The re-election of the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, attributed to his administration’s policies and programmes as well as overwhelming votes from supporters, may be untrue after findings proved that Adeleke was allegedly assisted by heavyweight politicians from other parties, particularly the All Progressives Congress (APC), whose candidate, Munirudeen Oyebamiji, lost the poll to the incumbent by less than 100,000 votes.
The APC members, rather than work for Oyebamiji as they had promised President Bola Tinubu and other chieftains after the gubernatorial candidate emerged as the party’s flagbearer, allegedly worked against him, undermining his efforts and other members’ contributions, including the Minister for Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, a former governor of the state, to unseat Adeleke and become governor of the state.
Aside from the APC chieftains, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials, who conducted the electoral process, were alleged to have contributed to Accord’s triumph over Oyebamiji, despite promising all parties to be a fair and unbiased umpire during the exercise.
This came yesterday after INEC declared Adeleke winner of the Osun gubernatorial poll and presented him a certificate of return, which he presented to President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
An APC chieftain, who was a senior member of the Oyebamiji’s campaign committee, alleged that the governorship candidate would have polled more than 444,815 votes from the over 3,000 polling units across the 30 local government areas in the state, but the decision of some aggrieved governors and members of the inner caucus of the APC to work against the winning strategies earlier set by the party crippled the plans to unseat Adeleke.
He disclosed that the governors and heavyweights in the party who sabotaged Oyebamiji’s chances of becoming Osun governor during the poll includes President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Ibrahim Masari, former APC National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, his Kogi, Kastina, Kaduna counterparts, Ahmed Ododo, Uba Sani, Dikko Radah, alongside the lawmaker representing the Ogun west senatorial district, Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, who is also the Ogun APC gubernatorial candidate for next year’s election.
An aide to a governor from one of the northern states, who did not want his name in public, alleged that the APC’s defeat in Osun was a deliberate attempt by some members within and outside of the Southwest state to ensure Adeleke returns.
He claimed that a day before the election, there were clear indications that the APC would win the gubernatorial process without engaging in vote-buying, saying the people of Osun had confidence in Oyebamiji, considering his antecedent and the assurance from Oyetola as well as other APC members.
But the tide, according to him, changed hours before the poll with some leaders, who had promised to mobilise their supporters for the APC candidate, refusing to fulfill their pledge of releasing their political structure to Oyebamiji’s campaign.
Another source, an aide to the Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Ododo, who could not withstand the alleged betrayal, disclosed to The Guild that former Osun Deputy Governor, Iyiola Omisore, worked against the party rather than for the APC’s victory.
According to him, the APC leadership believed that the two Ife local governments would go to Oyebamiji considering the influence of Omisore within the axis, but the APC gubernatorial candidate could not achieve this even though all big wings from the APC met with the former party national secretary to persuade him into supporting AMBO.
An APC member residing in the Ife axis of Osun, who spoke to The Guild on anonymity, disclosed that Omisore is yet to forgive the party’s leadership, particularly on the drama that played out before and after the emergence of Oyebamiji.
“Omisore was angry because he wanted to contest for Governor, but was denied by the party, and rather than consulting him before picking Oyebamiji’s deputy, the party went behind him to pick the APC deputy gubernatorial candidate from his Local Government without his input”, he told The Guild.
The APC member claimed that Omisore withdrew his support for Oyebamiji to retain his influence in his stronghold within the state, saying he believed working against AMBO by supporting Adeleke would help him maintain his political power in Osun.
While lamenting that the same scenerio that played out during the 2022 gubernatorial poll that crippled Oyetola’s re-election repeated itself during last Saturday’s poll, an APC senior member stressed that the plan to sabotage the poll in Adeleke’s favour was further aided by the campaign chairman, the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, and the lawmaker representing the Ikeja Federal Constituency and member of the finance committee, Jame Faleke, through their management strategies.
According to him, Uzodinma and Faleke, whose presence everyone believed would bring a good outcome, couldn’t manage the campaign team to achieve the desired result, leaving out some members from the discussions.
“Despite politicians’ presence during the mega rally to mobilize support for Oyebamiji, they were denied access to participate fully in the campaign process, leading to the fall of Oyebamiji during the poll.
“When they called to know what was happening in Osun, so they can put heads together and push for AMBO’s victory, they were shut out. If they were carried along, they would have sustained the situation,” he added.
Osun APC members, who spoke to the Guild correspondent after INEC announced the outcome of the poll, expressed disbelief at how President Bola Tinubu and Uzodinma, who is the chairman of the campaign committee, looked the other way, allowing the situation to turn out against the party.
They claimed that the President, Uzodinma, and other members of the campaign team failed them by refusing to act after seeing the foul play that went down during the process.
The Osun indigenes alleged that many weeks before the election, Accord had registered alien voters, adding that even members of the party confirmed that they brought voting machineries to the state and were given a location in Ede.
They stressed that this resulted in the huge votes that came from Ede, the hometown of the incumbent governor, alleging that over 100 imported voters arrested by the Osun Police were the last batch of the machinery brought in by the governor to cast votes for him.
The electoral umpire, according to them, allegedly met with the governor before the poll, and the discussions were centered on ensuring that the electoral exercise favours Adeleke, who was seeking to govern the state for another four years.
The APC members, barely a week after the poll, were yet to understand the reasons the party’s candidate, Oyebamiji, got fewer votes against Adeleke during the exercise in the state.
In an interview with The Guild separately, they confided in our correspondent, stating that the party had anticipated that the opposition parties’ votes would be divided, creating an opportunity for the APC to emerge victorious.
They claimed that this prompted the parties to collaborate to prevent the APC from returning to power in Osun, after the party lost the governorship to Ademola Adeleke in 2022, ending Gboyega Oyetola’s tenure.
As gathered, the APC and Accord engaged in vote-buying during the election to swing the poll outcome in their favour, resulting in the APC offering N30,000 as against N20,000 from the Accord.
However, a member of the campaign committee told The Guild that despite the huge funds, Oyebamiji could not secure victory in the poll.
Meanwhile, our correspondent, during a visit to AMBO’s residence, gathered that the deliberate actions from the party members left the gubernatorial candidate disappointed, while Oyetola, who hoped to avenge his 2022 defeat through Oyebamiji, felt betrayed.
According to our correspondents, Oyetola left Osun immediately after the election, as he could not withstand the pain from his supporters who worked to ensure that the APC won the poll.
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