The emergence of Senator Ademola Adeleke as the governor of Osun state has ignited hope in the camps of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP ahead of the 2023 general elections while the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC is back to the drawing board to stop another major upset especially during the presidential poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, declared Adeleke of the PDP as the winner of the election. According to the Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, Adeleke polled a total of 403,371 against incumbent governor and candidate of the APC, Oyetola, who had 375, 027 votes.
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Adeleke won in 17 Local Government Areas while Oyetola, who won the 2018 election in a controversial manner, secured victory in 13.
Analysts say the victory in a state considered as the ancestral home of the presidential candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has provided a catalyst for the PDP to see the opportunity for more electoral victories in 2023.
A Public Policy Expert, Abimbola Oyarinu (PhD), said the victory is a major confidence booster for the PDP and will help to keep balance within the party.
“Election is about confidence. It can help tilt the electoral map, especially among the undecided in favour of the PDP,” he said.
He, however, counselled the APC to take the lessons from the defeat ahead of the 2023 election, by communicating effectively with the lectorates, especially in relations to the challenges faced as a result of the global economy and the war in Ukraine.
Communication expert, Dr. Tunde Akanni said while the victory can serve as a morale booster, especially coming days after the humiliating defeat suffered by PDP in Ekiti, it might have little influence on the presidential election.
The Associate Professor of Journalism, who hails from Osun state, added that a good number of residents of the state are interested in Tinubu’s presidency.
“All politics is local; a lot of Osun residents are interested in Tinubu’s presidency and even Northerners have said this is the turn of the South. People wanted a change in Osun state and we can only congratulate them for achieving it,” he said.
The General Secretary of Pro-democracy organisation, the June 12 Coalition of Democratic Formations (J12CODEF), Nelson Ekujumi, while noting that the victory might serve as a catalyst that the PDP is accepted by the people, warned that every election is different and determined by so many factors.
He urged the APC to do a post mortem on what went wrong in Osun and how they can be addressed before the general election. He, however, said, he doesn’t see it affecting the presidential election.
Osun, a signal of what to come in 2023 — PDP, Atiku, Saraki
The National Chairman of the PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, said the victory of Adeleke in Osun is a sign of what is to come in 2023.
Reacting to the declaration of the result on Sunday, Ayu in a statement said the “election was a referendum on the disastrous All Progressives Congress (APC) stewardship and proves conclusively that Nigerians want PDP back. And, indeed, PDP is coming!”
The Presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who berated what he called poor performance of the APC, said the march to reclaim Nigeria’s greatness has begun with the victory in Osun.
“At this point in time when our country needs to take a break from the shameful effects of bad governance, it shall be on record that Osun State provided the compass into that brighter future that awaits us at the horizon.
“The referendum on the administration of the APC has commenced with the verdict of the people of Osun State in electing Senator Ademola Adeleke, while we know that the 2023 general election will be a full referendum,” he said
The former Vice President said that it is inconceivable that Nigerians will reward the APC for the failings of the last seven years.
“The ship of hope is already at the harbour under the umbrella of the PDP. We shall intensify the work to ensure that we uproot all vestiges of bad governance and false hopes towards the 2023 election. The Imole (light) that has started to shine from Osun shall soon have national coverage,” he added.
Former Senate President Bukola Saraki, who was one of the leaders of the PDP who monitored the election in Osun, said the victory is a demonstration that the party is unstoppable when its members work together.
“With this winning strategy, moving forward, our objective is clear: Together, we must fix Nigeria, rescue it from the failures of the past 7-years, and work to elect our former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as the next President of Nigeria,” he said.
However, A former Minister of Works and Housing, Adeseye Ogunlewe, said PDP’s victory in Osun will have no effect on the 2023 election. He said the defeat suffered by the APC was as a result of the infighting within the party in Osun state.
Ogunlewe, who is a chieftain of the APC and a staunch canvasser of the Tinubu’s presidency, said the party needs to put its house in order ahead of the general poll.
“The defeat was caused by infighting within the party. That is the result you get when you allow crack within your ranks. We need to get everybody on board by not playing politics of exclusion, making everybody feel important. What we had in Osun was definitely a protest vote,” he said.
From Akande to Adeleke: The emergence of governors in Osun
In 1999, the candidate of the Alliance for Democracy, Chief Bisi Akande won with 295,557 votes. However, he was unseated in 2003 when the candidate of the PDP, Olagunsoye Oyinlola secured 493,509 votes. Akande had 237,041 votes.
Oyinlola won a second term in 2007 with 426,669 votes against Aregbesola of the Action Congress of Nigeria, who had 240,722 votes. However, the election was overturned by the Appeal Court in 2010 when it said Aregbesola secured 198,799 against Oyinlola’s 172,880 after cancelling his votes in 10 LGAs.
Aregbesola won re-election in 2014 with 394,684 votes against Iyiola Omisore (PDP) who had 292,747 votes.
Oyetola defeated Adeleke in 2018 after securing 255, 505 votes in the re-run poll. Adeleke had 255,023 votes
