Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, has been declared the winner of the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress held on Saturday.
Announcing the result very early on Sunday, the Chairman of the governorship primary committee and Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, said Oyetola won the election, having garnered 222,169 votes, against 12,921 votes that his closest challenger, Moshood Adeoti got. He also said another of Oyetola’s challenger, Lasun Yusuf, got 460 votes and placed third.
He said a total of 408,697 voters registered in the primary election of the party, while 247, 207 voters were accredited to vote. The total vote cast and valid votes were 235,550.
Abdulrazaq said Oyetola won in all the 30 local government areas in the state.
In his remarks, Osun APC chairman, Gboyega Famoodun, commended the diligence of the committee, security agencies and others that worked for the success of the exercise.
Sunday PUNCH had reported that Oyetola defeated Adeoti, a former secretary to the state government, at the ward of the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, in Saturday’s APC governorship primary.
But the Rasaq Salinsile-led faction of the party to which the minister belongs, rejected the result. The faction claimed that the exercise was fraught with irregularities.
Adeoti, a former chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria before it merged with the APC, is the anointed candidate of Aregbesola for the party’s governorship ticket.
Oyetola, was the chief of staff to Aregbesola when the latter served as governor of the state for eight years.
Also in the race is a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf.
In Aregbesola’s Ifofin Ward 8, Ilesa East Local Government, Adeoti got 146 votes while Oyetola polled 309 votes. Lasun Yusuf also lost in his Ward 5, Ilobu getting 10 votes, as Oyetola polled 323 while Adeoti got 62 votes.
Also, in his Iragbaji Ward 1, Saint Peters Primary School, Iragbiji, Oyetola got 1,612 votes, while Adeoti and Yusuf got no vote.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sunday PUNCH, the Publicity Secretary of Aregbesola’s faction, Abiodun Agboola, noted that the concerns raised by the group at the stakeholders’ meeting held with the party’s Electoral Committee on Friday in Osogbo, the state capital, were not addressed.
Agboola said names of Adeoti’s supporters were removed from the membership register used for the exercise.
He further claimed that hoodlums were used to chase away Adeoti’s supporters, adding that result sheets were not provided for the compilation of the outcome of the poll.
He further alleged, “Verified information from the agents of Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, our governorship aspirant, has it that there is no record and there are no result sheets in any of the 332 wards of the state.
“Also, there was no proper accreditation in the majority of the ward collation centres where voting was taking place. The accreditation done in some places were skewed in favour of Governor Gboyega Oyetola as members of the group were allowed to pass through the accreditation process without much ado.
“Names of a sizeable number of the members of the APC who wanted to vote for Adeoti were missing in the register of the party. This we had envisaged by calling for the display of party register before the conduct of the primary.
“State government-appointed officers were used as returning officers. We are rejecting the result because it was not a true reflection of what happened today.
“Votes were allocated in all the wards in Osun State. There were no result sheets for the results to be entered. What they did today was simply to allocate results. They came to voting centres with thugs.
“We are rejecting any results that may be announced by the committee.”
Aregbesola absent, supporters allege manipulation
Unexpectedly, Aregbesola, who has urged his followers to troop out in large numbers and vote for Adeoti, did not participate in the exercise.
Rather, the chairman of his faction in Ifofin ward 8, Adegoke Saheed, while speaking with our correspondent alleged that the exercise was manipulated.
He also confirmed that Aregbesola did not take part in the exercise.
He said, “We have concluded (voting) but it is unfortunate that the process did not go smoothly. They brought a party register that was not the original. I supervised the registration and I told those that brought the register that it was not the original.
“We could not find the names of our supporters in the register. I told them the list had been doctored but they did not listen to me. When they wanted to count, they said 309 voted for Oyetola and when they counted those that voted for us (Adeoti) and they got to 146, they disrupted the exercise and said they should not count again.
“They didn’t bring the result sheet. They just pack their papers and ran away. This is the ward of the Minister, Rauf Aregbesola. I was told when I asked about his whereabouts that Ogbeni went on an official assignment. He was not around.”
I’ll win by God’s grace – Oyetola
Speaking earlier at his ward in Boripe LGA, Iragbiji, Oyetola said the election should not be seen as a battleground.
He said, “I will win by the grace of God. I want to appeal to all of us to see this issue as a family affair. We are all APC members.”
“We should brace up for the challenge ahead. We are going to face another party whose candidate we don’t know yet. I want to appeal to us to ensure that we have an opportunity for reconciliation.”
The governor said he was not surprised that he won in his ward.
Oyetola said the primary was not expected to be a battlefield and urged party members to brace up for the challenges ahead.
“I want my fellow aspirants to see this exercise as a family affair and not a battlefield.
“Because God is always in control, there is no violence in the state, although violence is not expected.
“I don’t know why the agents of other aspirants are not here but we should all brace up for the challenges ahead and create opportunity for reconciliation,” he said.
The governor described the turnout of the party members for the exercise as meaningful and impressive.
He said, “I thank God that we were able to do it peacefully. All the members of the party have the opportunity to decide who will carry the flag of the party.
“I want to appeal to all our people all over the state to please maintain peace.
“This election process should not be a battlefield. It should not be a do-or-die affair. There should be no violence.
“Let everybody have the opportunity of participating in his choice of who should be the candidate of our party.
“I think that is the process and I think it has gone very well, contrary to the speculation,”
Election sham, we’ll explore legal means to get justice – Aregbesola
Meanwhile, Aregbesola has vowed that his group will explore legal means to get justice.
He spoke after losing his ward to Oyetola.
The former governor was absent at his Ifofin Ward 8, Ilesa East Local Government for the exercise on Saturday.
Oyetola won in the minister’s ward with 309 votes against 146 recorded for Adeoti, the candidate anointed by the minister.
But Aregbesola, in a statement by his media’s aide, Sola Fasure, claimed results of the governorship primary were “farcically counted in favour of the governor.”
He said, “On behalf of the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, I will like to thank you most sincerely for heeding the call earlier this morning to participate in our party’s governorship primary and conduct yourselves most peacefully. You adopted a non-violent posture, even in the face of sore provocation.
“You have demonstrated your loyalty to the party and democratic ideals. You have comported yourselves as Omoluabi in the true essence.
“We have received and continue to receive the reports of the shenanigans of the officials who conducted the sham of an election.
officials who conducted the sham of an election. officials who conducted the sham of an election.