Battle royale as Osun guber poll beckons

The release of the Osun State gubernatorial election time table by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has spurred the preparation of various political parties participating in the exercise.
The election has been scheduled for August 9. Four political parties, All Progressives Congress, APC, Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Labour Party, LP, are in the forefront for the election.
The race towards the occupation of the Abere Governor’s office is keen and the incumbent governor of the state, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, will carry APC banner.
As at now, there seems to be no other known aspirant in the party. PDP has announced that it has three aspirants in its fold and this was arrived at after the deadline given by the party for any member who has interest in the election to indicate his intention.
The three gubernatorial aspirants announced by the state’s party chairman, Alhaji Gani Ola-Oluwa, to have fulfilled the conditions set by the party for those aspiring for nomination are Hon Oluwole Oke who hails from Obokun Local Government Area; Sen. Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, Ayedaade Local Government Area, and Sen. Iyiola Omisore, Ife East local council.
The party while announcing their names promised that they would be given a “level play ing ground”. The three incidentally are former parliament members. Oke was in the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2011; Akinlabi was a former senator and one-time minister while Omisore was a former deputy governor as well former senator.
In LP, there are two aspirants, Barrister Niyi Owolade and Alhaji Fatai Akinbade. UPN’s sole aspirant is Chief Segun Akinwumi. Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said the Ekiti and Osun states governorship polls will be test cases.
Speaking during a meeting with 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) in Abuja, Jega assured Nigerians that the lessons learnt from the recent Anambra State governorship election would be factored into the preparation for subsequent polls. He has since acknowledged that there were flaws in the Anambra ballot, but was of the opinion that the exercise met the minimum standard.
“As we are all aware, we are moving towards the last lap of our work and preparation in the next one month or so as we prepare for the 2015 general election.
May I use this opportunity, therefore, to ask all of us to contribute our best as we prepare for that election? Of course, there will be two other governorship elections, Ekiti and Osun states, before we go into the polls,” Jega told the RECs.
The Nigeria Police have also stepped up preparations for the Osun gubernatorial poll as they said they were currently training 160, 000 of their personnel for the coming general elections in Ekiti and Osun states this year.
Abubakar assured that the force was conducting training for 160,000 police personnel on election duties in different police training institutions across the country in preparation for the elections.
He expressed the readiness of his men to ensure hitch-free guber elections taking place in the two states as well as the 2015 general elections.
He hinted that the policemen are receiving specialised training on electoral laws, election security, crowd control skills, anti-riot operations, covert intelligence operations and general principles of democratic policing.
The major aspirants: Rafiu Aregbesola, APC Aregbesola has been the governor of the state of living spring in the last four years. The Ilesha-born politician has transformed the state in terms of infrastructure. He is also not having any opposition within his party. Political analysts believe he is going to enjoy the incumbency advantage, which is a major boost to election success in Africa.
Osun State’s APC Director of Media, Mr Kunle Oyatomi, is sure Aregbesola will be re-elected by the people as he said that APC in Osun had been working for the progress of the state. “That is a political assignment, on which the people of the state will make judgement as to whether or not we kept faith with their mandate.
The mandate given us by the Osun people was to execute the six-point integral action plan which we presented to them before they voted us into office. The question now is: did we fulfil their mandate or not? Yes, we believe we did and that gives us absolute confidence that the people are happy with us. We have nothing to fear about the August election because what we have done is evident all over the state. If you wrote an examination very well, you would be sure of success, and that is our position.
“Barring political shenanigans, we will win comprehensively. There is a saying that the taste of the pudding is in the eating. We have served our pudding to the Osun people. No other government has ever done what we have done for the people. The world recognises it. The PDPcontrolled Federal Government knows it. The people of the State of Osun are rejoicing about it. So, what other potential for victory do you need?” he further said on his party’s chance in the forthcoming election.

Chief Wole Oke, PDP
Oke was in the lower chamber of the National Assembly for eight years during which he was chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Defence. The aspirant, who last Tuesday made his declaration for the gubernatorial race, hails from Esa-Oke in Obokun local council of the state. He is also from the same senatorial district, Osun East, where Governor Aregbesola comes from. He is confident of picking the PDP ticket. Although he believes that dislodging an incumbent governor would not be an easy task, he boasted that he would defeat Aregbesola at the poll if given the ticket by his party. One thing that is going for Oke is that he is a technocrat and one that has age on his side.

Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, PDP
Akinlabi hails from Ayedade Local Government Area of Osun West Senatorial District. He had served as a minister of Youth Development and as a senator. He has been clamouring for a level playing field from his party’s leadership.
“All what I am asking for is a level playing field for all aspirants. Our chairman has promised that the party leadership would be fair to all. I have no reason to doubt him. I believe him and I am holding him by his word. If there is fairness and we all unite, we will surely chase away the present government from office. The PDP is now at a historic crossroads and it is left with a choice of presenting a good and presentable candidate without any baggage. Akinlabi is also known to have close relationship with the President Jonathan; this may work for him in getting the party ticket.

Senator Iyiola Omisore, PDP
Iyiola Omisore is a former deputy governor of the state. He was in the Senate between 2003 and 2011, where he served as the Chairman, Budget and Appropriation Committee. He hails from Ile-Ife in Osun East senatorial district.
Political pundits see him as one with deep root in Osun politics and a good political strategist. Ile-Ife where he hails from is also known for delivering heavy votes at elections.
He had shown interest in the gubernatorial race in the past. Omisore, who started his campaign programme yesterday in Osogbo, the state capital, has vowed to give Aregbesola a serious fight for the Oke-Fia Government House.

Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, LP
Akinbade, was a former commissioner, secretary to the state government and first PDP chairman in Osun State. He is no doubt a grassroots politician. The Ogbagba- born politician has been involved in the state politics for a long time.
He is one with deep knowledge of the political terrain in the state. Why he dumped PDP and moved to LP has not been fully explained, but political observers believe that if he is picked by his party and gets financial support, he is definitely going to be among the front runners in the August gubernatorial election.
His assets also include his humility, kind-heartedness, religiousness, qualities that have drawn a lot of grassroots politicians to his fold. Barrister Niyi Owolade, LP Niyi Owolade had served in the administration of Chief Bisi Akande and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as commissioner. He has been very critical of the APC-led state government but may have to work hard if he is going to get LP ticket.

Segun Akinwusi, UPN
Akinwusi was head of service, State of Osun under former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola. He also served the incumbent, Aregbesola, before he retired in 2012. He started his career in the civil service as an Administrative Officer in the Old Oyo State in 1977, and acted as permanent secretary/clerk of the Osun State House of Assembly between 2002 and 2003. He was confirmed permanent secrepertary in May 2003, before he was elevated to the position of head of service.
Though, relatively new in politics, Akinwusi has emphasised that he wants to serve his people at a higher capacity and was of the opinion that as a former civil servant, the best he could do while in service was to offer quality advice that will benefit the state but he cannot force the political leadership to act in accordance with his wishes. “As a civil servant, when you advise your political head and he thinks otherwise, there is little you can do.
Having put in many years into the service of Osun State, I believe I am a greater stakeholder than anyone that came on a sojourn. I did my best by giving my pieces of advice, but there is nothing you can do to help somebody who does not respect your views’’ he said.
The UPN aspirant is very sure of ousting Aregbesola. However, his party, the resuscitated UPN, is not only new but is yet to be officially registered by INEC.