•Set to retain office
Large turn out and peaceful voting were the hallmarks of the ballot for governor in Osun State yesterday, despite pockets of alledged arrests of All Progressives Congress (APC) members by security personnel who ringed the state with heavy armour.
Omisore voting.
A total 20 candidates contested, but the battle boiled down to a head to head between Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the APC and Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Residents of Osogbo, which has the largest number of registered voters, went into jubilation when the early results showed that Aregbesola was far ahead of Omisore.
Winning Margin
To win, a candidate has to get at least 25 per cent of the votes in two-thirds of the 30 councils in the state. This means 20 councils.
At press time, Aregbesola had won the required 20 councils.
There had been fear that the election would be marred by violence considering the heated campaign. However, it was peaceful in most parts of the state, as no case of violence was recorded at the time.
Although some politicians were alledgedly arrested in Ile-Ife and its environs, observers who monitored the election declared that it was a peaceful exercise.
PDP and APC leaders exchanged words at the initial stage at some polling centres, but their differences were amicably resolved.
Home Affairs, Culture and Tourism Commissioner, Sikiru Ayedun, alleged that some election materials meant for Ife South council were diverted to other places, influenced by traditional rulers.
But PDP leader, Femi Fani-Kayode, denied the allegation, saying the poll was peaceful in Ile-Ife and its environs.
He commended the security agencies for ensuring a peaceful and orderly conduct of the election.
Police Affairs Minister, Jelili Adesiyan, also attributed the successful ballot to the presence of security personnel, as well as INEC officials who “co-operated” with the electorate to deliver a “credible” result.
Voting timely
Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) arrived polling units with voting materials at 7.20am and accreditation commenced immediately.
Voting began at 12pm, the official voting time, at polling units in Osogbo, Ile-Ife, Ilesha and many other areas. There was a heavy presence of security personnel at polling points, with officers drawn from the Department of State Security (DSS), police and military, enough to scare potential trouble makers.
Aregbesola votes
Aregbesola cast his vote at 1.07pm at his polling unit in his home town in Ilesa-East, after which he alerted journalists that the “brutalisation” of several of his party members could affect the result.
His words: “Several of our party members were singularly intimidated, harassed, terrorised, and brutalised. After all of these, they were arrested.
“The attorney general, a known officer of this state, was without justification brutalised and taken into custody. They released him barely 45 minutes ago, after detaining him from 1am.
“My Commissioner for Agriculture, Wale Adedoyin, was equally brutalised and taken into custody at 1am; he has just been released. Several of our people who have demonstrated some interest in the election were arrested and brutalised.
“Election is just an aspect of the democratic process. It is not just the art of voting. A democratic process begins from the registration of voters to verification of people, and collation of voters’ cards.
“I pray that our security agents live up to their billing. Leading members have been at the receiving end of their molestation.”
Omisore votes
Omisore voted at 12.50pm at ward 003 in Ward 1 at Saint Gabriel Primary School, Moore in Ile-Ife, which recorded a huge number of voters.
He hailed the process and said he was happy that people turned out in large numbers to vote.
Reaction of APC chieftains
A chieftain of the APC, Nasir El-Rufai, alleged that the PDP arrested and intimidated APC officials to perfect rigging plans.
He recounted that in Senator Isiaka Adeleke’s house in Ede, suspected former militants in fake military uniforms fired gunshots.
“These thugs were brought to Osun State by a presidential adviser and one-time militant. All these are to ensure that the will of the people in Osun is thwarted without regard to the likely consequences,” he alleged
“The Jonathanians will either have their way to loot forever or destroy this country in the process. We must all rise, unite and resist this attempt at slavery. These actions must be responded to immediately by the indigenes of the state of Osun.”
APC National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, said he was in the company of Sunday Dare (media aide to former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu), and Afolabi Salisu (Deputy Chief of Staff to Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosu), when he was arrested.
He added: ”We were being driven to Government House when we were stopped at a military check point by men in military and DSS uniforms, all hooded and armed to the teeth with AK-47 assault rifles, pistols and other weapons.
“Since there was no curfew in Osun State and people were moving around freely, we felt it was a routine check.
”Suddenly, the men, some of them apparently drunk, ordered us out of the car, took our phones, pointed their assault rifles at our heads and said ‘you are under arrest’. They herded us into their bus like animals and drove away. There is no doubt that they knew who we are because I introduced myself!
”We asked them why we were being arrested, but they ignored our question as they drove for close to one hour before veering into a compound that turned out to be the offices of the DSS.
“There, we met people who had been previously arrested and stripped of their clothing, many of them bloodied from the beatings to which they must have been subjected.”
Mohammed said it took the intervention of a senior DSS officer for him and his colleagues to be released.
However, Adesiyan insisted that the election was free and fair, and that Mohammed’s claim of arrest was falsehood propagated to discredit the exercise.
Atiku cautions security agents
Former Vice President and APC member, Atiku Abubakar, urged the security agents to be neutral and professional in monitoring the election.
A statement issued by his media office in Abuja said the use of the military in election is an anathema because the rules of military engagement violates the principles of fundamental human rights which give the people the power of franchise.
He urged the authorities to instruct the security agencies to have minimal engagement with the election as the mood of terror reported in the state could distort the result of the ballot.
LP’s reaction
The candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Fatai Akibade, denied reports that he had teamed up with the APC and PDP.
He said in a statement that he would not step down for anybody because he “is in the race to win and not just to partake like the Olympians. So disregard all rumours from the APC and the PDP.
“If Aregbesola and Omisore are threatened by Akinbade’s profile, they should just withdraw from the race to save their face. It is never too late!”
INEC confirms arrests of its officials
The INEC confirmed that two of its officials were arrested over suspicion that they were trying to divert electoral materials. One of them was the electoral officer (EO) for Obokun council.
The INEC said both were released by security agencies after it explained the reason for their actions.
A statement issued by Kayode Idowu, INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega’s spokesman, explained that some youths had reportedly intercepted and arrested a truck full of ballot papers in Obokun on Friday morning along with the driver and three men who claimed to be INEC officials.
He said the official did not deliberately act the way they did.
“The bid to retrieve the non-sensitive materials triggered suspicion of something untoward among the communities, some of which resisted the retrieval,” Idowu added.
“A number of them alerted security agents, who promptly arrested the EO and the officer who had distributed the non-sensitive materials.
“The EO and his officer have since been released and they have gone on with their duties, following the commission’s investigation and satisfactory explanation to the security agencies about the true nature of the incident.
“This statement is to clear the air over the widely circulating report, especially on online sites, which suggested that the integrity of the process leading up to the (election) has been compromised.
“Investigation shows that no sensitive materials were diverted, neither was any official of INEC caught in cohort with political partisans.”
Result by council
1 Atakumosa East APC 768, PDP 422, LP 13
2 Atakumosa West APC 2486, PDP 1689, LP 17
3 Ayedaade APC 3715, PDP 3548, LP 91
4 Ayedire APC 614, PDP 450, LP 50
5 Boluwaduro APC 3327, PDP 3241, LP 28
6 Boripe APC 1686, PDP 1485, LP=35
7 Ede North APC 4176, PDP 2817, LP 26
8 Ede South APC 127, PDP 163, LP 0
9 Egbedore APC 1135, PDP 887, LP 3
10 Ejigbo APC 992, PDP 492, LP 28
11 Ife Central APC 2169, PDP 4964, LP 55
12 Ife East APC 889, PDP 755, LP 11
13 Ife North APC 1658, PDP 2137, LP 87
14 Ife South APC 1923, PDP 2117, LP 29
15 Ifedayo APC 1837, PDP 1833, LP 36
16 Ifelodun APC 1378, PDP 1134, LP 14
17 Ila APC 4996, PDP 3695, LP 41
18 Ilesa East APC 4347, PDP 586, LP 8
19 Ilesa West APC 4443, PDP 1745, LP 52
20 Irepodun APC 6057, PDP 4066, LP 161
21 Irewole APC 3364, PDP 1844, LP 43
22 Isokan APC 722, PDP 782, LP 6
23 Iwo APC 2565, PDP 1884, LP 258
24 Obokun APC 1940 , PDP 1706, LP 20
25 Odo-Otin APC 2329, PDP 2841, LP 205
26 Ola-Oluwa APC 287, PDP 59, LP 45
27 Olorunda APC 3173, PDP 1082, LP 25
28 Oriade APC 4960, PDP 4264, LP 73
29 Orolu APC 3022, PDP 2480, LP 160
30 Osogbo APC 11367, PDP 3043, LP 254
