JOSHUA DADA writes on the winners and losers of the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections and how the outcome shaped the state House of Assembly election
There is no doubt that victory is sweet. While winners at the recent general elections are rejoicing over their laurels and victories, losers and their godfathers are left to sulk over their loss.
The outcome of the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections in Osun State seems like a reflection of the outcome of the September 22, 2018 governorship election in the state.
In the presidential election, it was neither the personality of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) nor that of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that was responsible for the votes they got, but the political gladiators on the ground in Osun State within the political parties.
The outcome of the election witnessed the emergence of two senators and six members of the House of Representatives, elected on the platform of the APC, while the PDP got one senator and three members of the House of Representatives, from Obokun/Oriade, Ife and Iwo/Ayedire/Olaoluwa federal constituencies.
In Osun State, the outgoing National Assembly had two Senators elected on the platform of APC, one on the platform of PDP while APC conceded just one member, House of Representatives to PDP out of nine that is representing the state.
It would be recalled that the sitting governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, of the APC defeated the PDP candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, with less than 500 votes to emerge the governor of the state at the September governorship election in the state.
The politicking that took place following the declaration of the Osun State governorship election inconclusive at the first ballot, informed the improvement in the performance of the APC in the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections.
In the just concluded elections, gladiators who won their constituencies included Governor Gboyega Oyetola, who not only won his federal constituency for his party, the APC, but also won his senatorial district for the party.
His effort was complemented by the Senator-elect for Osun Central senatorial district, the hardworking Dr Bashiru Ajibola, who not only won, but influenced the victory of the APC candidate for Osogbo/Olorunda/Irepodun/Orolu federal constituency, Bukola Oyewo, who may have lost to a popular Osogbo indigene and candidate of the PDP, Dr. Moroof Adewale Adebayo.
Former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s party, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) could not make any impact, even when it agreed to work with the PDP, as the APC won his constituency convincingly.
The much expected victory for the PDP in Ila/Boluwaduro federal constituency could not come to fruition, because of the impact of a former governor and indeed the first interim national chairman of APC, Chief Adebisi Akande.
Another gladiator who won on the strength of his intimacy with his people is the senator-elect for Osun East senatorial district, a retired deputy comptroller of Customs, Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi.
Fadahunsi floored other political gladiators within the senatorial district, which include the immediate past governor of the state, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, and the man who had always been the ‘issue’ in Osun State politics for long, Senator Christopher Iyiola Omisore.
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Recall that Omisore, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the September 22, 2018 governorship election in Osun State came third, but joined forces with the ruling APC during the rerun election to beat the leading party, the PDP, at the end.
For decades, Omisore had dominated the political terrain of Ile-Ife and its environ and even won a senatorial seat while in prison custody over his alleged complicity in the murder of Chief Bola Ige, a former minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, to show his overwhelming strength in the zone that extends to Ijesaland, where late Ige came from.
However, his people who voted him overwhelmingly during the September 22, 2018 governorship election, felt betrayed when he joined the APC to defeat the PDP without alleged due consultations with his political associates.
So it was a matter of another “O to gee” (Enough is enough) slogan that ousted Senator Bukola Saraki in Kwara State that played out in Osun East senatorial district, where Omisore, who declared and worked for the APC, not only lost his senatorial district but also lost his federal constituency to the PDP.
The emergence of Hon. Babatunde Ayeni, the APC candidate, as winner of Ijesa South federal constituency seat, did not come as a surprise, as even a PDP chieftain who knows his worth remarked that Ayeni’s victory is well deserved, because he is a grassroots politician who has impacted positively on his constituents.
He won overwhelmingly not because of gladiators like former Governor Aregbesola and the senatorial candidate of the APC, Hon Famurewa, who both hail from Ilesa.
Another gladiator who escaped the ‘O to gee’ tsunami is the member of the House of Representatives on the platform of the PDP for Obokun/Oriade federal constituency, Hon. Wole Oke, who won the seat for the fourth time.
Though Oke hails from Esa-Oke, the home base the Ige dynasty along with other gladiators like Dr. Wale Bolorunduro, among numerous others, they could not muster the strength to defeat Oke, who has planted himself in the heart of his people through intimacy, humility, kindness, generosity and impactful leadership.
In Osun West, Moshood Adeoti from Iwo, who was the candidate of the Action Democratic Party, ADP, could not deliver his constituency to his party. He lost his Iwo/Olaoluwa/Ayedire federal constituency to a PDP candidate through the effort of a former gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the PDP, Akin Ogunbiyi.
Although, the efforts of Ogunbiyi, Adeleke, and Akogun Lere Oyewumi could not secure the Osun West Senatorial district for PDP, it got it two federal constituencies, which include Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo and Iwo/Olaoluwa/Ayedire federal constituencies.
The senator-elect for Osun West, Adeyemi Oriolowo, got wide-spread support from the district, but he got the bulk of his votes from Ejigbo. He could not secure his Iwo base, while another gladiator who hails from Ede, the former Speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Adejare Bello, from Ede, who contested on the platform of the APC lost his base to the Adelekes through the election of Bamidele Salam of the PDP, who came from Egbedore Local Government.
From the outcome of the February 23 polls, it is glaring that unlike what obtained in the current membership of Osun House of Assembly, where only two members are from the opposition party, the ruling party, though is assured of a soft landing in Saturday’s election into the state House of Assembly, but it cannot have overwhelming majority in the House of Assembly.
