Osun State is in the Southwest of Nigeria. All the six States in the Geo-political Zone—Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun are being ruled by the All Progressives Congress, APC. It is only in Ekiti State that the House of Assembly is controlled by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.

Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola, being sworn in as new Governor of Osun State today in Osogbo, the State capital (courtesy PM News)

Today, a new Governor assumes office in Osun State. This should have been an ordinary event. However, it may not be for some reasons. To start with, the election that brought Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola into power as Governor of the State was conducted off regular election season. Litigation over the result of the election of a former Governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola was won by his challenger, Rauf Aregbesola. Oyinlola was removed by the Appeal Court on November 10, 2010 and Aregbesola was sworn-in to replace him on the following day, November 27.

Such electoral petitions also exclude Anambra (Southeast); Bayelsa (South-south); Edo (South-south); Ekiti, (Southwest); Kogi (Northcentral) and Ondo (Southwest) States from gubernatorial election in regular election seasons. To drive home the point, those States will not hold gubernatorial election during the 2019 general election early in the new year. However, Kogi State will have to hold its next gubernatorial election in November 2019 according to the staggered election calendar for the six States.

The swearing of Oyetola as the new Governor of Osun State today is also against the shadow of a controversial gubernatorial election held on September 22 this year. Senator Ademola Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP was coasting home to victory but he fell short of getting there due to a technical hitch. Adeleke won the popular votes. He polled 254,698 votes to defeat Oyetola who got 254,345 votes. The PDP candidate with a slim majority of 353 votes was not declared the winner because the total cancelled votes during the election were more than 353. The electoral guideline had stipulated that a rerun will be necessary where the margin of victory in an election is lower than the number of votes in units where elections are cancelled. The number of cancelled votes stood at 3,498 in a total of seven polling units. In the parlance of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC that conducted the election, the results were inconclusive.

Senator Ademola Adeleke, PDP Guernatorial Candidate in Osun State (2018)

Meanwhile, Iyiola Omisore, a former Deputy Governor of the State and also former Senator from the State who left PDP to contest the gubernatorial election under the banner of the Social Democratic Party, SDP won over 10,000 votes. Some of the polling units where results were cancelled fell into his stronghold. So when a rerun was scheduled by INEC, Omisore suddenly became the ‘most beautiful bride’ with PDP and APC ‘suitors’ seeking his attention and support to ensure victory for their respective candidates. After reviewing the high powered delegations to him by both parties, he decided to settle for APC and so directed his supporters to vote for Oyetola. Omisore said that it was APC that promised to incorporate his political agenda in its own manifesto and so the party should be the one to favour with the votes of his supporters. A junk of the cancelled votes were also in some of the seven polling units in Osogbo, the State capital and they were up for grabs by both parties.

Despite reservations by electoral observers over the conduct of the rerun election on September 27, 2018, when the previous figures were added to the new ones, Oyetola of APC won the election with 482 majority votes and was so declared the next Governor of Osun State.

Senator Iyiola Omisore, SDP Candidate in the Osun Gubernatorial Election 2018

Dissatisfied with the declaration, Adeleke is now in the Election Tribunal to challenge Oyetola’s victory. The case is currently being heard and it is believed that the judicial process will be exhausted before the people of Osun State know the man who is their real Governor. For now, Oyetola stays in the saddle as the 5th civilian Governor of Osun State. Others before him were: Isiaka Adeleke (Ademola Adeleke’s brother) 1992/1993;  Chief Bisi Akande 1999 -2003; Olagunsoye Oyinlola, 2003 – 2010 and Rauf Aregbesola 2010 – 2018.