them ─ and they refused to work for him. Also, APC was fractured in Ekiti State as a result of internal conflict. The loss in Ekiti, even though not surprising to party chieftains, raised an alarm in the party as a dangerous signal to what could become of APC in 2015. The loss was originally thought to be Fayemi’s problem, but it soon dawned on the party’s strategists that it was not only humiliating, it was also capable of sending  a message to Nigerians that the “ACN content” of APC was no longer in charge of its traditional base in the south-west. With several reasons adduced for Fayemi’s loss ─ including a fall-out with Ekiti teachers ─ Aregbesola benefited from this by quickly making amends in Osun. He got a soft loan from a sister state to clear two months salary arrears of workers. He also paid pension arrears. Aregbesola also started holding meetings with top civil servants to calm frayed nerves. He began to pay compensation to landlords whose houses were demolished to pave the way for an urban renewal programme. By moving quickly to address the grievances of the citizens, Aregbesola was able to re-connect with them in a matter of six weeks after the Ekiti humiliation of APC.
2. OMISORE’S BOLA IGE BAGGAGE
Omisore was never going to fly as the opponent of Aregbesola, although backed by the “federal might” and a cash-awash Kashamu Buruji, he was faintly expected to pull a surprise. But he was never going to be Ayodele Fayose who unseated Fayemi in Ekiti. For one, when Omisore was senator representing Ife constituency in the national assembly, he was not seen as among the best performers. For years, he was the chairman of the appropriation committee ─ generally seen as a plum job ─ but he was accused of not impressing his constituents in terms of bringing development projects to the district or making a positive impact on his people. However, by far the biggest albatross on the neck of Omisore is the December 2001 murder of Chief Bola Ige, a former governor of the old Oyo State, who was then the minister of justice and attorney general of the federation. Before the murder ─ which remains unresolved ─ Omisore was engaged in a very public spat with Ige, openly insulting the respected politician. Ige was humiliated at the palace of the Ooni of Ife by thugs suspected to be loyal to Omisore. They removed Ige’s cap and threatened to beat him up. When Ige was eventually killed, fingers were pointed at Omisore, who claimed innocence. He was detained in prison, tried and eventually discharged. He even won his senate election in detention. Even though he was never convicted, the Ige stigma has never left him. It was a handy campaign tool for APC in the Osun poll. Popular musician, Lagbaja, refused to perform at Omisore’s campaign, citing the Ige murder case as his reason.
3. THE FAILED RELIGIOUS CARD
Aregbesola was cast as a religious fanatic by the Omisore camp, who pointed out several actions taken by the governor as either anti-Christian or pro-Muslim. Aregbesola took an Islamic finance instrument, “sukuk” bond, of N11.4 billion to build schools. He changed the motto of the state from “State of the Living Spring” to “State of the Virtuous”, allegedly because Jesus Christ is also referred to as “the Living Spring”. He also declared the beginning of the Islamic calendar a public holiday, in addition to three other Muslim holidays ─ Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, Eid-el-Fitri and Eid-el-Maloud. Christians have three holidays ─ Christmas, Easter and New Year. The re-classification of schools, in which legacy Muslim and Christian schools were merged, also generated some religious tension. However, the religious flag did not fly ─ at least not on election day. Apart from the fact that there are probably more Muslims than Christians in Osun State, Aregbesola is from Ilesa, which is predominantly Christian. This gave him a double advantage. Most importantly, though, religion has never been an electoral issue in Osun State where Muslims and Christians live together peacefully. But accused of being a religious bigot, Aregbesola reached out to key Christian leaders, including Pastor EA Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Ministries, who visited the state and said good things about him. This effectively doused the “tension” in the Christian community.
4. AREGBESOLA’S DEFT POLITICKING
The PDP went into the election in bad shape ─ an ironic mirror of what happened to APC in Ekiti State. Former Osun State governor, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, left PDP for APC in the heat of the party’s primaries, complaining about the conduct of other PDP aspirants. Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, secretary to the state government when Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola was governor, also left the party and went to the Labour Party, whose flag he eventually flew in the election. Oyinlola, TheCable learnt, had suggested to the PDP that Akinbade was the man to beat Aregbesola. But Omisore got the ticket and Akinbade defected in protest. However, it was not enough that the party to be fractured. Aregbesola had to move deftly to cash in on this. He got Adeleke to team up with his campaign ─ a masterstroke, given that the man called “Serunbawon” is a very popular politician in Ede, one of the big political constituencies in the state. Next, Aregbesola got the endorsement of the power brokers in Iwo, where the Labour candidate comes from. It was another big score for him. And then, Oyinlola, the erstwhile national secretary of the PDP and former governor of the state, joined APC a few days to the election. Even though Oyinlola did not win his ward in Okuku, it was a PR set-back for the PDP, especially after President Goodluck Jonathan had met with Oyinlola in trying to get him to campaign for Omisore.
5. ABOVE ALL, PERFORMANCE
The fact that performance did not count for Dr. Kayode Fayemi in Ekiti State does not mean it would not count for Aregbesola in Osun State. It was widely said before the election that “Osun is not Ekiti”. The fact is that no other governor has impacted on Osun State since its creation in 1991. Aregbesola started by setting up a Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES), employing 40,000 graduates. For primary school pupils, he provided free meals. For secondary school students, he gave free uniforms. Those in senior secondary school got “opon imo” ─ tablet computers containing all their textbooks and past question papers. For the elderly, he paid monthly stipends. He got a N10.4 billion “sukuk bond” to build 24 model, modern schools. Each school, when completed, will accommodate 1000 students and have modern laboratories, power  and sports facilities. The state capital, Osogbo ─ a typical ancient city ─ is undergoing a face-lift with the urban renewal programme. Factories have been cropping up in the state and proving jobs for the people. Road infrastructure is being built. There is a clear direction in terms of leadership in the state. All these have made Aregbesola a very popular politicianwho draws large crowds anywhere he visits in the state.

NIGERIAN MONITOR

The Labour Party’s Governorship Candidate sent a congratulatory letter to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on his victory on Saturday at the Osun Electoral Poll. The letter titled, The People Have Spoken is found below:

BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF OSUN, HIS EXCELLENCY, RAUF AREGBESOLA
After an unnecessarily tense, tortuous and even traumatic process, the Independent National Electoral Commission this morning declared me as the winner of the Osun state governorship election on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC). On behalf of my party, we are delighted to claim victory for our hard work, focus and dedication in this election. I thank the Almighty God for our triumph at the polls, against all odds.
To the good people of Osun State goes our unflinching gratitude. We salute your steadfastness, courage, loyalty, commitment and fierce determination to defend your sovereign rights and the integrity of our nascent democracy. You have demonstrated in this election that in a democracy, power truly belongs to the people. I am humbled and honoured by your trust and abiding faith in me and my party.
I pledge that your confidence in us shall never be betrayed or taken for granted. Ordinarily, this should be a moment of joy and celebration consequent upon the hard earned triumph of the people’s will. However, this election shows that democracy is still gravely endangered in Nigeria. We witnessed gross abuse of power and, of due process before, during, and even after the actual voting process. It is so sad and unfortunate that what should be a normal, routine process was maliciously allowed to snowball in to a needless virtual war by the Federal Government and the PDP. Osun state was unduly militarized in an unprecedented manner through criminal intimidation and psychological assault on our people.
This election witnessed an abuse of our security agencies and amounted to a corruption of their professional ethics and integrity. The security agencies were unprofessionally utilized in Osun state to harass, intimidate and oppress the people whose taxes are used to pay their salaries and provide their arms. Hundreds of leaders, supporters, sympathizers and agents of our party were arrested and detained. Also, hundreds of other innocent citizens including women and the aged were harassed, brutalized and traumatized.
In spite of this condemnable repression and abuse of human rights, the unflagging spirit of our people triumphed. Our victory is due to the steadfastness and resolute determination of our people to assert and defend their rights. The PDP obviously did all it could in a most desperate manner to steal the people’s mandate. A critical analysis of the elections shows a trend of general low voter turnout largely because of the atmosphere of deliberate tyranny and fear caused by the excessive militarization of the state. Despite our victory, it is pertinent to condemn and also point out the fact that the number of accredited voters in most local governments was less than half of registered voters.
Against this trend, it is curious that the bulk of the PDP candidate’s votes came from only four Local Governments- namely Ife Central, Ife East, Ife North and Ife South. This suggests an inexplicable large turnout in his stronghold which is a curious departure from the general trend of voting across the state. The outcome of this election, once again, shows the unswerving determination of our people to ensure that democracy triumphs in Nigeria. We have sent a strong signal to all and sundry that no might is powerful enough to thwart the will of the people. This should always strengthen our resolve to ensure that as from now on, every vote must not only be counted but must count in this country.
Nobody or party must ever exercise power unreasonably at any level except in accordance with the will of the people to whom sovereignty belongs. Let me assure the good people of Osun state that I appreciate that this victory is a reward for our hard work and commitment to the welfare of our people. I promise that we shall not rest on our oars but shall be spurred to work even harder with all well meaning people of the State of Osun and the generality of Nigerians to continue to enjoy your trust and support.
You can be assured that we will leave no stone unturned in our continued effort to transform Osun into a land of progress, prosperity and peace for all with renewed fervour. I realize that this victory and the challenges we went through is a call to greater service and sustained commitment to our people. I pledge a rededication of myself to the service of our people and the strengthening of democratic values in Osun and Nigeria generally. Our country remains in political bondage and we must set her free.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has expressed his gratitude to the people of Osun State for re-electing him chief executive officer of the state for another four years. Ogbeni Aregbesola who said this via a statement on Sunday, August 10, 2014, condemned the militarisation of the state during the poll, noting that the election witnessed an abuse of our security agencies which he said amounted to corruption of their professional ethics and integrity. The re-elected governor also stated that his administration will continue to transform the state and will leave no stone unturned in the process.
Aregbesola who was the governorship candidate for the All Progressives Party won elections in 22 out of the 30 local government areas of the state, scored a total of 394684 to beat his main rival and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Iyiola Omisore who won in eight local government areas, scored 292747 votes. 
While Sen Sunday Fajimi of the Alliance for Democracy scored 1982; Alhaji Fatai Akinbade of the Labour Party scored 8898, while the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Elder Sunday Akinwusi scored 534. AUGUST 10,2014
 
 
 
 
 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said yesterday that facts available showed that the Osun governorship election was better than the Ekiti poll, held on June 21.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, made the statement in a telephone interview in Abuja.
“From all indications, the election has been successful even from the comments from virtually all the stakeholders – politicians, observers and others.
“Our own figures also prove that it has been successful. On our arrival time by 8 a.m. Saturday, 96.25 per cent of the polling units were opened. That is better than that of Ekiti State, which was 95.6 per cent.
“Don’t forget that Osun has 30 local government areas, while Ekiti State has 20, yet we still surpassed the performance in Ekiti,“ Idowu said.
He said other indices showed that there were no challenges with voter accreditation and voting.
“Even the announcement of the election result is another indication, which shows the functionality of our process.
“As at 7. 30 a.m. today (yesterday), the result from all the 30 local government areas were announced, while that of Ekiti was announced at about 9 a.m. the day after the election. So, from all indications, the election was a success,“ he said.
Idowu said because no human endeavour was perfect, the commission would continue to fine-tune its operations to improve on the organisation of elections.
“INEC is not saying that the Osun election is the highest we can attain; we are still going higher and we believe God that we will do better by 2015.
“We had our deployment plan and contingency plan, but every election has its complication. What INEC normally does is to deploy base on its plan and we also had contingency plan because you cannot predict the turnout of the people.
“You will notice that immediately we observed that there were challenges in some areas, the contingency plan was deployed to make up for those places.
“That is part of our operational plan and at the end of the day, I don’t think there was any place where people were unable to vote due to inadequate ad-hoc staff,“ he said.
THISDAY 

Jubilation in Osogbo
Jonathan, governors hail election 
Victory parties continued yesterday in major towns of Osun State.
Osogbo, the state capital, was throbbing with crowds of revellers as Governor Rauf Aregbesola led a victory parade.
He was declared re-elected by the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday morning with 394,684 votes to his opponent Iyiola Omisore’s 292,747 votes.
Aregbesola said in spite of his victory, the process was faulty and “gravely endangered democracy.”
The governor took a hard look at what he and his party – the All Progressives Congress (APC) – faced in the run-down to the election and declared that had it not been because of the People’s commitment, something untoward could have happened.
President Goodluck Jonathan, governors and other eminent Nigerians congratulated Aregbesola.
National leader of the APC Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu said Aregbesola “bruised the head of tyranny with his victory.
Tinubu, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola and other APC leader kept vigil at the Aswiwaju residence in Lagos monitoring the situation. There was anxiety as the results were not announced by INEC Returning Officer Prof. Bamitale Oluwole, Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife until 7:30am yesterday.
Addressing a huge crowd of supporters at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park in Osogbo, the governor noted the traumatic challenges he faced before he winning the poll.
“It was so sad and unfortunate that the contest that should be a normal, routine process was allowed to snowball into a needless virtual war by the Federal Government and the Peoples’ Democratic Party.
“Ordinarily, this should be a moment of joy and celebration consequent upon the hard-earned triumph of the people’s will. However, this election shows that democracy is still gravely endangered in Nigeria. We witnessed gross abuse of power and of due process before, during, and even after the actual voting process.”
Aregbesola lamented the unduly militarisation of the election saying the people’s courage had triumphed over an unprecedented criminal intimidation and psychological assault on the state.
He said that the election witnessed an abuse of security agencies which he described as corruption of their professional ethics and integrity.
Aregbesola added that the security agencies were unprofessionally utilised to harass, intimidate and oppress the people whose taxes were used to pay their salaries.
He said: “Hundreds of leaders, supporters, sympathisers and agents of our party were arrested and detained. Also, hundreds of other innocent citizens, including women and the aged were harassed, brutalised and traumatised. In spite of this condemnable repression and abuse of human rights, the unflagging spirit of our people triumphed.
“Our victory is due to the steadfastness and resolute determination of our people to assert and defend their rights. The PDP obviously did all it could in a most desperate manner to steal the people’s mandate.
“Despite our victory, it is pertinent to condemn and also point out the fact that the number of accredited voters in most local governments was less than half of registered voters. Against this trend, it is curious that the bulk of the PDP candidate’s votes came from only four Local governments –  Ife Central, Ife East, Ife North and Ife South.”
Aregbesola said the outcome of the election reflected the unwavering determination of Osun people to ensure that democracy triumphs in Nigeria.
“With this election, the people of Osun have sent a strong signal to all and sundry that no might is powerful enough to thwart the will of the people. This should always strengthen our resolve to ensure that as from now on, every vote must not only count in Osun but must count in this country as a whole.
“Nobody or party must ever exercise power unreasonably at any level except in accordance with the will of the people to whom sovereignty belong.”
He added: Let me assure the good people of Osun state that I appreciate that this victory is a reward for our hard work and commitment to the welfare of our people.
“I promise that we shall not rest on our oars but shall be spurred to work even harder with all well meaning people of the State of Osun and the generality of Nigerians to continue to enjoy your trust and support. You can be assured that we will leave no stone unturned in our continued effort to transform Osun into a land of progress, prosperity and peace for all with renewed fervour.
“I realize that this victory and the challenges we went through is a call to greater service and sustained commitment to our people.
“I pledge a rededication of myself to the service of our people and the strengthening of democratic values in Osun and Nigeria generally. Our country remains in political bondage and we must set her free.”

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; his wife, Sherifat (left) and his Deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori and many others rejoicing after being declared winner of Saturday’s governorship poll in the state, at the Government House, Osogbo, Sate of Osun on Sunday 10-08-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; his wife, Sherifat (left) and his Deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori rejoicing after been declare winner of Saturday’s governorship poll in the state, at the Government House, Osogbo, Sate of Osun on Sunday 10-08-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; his Deputy, Mrs Titi :Laoye-Tomori and Acting Chairman of State APC, Elder Adelowo Adebiyi, addressing crowd of people at the Freedom Park, Osogbo after been declare winner of Saturday’s governorship poll in the state, at the Government House, Osogbo, Sate of Osun on Sunday 10-08-2014

Governor State of osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, acknowledging cheers from mammoth crowd who rejoice with him after been declare winner of Saturday’s governorship poll in the state, at the Government House, Osogbo, Sate of Osun on Sunday 10-08-2014

Governor State of osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, acknowledging cheers from mammoth crowd who rejoice with him after been declare winner of Saturday’s governorship poll in the state, at the Government House, Osogbo, Sate of Osun on Sunday 10-08-2014

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The first civilian governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, has warned President Goodluck Jonathan and those in position of authority to be wary of actions that could lead to chaos in the country.

Jakande bemoaned the “militarization of democratic process” as witnessed in Ekiti State and now in Osun, describing it as unfortunate.

The veteran journalists said never in the history of the nation has election been so tense as the case of Osun governorship election.

“Electorate should be allowed to freely choose their leader without molestation, inducement or harassment. The idea of deploying large number of security operatives is wrong and should not be encouraged. It discourage electorate from discharging their duty and gives room for impunity,” he said

Jakande asserted that those heating the polity do not love Nigeria.

Nigerians, he warned, should beware of desperate politicians who want to win election at all cost.

He urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to maintain its neutrality at all times, saying that allegations of connivance with particular political party is not good for the integrity of the commission.

BIOREPORTS

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released an handbook containing the names, contact addresses and phone numbers of electoral officers across the 30 local government areas of Osun State.

The 18-page book reveals that there are 29 accredited observers out of which 19 are domestic and 10 foreign. It also shows that there are 30 electoral officers, 30 assistant electoral officers (administration) and 30 assistant electoral officers (operations), with their phone numbers and office addresses.

Also found in the handbook is the number of registered voters and voting units. According to the book, 1, 407, 222 voters were registered for the poll that would take place in 3,379 Voting Points.

It also breaks down the data along the 30 local governments, their codes, units, registered voters per council and their voting points.

There are 332 registration areas (RAs), 3,010 units, 1,407,222 registered voters and 3,379 at 1, 407 voting points. Male voters are 661, 395 (47 per cent) while their female counterparts are 745, 828 (53 per cent).

It also contains the names of candidates of 20 political parties, their running mates and members of Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).

The book, which has the map of Nigeria on its cover, reveals that the population of the state, according to the census figures of 2006, is 3, 423, 535.

BIOREPORTS