The elections that have gripped the nation’s imagination just ended yesterday – with Osun voters choosing to return their governor, Rauf Aregbesola over the corn-eating Senator, Iyiola Omisore.

So we know who won the election and who lost it, but who really won from the events of yesterday?

THE WINNERS

APC

Rumours of the party’s demise were greatly exaggerated. After Ekiti, the narrative spread – with good reason – that Nigeria’s only real opposition party in a decade had imploded, done in by its confusion, its arrogance and its lack of connection with the larger populace. Apparently, it was just a question of numbers. The All Progressives Congress went into Osun with all it had and it got a crucial lifeline. It’s game on, again.

Bourdillon

The story of the ApC is the story of its center of power, and for that all roads lead to the Kingdom of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the lion who resides at Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos. Losing Ekiti was a perception disaster for him, just as he was consolidating a repitatioon as the country’s alternative leader. He had to deploy an Opeds machine across media to combat the odour of loss around him. Aregbesola is also his right hand man, in more ways than one. With this results, expect the strut to return.

Attahiru Jega

For the first time in as long as any member of this generation can remember, we are all in awe of an electoral commission. Professor Attahiru Jega, who heads the Independent National Electoral Commission, has recovered from egregious errors in previous elections to restore faith through the conduct in Ekiti and now in Osun. It is now official: this man will do right by us. His heart has always been in the right place, but now his hands are firmly on the till.

GEJ

Of course 2015 will be the real test, but as it stands, the president, Goodluck Jonathan has made a very good case for himself in ensuring free and fair elections, which is one of the first promises he made when he got into power. The toga of desperation that other presidents (we’re looking at you, OBJ) have carried won’t fit with this man. When the story of our democratic evolution is told, the man who let the Labour Party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance and the APC thrive will have pride of place.

Pollsters

This week, wherever you turned there were pollsters talking about the Osun elections. There was TNS-RMS, there was the BD Consultants, there was this one and then there was that one. They all predicted victory for Rauf Aregbesola. And they were right. All suspicion is gone, data is good, and Nigerians elections are the better for it.

THE LOSERS

Iyiola Omisore

We know we said losers apart from the two candidates, but Iyiola Omisore loss goes far below the loss of this election – it’s the loss of standing and of a national profile following this. First, unlike his competitor, he has no existing political job. Second, he has so much baggage leading from the Bola Ige death that his election here would have done well to wipe away. Third, following Ayo Fayose’s victory, his is in fact a humiliation. The only way from here is not up for him.

Femi Fani-Kayode
We’re not sure if this wasn’t his plan in the first place – to somehow find his name mentioned when the story of the Osun elections is told. That is the certainly the only explanation that makes sense as to why the man half of the country already sees as unstable would wait until it had become abundantly clear that the APC was winning the election… and then declare that the PDP was. By the time this man is through with his own reputation, not even his gate man will take him seriously.

Olagunsoye Oyinlola

We hope Oyinlola knows that not even his new friends in the APC trust him? We don’t have any exclusives in that regard, but it would appear madness for them to trust a man who has moved from the PDP to the nPDP, then to the APC, always in the nick of time. Not only is it nationally confirmed that loyalty is not his strength, but it appears the former Osun governor is also of no electoral value. He lost in his Okuku Ward polling youth – and badly too. The PDP got 125 votes. His party got 61.

Omisore’s deputy

The other half of the losing team also makes it to this list. Adejare Bello, who was running mate to Omisore didn’t just also lose the election; he also lost in his polling unit in Ede. The APC got 130 votes, and the politician? Just 30! With Omisore’s loss, a strong showing by his ostensible deputy would have bolstered the latter’s reputation as an independent political force. But right now, he’s just a postscript moving forward.

Bisi Akande

The former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress is a former governor in Osun. His party also just won the elections to the seat he once held. So he certainly must have a played a huge part in that process, yes? Not if you ask his neighbours. He lost, though only by four votes. Much better than those before him here, but sir, the title they gave you is National Chairman. You can do better.

Ynaija

To the people of Osun, August 9, 2014, will forever remain august! It was the day they buried the shackles of perpetual slavery. They openly resisted and rejected those who sought to throw them into economic and social captivity. They broke the crab fingers of looters and killers. They expelled domination and oppression. They defied over 50,000 boots and guns deployed to the state to harass, intimidate dehumanize, and steal their inalienable right to elect a leader of their choice under a peaceful, free, fair and credible elections. They voted for the All Progressives Congress (APC). They re-elected Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as governor.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had stolen Aregbesola’s victory in 2011. He fought for three years to retrieve it. This time round, when the PDP came like a flood, the great people of Osun raised a standard against it with their votes. They have confirmed to the whole world that they elected Aregbesola in 2011 and not the candidate of the poverty development party who was wrongly declared winner then.

How could an Otunba Iyiola Omisore, the PDP governorship flag-bearer in the just concluded elections in the state, have ever dream of ruling the great and sophisticated people of Osun? In 2007, he went to the Senate by fraud. He was in prison. Nominated in prison. Won in prison. And was surreptitiously let off the hook to go to the Upper Chamber. A fugitive as federal lawmaker! He was given the appropriation committee. And he lived in a fool’s paradise thereafter. Omisore loves roasted corn. In a manner that evinced the greed in him, he grabbed two cobs and grubbed them simultaneously. What manner of man is this that sought to rule over the sophisticated people of Osun, the land of Oramiyan?

The victory is not for Aregbesola or the APC. The victory is for the great and valiant people of the State of Osun. Osun today represents the new face of true democracy in Nigeria. The people of Osun have displayed their rich pedigree with royal courage. The PDP thought they could beguile the people of Osun like they did in Ekiti. But the people were wiser. The people of Osun did not fall like the people of Ekiti. They showed resistance and now they are happy for it. They were not cowed by the overwhelming importation of thugs dressed in national security apparels and other hooded security agents to intimidate the people and make them abandon their mandate. They were not moved by the slush funds that were openly distributed to security agents in a bid to make them complicit in the rigging of the election.

Nigeria needs to borrow a leaf from this exemplary determination and courageous disposition, if this country must witness the needed change in 2015. The people of Osun were too positive to be doubtful. Too optimistic to be fearful. Too determined to be defeated. They have not only elected Aregbesola but have defeated the worst form of coup against democracy in the annals of Nigerian history. The total clampdown on the leaders of the APC with over 250 of them arrested within 12 hours led to the outcry by the leadership of the APC that except the people rose, their state might again fall into the hands of plunderers.

The Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led superlative national leadership of the APC must be commended for their courage and doggedness to preserve and make democracy work in Nigeria. They must be specially commended for exposing the rigging plan of the PDP before the election. They must be lauded for refusing to run out of town in the face of the fiercest intimidation and political terrorism in the history of this country. Even the national publicity secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was among the over 250 APC stalwarts that were arrested in a Gestapo style by agents of the state and detained in a bid to break the resolve of the party’s leadership and supporters at ensuring a free, fair and credible governorship poll in Osun. The leadership of the APC has been vindicated. The people can now see that the Ekiti fiasco was a broad day robbery which must be reclaimed. The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory. Security agencies at the behest of the PDP   harassed APC governors, intimidated and deceived the people of Ekiti and stole their mandate scientifically. But the leadership of the APC and the people of Osun, even though they were stretched to breaking point, persevered till victory was attained.

The victory will remain a potent signal to the federal government under the PDP and all agents of election rigging in this country not to try their evil antics in 2015. This is not 1999. This is not 2003. This is not 2007. This is not 2011. This is going to be 2015. Osun has shown the way and Nigerians will follow their sterling example to make their votes count in 2015. The PDP and all reactionary forces in Nigeria are beatable and defeat-able. Osun has proved it. Those who are banking on stolen mandates in 2015 should beware!

Ogbeni’s performance endeared him to the people. In fact, no other governor has developed Osun State like Ogbeni since its creation in 1991. His victory has successfully upturned the lies that the people of the south-west would rather prefer “stomach infrastructure” to innovative leadership and development. They bandied the lie after stealing Governor Kayode Fayemi’s victory in Ekiti State. But the state of Osun rejected the evil label. The people were ready to die for the man that is leading them out of Egypt to the promised land. They rose up, having learnt from the Ekiti heist, to defend their votes.

Nigerians must not go to sleep. They should not be deceived by the outcome of this election, which was won due to the tenacity of the people, to believe that this outcome will usher in a free, fair and credible election in 2015. For the election to turn out the desired way, the people must insist that their votes must count. INEC cannot be trusted based on this flash in the pan in Osun. Democracy in Nigeria must truly be the government of the people, by the people and for the people and never a government of the mighty, by the mighty and for the mighty. In view of this, INEC must not take glory for the success of this election. They have always compromised wherever the people were not defiant like the people of Osun. They either shape up or ship out. The people will not tolerate any shenanigans from them in 2015. The people must be allowed to choose their leaders at all times. Osun is not the litmus test for 2015 as many erroneously think. 2015 is going to be the litmus test for credible, free and fair elections in Nigeria. Until then, let INEC not bask in false euphoria of having got it right.

Nigerians must seize this moment and say “never again” to rigging and brutal subversion of the genuine wishes and aspiration of the people for true democracy in this country. If not, we the people will have ourselves to blame, like Shakespeare said in Julius Caesar: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” This is our chance; let the Osun example be our guiding light in 2015. Nigerians are more than ever before determined to vote out corruption, insecurity, poverty, unemployment and continuous looting of our national resources.

LEADERSHIP

Despite widespread public concerns of possible rigging and violence, the Osun State governorship election was successfully held last Saturday.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola was overwhelmingly returned to office, recording 394,684 votes as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) -over 60 per cent of the votes cast. His main opponent, Mr. Iyiola Omisore, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) obtained 292,750 votes; quite impressive, but still a distant second. He was comprehensively beaten and has conceded defeat.
As expected and because of the huge stakes involved, the election was closely fought by the main contenders in a long, hard and often bitter campaign. Tension was high in the state and there was a real possibility of violence breaking out during the election. But it turned out to be quite peaceful and, by and large, the results reflected the electoral choice of the electorate. The observers adjudged the actual voting to have been free and fair.
Governor Aregbesola deserved to win the election. His performance in government has been quite impressive, with an astonishing development of infrastructure. His schools’ reforms have also been widely acclaimed as innovative. Despite reservations in some enlightened quarters, his populist and charismatic style of government earned him a huge electoral victory in the election. But he also campaigned very hard, leaving nothing to chance. He and the APC leaders had learnt some hard and useful lessons from the Ekiti governorship election, which Governor Kayode Fayemi lost to his PDP rival, Mr. Ayo Fayose.
In contrast to Governor Aregbesola, his opponent, Iyiola Omisore, had little or nothing to offer the electorate. When he was in office as deputy governor in the Bisi Akande administration, his record was really appalling. It included his determined and prolonged effort to organise Akande’s impeachment as governor. The source of the friction which paralysed the government was Akande’s refusal to meet his financial claims for a fraudulent contract Omisore had purportedly concluded with the previous military administration. I tried to resolve his differences with Governor Akande, but failed as Omisore wanted his financial claims met. In addition, there is still a considerable public speculation that he may have been involved, or implicated, in the assassination of the late Alliance for Democracy (AD) leader and Federal Attorney-General, Bola Ige, a case which has remained unresolved since 2002. Soon after, he defected from the AD.
Because of all these, public perception of him as a politician has been quite negative. His character, or lack of it, has not matched his lofty and remorseless political ambition to be governor of the state at all costs. He tried the Ekiti strategy of ‘stomach infrastructure’ but this did not work. He was rejected. His election as governor would have been a terrible set back for the state.
Though the election was largely devoid of any serious violence, this was due largely to the remarkable and commendable restraint shown by the electorate in the electoral process, particularly on the voting date. A week before the election, the PDP Federal Government deployed a large number of military forces, including the Police and the State Security Service, evidently to intimidate and harass the APC and its supporters. There were palpable fears that the security forces would be used to rig the election, which the PDP was determined to win, after its victory in the Ekiti State governorship election.
Scores of APC leaders, including its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, were arrested on the eve of the election. What was even worse and totally unacceptable was the deployment by the PDP Federal Government of hooded armed men that were not even part of the regular armed forces of the country, with the clear intention of intimidating the electorate. This is reminiscent of Hitler’s storm troopers, the infamousSS, used by the Nazis to subvert democracy in Germany. Not a few innocent German heads were broken by Hitler’s SS men in his quest for absolute power in Germany. Are these not the men that former President Olusegun Obasanjo warned the nation about in his attack on Jonathan last year? Has he not been proved right in raising the alarm?
Those so arrested and detained by these armed men included my youngest brother, Folarin Fafowora, a member of the State House of Assembly. It was claimed that ballot papers were being stamped in his house. But the house was not even searched by the DSS in the first place. In fact, as he has since told me, he was riding an Okada in Osogbo when he was picked up by the DSS officials. He was only released on Tuesday after four days in illegal detention. I have asked him to sue the DSS for his illegal detention and denial of his rights. We cannot continue to have the security forces acting illegally so brazenly against innocent citizens. This is provocative and designed to subvert the electoral process in the state. But undaunted by the heavy military presence, the voters refused to be intimidated and cast their votes in a peaceful manner. They displayed admirable and exemplary courage that the voters in other states should show in future elections to restore electoral integrity.
Next year’s general elections, including the presidential, are crucial for the future of free and fair elections and the survival of democracy in our country. We cannot accept the continued use by the PDP Federal Government of military and illegal para-military forces to intimidate the electorate. That was why a substantial number of voters simply decided to stay away rather than risk intimidation and illegal detention by the security forces, including hooded and unidentified armed men. The role and use of security forces in future elections in our country should be clearly spelt out and defined by the INEC. Armed forces, regular or irregular, should not be deployed unless asked for by the INEC, or by the contending political parties themselves. When deployed, such security forces must be plainly neutral between the contending political parties.
The Federal Government cannot arrogate to itself the right to deploy its security forces anywhere in the country, except where a situation of emergency has been declared, and duly approved by the National Assembly. What happened during the election in Osun State was farcical, disgraceful and plainly illegal. The APC must ask the courts to pronounce on the legality, or otherwise, of the use of the military by the Federal Government during the elections when a state of emergency has not been declared. The Federal Government must not be allowed to unleash a reign of terror in the country, particularly during elections.
Even among senior military and security officials, there is a serious and growing concern regarding the deployment of armed soldiers in elections in our country as we saw during both the Ekiti and Osun states elections. These officers are concerned that the Army is being illegally used to determine the outcome of elections in Nigeria. This will inevitably lead to the military becoming more politicised and less professional. It is a road we have often taken in this country in the past with disastrous consequences. It destroys the professionalism and political neutrality of the military. There are enough security challenges for the military in our country without them being further dragged into the vortex of politics.
Now that he has been deservedly returned to power, Governor Aregbesola will be well advised to review and reflect on some of his controversial policies and strategies which have created divisions in the state. I refer here, specifically, to his education policy to which Christian leaders have raised strong and determined opposition. He may have good intentions on this issue, but there are serious concerns that he may have unwittingly fuelled religious tensions in the state. Osun state is multi-religious with both the Muslims and Christians living together peacefully for over a century. The governor must keep things this way and not create among the electorate the impression that the government is in support of one side or the other of the religious divide. His electoral victory would probably have been more comprehensive had the religious factor not crept into the consideration of Christians in the state, most of whom probably voted for Omisore, despite his several shortcomings and lack of electoral appeal.
In addition, the quality of governance in the state should be elevated. Governance is a serious business. It should not be handled in a cavalier style as is the case now. The governor must reach out to all sections of the civil society in the state, particularly the workers and teachers. No matter the support and attraction that a populist strategy may generate for the governor, sight should not be lost of the need to ensure that the state is not polarised economically, or religiously.
THE NATION

Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has congratulated the Governor of Osun State and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Saturday’s election, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on his re-election for a second term in office.

Describing the outcome of the election as an expression of the will of the people, Fayemi said Governor Aregbesola’s victory was well deserved in view of the positive impact of his administration on the lives of the people of the state.

He however said that the Osun electorate deserves even a much bigger congratulations for rewarding Governor Aregbesola’s exemplary and transformational leadership with electoral victory.

Fayemi in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Olayinka Oyebode, said he was confident that Osun State will witness a greater level of development in all spheres of life during Governor Aregbesola’s second term in office.

Governor Fayemi who flayed the security clampdown on the state and unwarranted arrest and detention of APC leaders before and during the period of the election, said it gratifying, however, seeing the people’s power triumph in spite of these ugly incidents.

He also commended the leadership of APC for increasing its vigilance ahead of the Osun election.

“This is indeed a well deserved victory. We congratulate Governor Rauf Aregbesola and the people of Osun State. It is victory for democracy, integrity and performance.

“The election in Osun has shown that performance still counts in electoral contest and that the average voter, if allowed to make his /her choice freely, would vote for the candidate and the party that have the greater impact on their lives.

“On behalf of myself, the government and good people of Ekiti State, we heartily congratulate Governor Aregbesola on his re-election. We also congratulate the people of the state as they get set for another term of purposeful leadership under the APC-led government of Governor Rauf Aregbesola” Fayemi added.

Download and Share the Thank You poster from the State of Osun. Thank you for your votes and for making your voice count! Continue to share with us on Facebook (Government of the State of Osun) and Twitter @stateofosun.

 

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, European Union Election Monitoring Coordinator, Mr Paul Edwards and Ambassador of Kingdom of the Netherlands,Mr John C.M Groffen during a Courtesy Visit to the Governor at Government House, Osogbo on Sunday 10th-08-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, European Union Election Monitoring Coordinator, Mr Paul Edwards,during a Courtesy Visit to the Governor at Government House, Osogbo on Sunday 10th-08-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, European Union Election Monitoring Coordinator, Mr Paul Edwards and Ambassador of Kingdom of the Netherlands,Mr John c.m Groffen, during a Courtesy Visit to the Governor at Government House, Osogbo on Sunday 10th-08-

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, European Union Election Monitoring Coordinator, Mr Paul Edwards and Ambassador of Kingdom of the Netherlands,Mr John c.m Groffen during a Courtesy Visit to the Governor at Government House, Osogbo on Sunday 10th-08-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, European Union Election Monitoring Coordinator, Mr Paul Edwards and Ambassador of Kingdom of the Netherlands,Mr John c.m Groffen during a Courtesy Visit to the Governor at Government House, Osogbo on Sunday 10th-08-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, European Union Election Monitoring Coordinator, Mr Paul Edwards,during a Courtesy Visit to the Governor at Government House, Osogbo on Sunday 10th-08-2014

The European Union Election Monitoring on Sunday tasked the Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, to use all legal instruments available to challenge the alleged arbitrariness by the security agencies drafted to the state by the Federal Government.

The EU Election Monitoring Group Coordinator, Paul Edwards, gave this advice when his team paid a courtesy visit to the Governor at his residence after the announcement of the election results.

In his congratulatory remark to Aregbesola, Edwards said the most dependable way to deepen democracy in Nigerian is by strict adherence to the rule of law.

Aregbesola had complained about the recklessness and arbitrary use of force, arrest without charges and total clampdown on party chieftains by the security agencies to the EU.

The EU envoy observed that the most acceptable and preferred way to challenge arbitrariness of opposition is to seek legal remedy.

“We are here to congratulate Your Excellency on your victory in the Saturday governorship election. Besides, our mission here is to also find out from you about the conduct of the election.

“We have observed the election all over the state and have our reports.

“In any election like this, there are bounds to be issues. But it is our opinion that whatever the complaint you have, you should choose the legal option to seek remedy.

“Let us rely on the instrumentality of law to purse whatever anomaly or violation of rights we have suffered.

“Let us always use the legal method to stop the impunity used by one unit of government against the other.

“It is through this option that we can deepen democratic institutions wherever it is practised in the world.

“If you send your complaints to the EU, we shall take note of it and act accordingly within the framework of law,” the EU coordinator said.

In his remark, Aregbesola commended the EU Monitoring Group for the organisation’s interest and commitment to development of democracy in Nigeria.

Aregbesola however lamented the show of brute force by the forces of occupation drafted to the state by the Federal Government.

The Governor observed that voting is a minute aspect of a democracy but as tiny as it is, it should not be backed by force so that people can freely choose the candidate of their choice.

He also condemned the commando-like manners the hooded security men operated on the streets in the state and the gale of arrests of members, chieftains and supporters of All Progressive Congress (APC).

He said: “Our victory did not come because the federal authority designed it so but because we were favoured by the people as the best party that can serve them better.

“Or how do you rationalise the presence of strangers (security personnel), people I cannot control, who took over the administration of security of my state with impunity, which adversely affected life in the state?

“It is humiliating, worse sort of what a unit of government like ours should suffer. There was a deliberate attempt at muzzling the people voice through votes.

“By now we should know that voting is just a routine aspect of democracy and even at that, the people must not be denied their freedom to choose their leader freely.

“We must prevent the Federal Government from the recurring culture of arbitrarily invading the territory of a unit within the federal structure. This is an abuse of power,” Aregbesola said

Below are the Certificates of Return for the Governor and Deputy Governor of the State of Osun, Mrs Titilayo Tomori and Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola. Once again, we congratulate the duo, their excellent team and the great people of the State of Osun on the success at the polls on Saturday, Aug 9 2014. Osun ti n dara!

The elections that have gripped the nation’s imagination just ended yesterday – with Osun voters choosing to return their governor, Rauf Aregbesola over the corn-eating Senator, Iyiola Omisore.

So we know who won the election and who lost it, but who really won from the events of yesterday?

THE WINNERS

APC

Rumours of the party’s demise were greatly exaggerated. After Ekiti, the narrative spread – with good reason – that Nigeria’s only real opposition party in a decade had imploded, done in by its confusion, its arrogance and its lack of connection with the larger populace. Apparently, it was just a question of numbers. The All Progressives Congress went into Osun with all it had and it got a crucial lifeline. It’s game on, again.

Bourdillon

The story of the ApC is the story of its center of power, and for that all roads lead to the Kingdom of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the lion who resides at Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos. Losing Ekiti was a perception disaster for him, just as he was consolidating a repitatioon as the country’s alternative leader. He had to deploy an Opeds machine across media to combat the odour of loss around him. Aregbesola is also his right hand man, in more ways than one. With this results, expect the strut to return.

Attahiru Jega

For the first time in as long as any member of this generation can remember, we are all in awe of an electoral commission. Professor Attahiru Jega, who heads the Independent National Electoral Commission, has recovered from egregious errors in previous elections to restore faith through the conduct in Ekiti and now in Osun. It is now official: this man will do right by us. His heart has always been in the right place, but now his hands are firmly on the till.

GEJ

Of course 2015 will be the real test, but as it stands, the president, Goodluck Jonathan has made a very good case for himself in ensuring free and fair elections, which is one of the first promises he made when he got into power. The toga of desperation that other presidents (we’re looking at you, OBJ) have carried won’t fit with this man. When the story of our democratic evolution is told, the man who let the Labour Party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance and the APC thrive will have pride of place.

Pollsters

This week, wherever you turned there were pollsters talking about the Osun elections. There was TNS-RMS, there was the BD Consultants, there was this one and then there was that one. They all predicted victory for Rauf Aregbesola. And they were right. All suspicion is gone, data is good, and Nigerians elections are the better for it.

THE LOSERS

Iyiola Omisore

We know we said losers apart from the two candidates, but Iyiola Omisore loss goes far below the loss of this election – it’s the loss of standing and of a national profile following this. First, unlike his competitor, he has no existing political job. Second, he has so much baggage leading from the Bola Ige death that his election here would have done well to wipe away. Third, following Ayo Fayose’s victory, his is in fact a humiliation. The only way from here is not up for him.

Femi Fani-Kayode
We’re not sure if this wasn’t his plan in the first place – to somehow find his name mentioned when the story of the Osun elections is told. That is the certainly the only explanation that makes sense as to why the man half of the country already sees as unstable would wait until it had become abundantly clear that the APC was winning the election… and then declare that the PDP was. By the time this man is through with his own reputation, not even his gate man will take him seriously.

Olagunsoye Oyinlola

We hope Oyinlola knows that not even his new friends in the APC trust him? We don’t have any exclusives in that regard, but it would appear madness for them to trust a man who has moved from the PDP to the nPDP, then to the APC, always in the nick of time. Not only is it nationally confirmed that loyalty is not his strength, but it appears the former Osun governor is also of no electoral value. He lost in his Okuku Ward polling youth – and badly too. The PDP got 125 votes. His party got 61.

Omisore’s deputy

The other half of the losing team also makes it to this list. Adejare Bello, who was running mate to Omisore didn’t just also lose the election; he also lost in his polling unit in Ede. The APC got 130 votes, and the politician? Just 30! With Omisore’s loss, a strong showing by his ostensible deputy would have bolstered the latter’s reputation as an independent political force. But right now, he’s just a postscript moving forward.

Bisi Akande

The former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress is a former governor in Osun. His party also just won the elections to the seat he once held. So he certainly must have a played a huge part in that process, yes? Not if you ask his neighbours. He lost, though only by four votes. Much better than those before him here, but sir, the title they gave you is National Chairman. You can do better.

Ynaija

All is quiet now in the aftermath of the governorship election in Osun State, bar the exuberant rejoicing in re-elected Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s circle, which stretches all the way from Osogbo to Bourdillon Road in Ikoyi, Lagos, the grieving in Aso Rock and in Wadata Plaza and the gnashing of teeth in the palaces of some wayward monarchs.
Make no mistake about it:  The election was a contest between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Ogbeni Aregbesola, on the one hand, and President Goodluck Jonathan, and the entire apparatus of the Federal Government on the other, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Iyiola Omisore, playing along as bit actors.
With the Federal Juggernaut behind you – slush money, logistics, the police, the army, the secret service, clandestine armed services of no known provenance, and the desperate craving to “capture” more opposition territory – with these and much more behind you, who can stand in your way?
Besides, the governorship election in Ekiti two months earlier had not only pointed up a winning formula that accorded sophomoric stunts a greater salience than solid achievement, it had also shown that the entire Southwest was politically ripe for the picking.
But something went horribly wrong on the way to the orchard.
The would-be harvesters suffered a comprehensive sandbagging.
All the intimidating display of force and might, the warrantless arrest of officials and operatives of the governing party in the state, the bullying, the stoking of religious differences, the claim to possession of private facts that showed Omisore not only leading but coasting to victory —everything ended in a puff, “just like that,” to borrow a phasing from Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the Afro-beat king.
Such was the compass of the intimidation that Chief Isiaka “Serubawon” Adeleke, who once governed the state on the Caligula Principle —”You can hate us, so long as you fear us” — was driven by fear to flee his home in Ede and go into hiding as the Federal Juggernaut widened the reach of its ravenous dragnet.
At Aso Rock and in the palaces of the wayward monarchs and in Wadata Plaza and in the ranks of Dr Jonathan’s private army of ghost “public affairs analysts” and “public affairs commentators”, who invariably live in Abuja, they must be wondering how what was supposed to be an easy take-over turned into a comprehensive rout of the would-be receivers.
They conveniently forgot that Osun is not Ekiti.  Believing that the dividends of democracy begin and end in the stomach, they could not see beyond the stomachs of the electorate. Accordingly, they tailored their messages to appeal to that organ and its immediate satiation. They mis- apprehended an outlier, an aberration, for a trend.  They willfully set aside the public record and stuck with their private facts.
And so, what was supposed to serve as a bridgehead for the capture of the Southwest in Dr Jonathan’s all-but-certain presidential run in 2015 ended up as the graveyard of that strategy. They will now have to go back to the drawing board on that one.  And, despite the gain in Ekiti, his faction of the National Governors Forum remains a minority; the most it can hope for is parity in membership with the group from which it was suborned to defect.
The Osun verdict is on one level a personal triumph for the austere and driven Rauf Aregbesola.  Unlike some who stumbled into office in a fit of absent-mindedness or were dragooned into it, he entered office fully prepared, a man with a mission, armed with blueprints for transforming the State of Osun.  From his first day in office, he has pursued his progressive agenda with a singularity of purpose that has alienated some around him who regard political office not as a summons to service but an invitation to eat, drink and be merry.
The election outcome is also a victory for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the victorious APC.  Following the party’s freak defeat in the Ekiti governorship race, some commentators had begun to script his political obituary.  They said he was waning as a political force in his Southwest redoubt, and was headed for the abyss.
It is not the first or the second time such things are being said of him, and it won’t be the last. Those counting him must be prepared for a long wait. The man’s capacity for resurgence is simply astonishing.
The election was in a way a proving ground for the Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, whom I got to know quite well when he served as a consultant to the Editorial Board of The Guardian, where I was chair of the board and editorial page editor.
He acquitted himself magnificently, displaying the intelligence, the sharp, analytic mind, the capacity for sustained engagement, the eloquence, the resoluteness and the forthrightness that made him one of the youngest, if not the youngest person to be appointed permanent secretary in the Federal Civil Service.
The decisiveness with which he moved the APC machinery to Osogbo to counter the designs of the Federal Might was vintage Oyegun.  He is not combative by nature, but he is not afraid of a fight. You can count on him to fight a good fight.
I cannot recall the context now, but in one of the many conversations I had with General Olusegun Obasanjo during visits to his farm in Ota, I mentioned that Oyegun had marked his 55th birthday lately.  Obasanjo, who is as flinty with praise as he is with his money, spoke glowingly of Oyegun who served with him when he was head of state.
He asked me to convey to Oyegun his desire to host a birthday luncheon for him, his family and friends. The luncheon did take place, several weeks later.
That is a measure of the esteem in which Oyegun is held.
The on-again, off-again candidate of the Labour Party, Fatai Akinbade, finished as an also-ran.  But he provided a comic relief that dispelled somewhat the high tension that marked the vote tallying. Losing on every turf and registering for the most part less than token presence, his spokesperson nevertheless called on the candidates of the APC and the PDP to withdraw if they felt threatened by Akinade’s profile.
At this writing, Omisore has not conceded.  The man, who could win election to the Senate from prison where he was being held as a suspect in the prosecution of the murder of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, has now twice failed to win election from the outside. He lost his re-election bid to the Senate, and was crushed in his governorship quest.
His political future is uncertain.  Dr. Jonathan may well compensate him with a ministerial appointment, an ambassadorial post, or some other sinecure.
In whatever case, you will never see Omisore again riding an okada or devouring a cob of roast corn purchased from a street vendor.
THE NATION