Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State in Nigeria’s southwest on Saturday won the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held in the state.
Oyetola was backed by the National Leader of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu.
This is coming as President Muhammadu Buhari and the governors elected on the platform of the APC will decide a new date for the party’s National Convention following the clash of the February 26 proposed date for the exercise with some off-season elections earlier scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Oyetola defeated his main challenger for the APC governorship ticket, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, at Ifofin Ward 8 of the Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, in Ilesa East Local Government Area of the state.
The Osun State governor won in Aregbesola’s ward with 309 votes against 146 recorded for Adeoti, the aspirant anointed by Aregbesola.
Oyetola also led with a wide margin in the results collated at most of the 332 wards across the state, which were yet to be announced officially.
Before the primary election, Aregbesola had attacked Oyetola’s main backer and his estranged godfather/National Leader of APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, telling him that the same treatment meted out to a former Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, which foreclosed his re-election bid in 2019, would be administered on his brother, Oyetola.
However, Aregbesola was absent from the primary election and was said to have left Ilesa for Abuja Saturday morning for unspecified official duty.
While the minister has threatened to explore legal means to obtain justice, alleging that the results of the primary election, were “farcically counted in favour of the governor,” Adeoti has vowed to seek Oyetola’s disqualification in court.
Reacting to the election in a statement issued in Osogbo, the state capital on Saturday, Adeoti vowed to head to court to challenge what he referred to as “pyrrhic victory” won by Oyetola.
He accused the governor of rigging the election with the apparent backing of the National Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the party.
Adeoti said the ugly development in Osun APC has sent a wrong signal as to whether the APC has a future in the state.
He also accused Oyetola of using intimidation and violence to ensure that the primary election was not free and fair.
”There was violence in Olorunda Local Government where the Ward 3 Chairman of the Rasaq Salinsile-led APC in Olorunda Local government, Mr. Sala Ademola and his secretary, Mr. Ajisefini were kidnapped. Our supporters were also disenfranchised in all the wards in Ife East by not being accredited and being intimidated with thugs wielding dangerous weapons.”
He also accused a top chieftain of APC of taking over the electioneering process in Ife and halting the accreditation process, sending out his supporter using thugs, while allowing and counting party members from the governor’s group.
The APC governorship aspirant also alleged that the Osun State government procured the services of armed policemen who aided the well-choreographed rigging of the election.
”There was also a massive influx of unregistered members of the party who voted with the connivance of the heavily-compromised National Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, of which Oyetola is a member. Overall, there was a massive disenfranchisement of registered APC members in all my strongholds during the so-called primary election.”
He insisted that there was no way any primary election conducted in the state would be fair if Oyetola remains a member of the CECPC.
“Governor Oyetola’s membership of the NCECPC is against the democratic norms. We dare say that this is capable of causing disquiet, more than we are facing in Osun APC now, if allowed to pass.
“We are reliably informed that Governor Oyetola is the one who hand-picked the Chairman and members of the primary election committee. It is within human reasonability not to trust such handpicked committee by an interested party member. Such committee would never be fair to other contenders.
“We, therefore, express absolute opposition to the outcome of the election because they were chosen by Governor Oyetola. There can only be point of convergence for us if Governor Oyetola could resign his membership and the process of conducting the primary begins afresh,” Adeoti explained.
Adeoti argued that Oyetola’s participation in the election was a violation of the provision of Article 31(iii) of the APC Constitution (2014) as amended which says: “Any party office holder interested in contesting for an elective office (whether party office or office in a general election) shall resign and leave office 30 days prior to the date of nomination or party primary for office he or she is seeking to contest”.
He said the process had been orchestrated from the beginning to manipulate the outcome in favour of Oyetola, which was why the date of the primary was changed from March 5 to February 19.
“We have it on good authority that the NCECPC was influenced by Oyetola to reverse the date to have the primary before the National Convention scheduled to hold on February 26, 2022. It is believed that Oyetola is afraid of contesting a free and fair primary election to be conducted by an objective committee after a neutral leadership of the party would have emerged,” Adeoti alleged.
He however appealed to his supporters to be calm, vowing to seek a legal redress.
Also reacting in a statement by his media’s aide, Mr. Sola Fasure, the interior minister and Adeoti’s main backer alleged that the results of the governorship primary were “farcically counted in favour of the governor.”
He said: “We have received and continue to receive the reports of the shenanigans of the officials who conducted the sham of an election.
“We have been inundated with reports state-wide of how your names were expunged from the party’s voters’ register, which was not made available until this morning, contrary to the convention of making the list available to the candidates before the election.
“We have heard of how party registration cards were being hawked this morning to the supporters of the state governor.
“You are urged not to take laws into your hands. Please leave the rest to the Almighty God and let us explore all peaceful and legal means for addressing the matter in order to obtain justice,” Aregbesola explained.
The Publicity Secretary of the Aregbesola-backed faction of the party in the state, Mr. Abiodun Agboola, in a statement issued, said: “We strongly condemned the conduct of the primary election because it is nothing but a sham with a fraudulent process to favour Governor Adegboyega Oyetola”.
He alleged that there were no records and result sheets in any of the 332 wards of the state.
The Chairman of the anti-Oyetola faction of the party in the state, Mr. Rasaq Salinsile, who is from Ward 04, Isale-Oba in Iwo Local Government Area also told THISDAY that the election was fraudulent.
But on his part, Oyetola has expressed confidence that he would emerge victorious in the primary election.
The governor, who applauded the members of the party for turning out in large number said, “losing was not an option for a man commissioned by God for an assignment.”
Oyetola spoke shortly after he cast his vote at Ward 1, Boripe Local Government Area, Iragbiji.
He lauded Osun people for conducting themselves peacefully, saying the peaceful conduct of the election has testified to the fact that Osun remains the most peaceful state in the country.
The governor noted that news of violence making the rounds were mere speculations.
“By the grace of God, I will emerge victorious. To us, losing is not an option for a man commissioned by God for an assignment.
“I just want to appeal to all our people across the state to maintain peace. Election process should not be a battlefield or a do-or-die affair. Let everyone exercise his/her right to choose in determining who represents them at the party level and ultimately at the general election,” Oyetola added.
Also commenting on the election, the Chairman of Osun APC Governorship Primary and Kwara State Governor, Mr. AbdulRahman AbdulRazak, also hailed the peaceful conduct of the exercise.
He applauded APC members for the huge turnout and their peaceful conduct.
He spoke with journalists after monitoring the election in Iragbiji, the hometown of Governor Oyetola.
He said: “If you open the pages of newspapers today, what was painted was a picture of the war in Osun. But the primaries election has been peaceful. I congratulate the people of Osun and all the aspirants. They have all done well.”
THISDAY