Gboyega Oyetola Finally Picks APC Guber Ticket In Osun

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Gov Oyetola of the State of Osun

How time flies!  Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who is the governor of Osun state  will  complete the constitutionally allowed two terms of eight years on the 27th of November and  in order to ensure that a successor emerges before the expiration of his tenure , the governorship election  has been fixed for the 22nd of September. Political parties have thus taken turn to unveil the faces of those who will stand as their candidates in the election  and it was the turn of the ruling party, the APC,  on Friday.

The party’s  guber primary was largely peaceful as it was hitch free apart from minor skirmishes recorded in Ilobu, the hometown of a guber aspirant, Hon. Lasun Sulaiman Yusuf who is the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. The party not  only  adopted the Direct Primary method but also strolled down the memory lane and resuscitated the Option A4 introduced by the evil genius, General Ibrahim Babangida during his days as the nation’s military president.  There were 17 aspirants among who are; the state SSG, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, Speaker Najeem Salaam , Alhaji Saka Layoonu, Senator Jide Omoworare, Taiwo Babatunde and Hon. Lasun Yusuf.  Members of the party gathered in all the 332 Wards in the state to  vote for preferred aspirants on Friday  and it was an exercise that was done simultaneously. We gathered  that the  ‘Vote Buying’  challenge   resurfaces as cash was  freely shared to the  voters at almost all the places visited.

Interestingly, there was no rigidity in respect of the amount shared as it varies from one location to another. While Hon. Lasun Yusuf distributed the sum of N1000 to the party members in all the other Wards across the state, it was N2,500 for  the party members in his local government , ostensibly to avoid the idea of having him lose  his base to  the co-aspirants. The eventual winner of the primary, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola also had staggered amounts distributed to the voters , while it was N5000 for each  of the party members in Boluwaduro local government, it was N1000 for those in Ilobu and N350 for party members in the Ota Efun area of Osogbo.  Some who are not APC members and are known  for fraternizing with a popular opposition  party  were sighted  waiting in a queue at Salvation , Alekuwodo, Osogbo  as they equally  benefited from the largesse.  In the end, the Iragbiji born Chief of Staff, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola  eventually emerged the winner of the guber primary and he is consequently to stand as the APC candidate in the forthcoming  governorship election.  Journalists , party members, agents of the aspirants and  the supporters  had a long day taking notes as  officials of the party surfaces one after the other with results from the 30 local government areas of the state. The waiting game finally ended when Femi Siyanbola  arrived from Gbongan to submit the result for Aiyedaade local government at 10.13 pm.

The Chairman of the   Committee that conducted the primary, Senator Ovie Omo Agege who declared that  the primary had ended on a ‘no victor, no vanquish’ basis  began to announce the result  a few minutes later and ultimately declared Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola as the party’s candidate.  Though , Alhaji Moshood Adeoti and Peter Babalola had announced withdrawal from the race before the primary, Peter still got votes above hundred while Adeoti also had 128. A member of the House of Representatives, Akintayo Amere  also had 1773 votes  while Senator Jide Omoworare had a very poor outing by securing negligible 21 votes. Lasun Yusuf and Najeem Salaam showed good political strength by securing 21,975 and 17,958 votes respectively.

  The winner, Gboyega Oyetola  had 127,017 votes.  In his acceptance speech a few minutes after emerging  as the APC  guber candidate , the  light-skinned dude  who  was flanked by the Director General of his campaign group, Rep Ajibola Famurewa said he was humbled to have emerged  through the  Direct Primary method  which was an expression of support by the members via voting, he  thus,  stated that he accepted the people’s verdict with humility.

While assuring the party members that the choice made through his candidature will not be wasted, Gboyega commended the co-aspirants for being peaceful and shunning violence asserting that the victory is for all, he also called on them to join him in winning the 22nd September election  while also pledging to run a people’s oriented government.  The guber candidate who promised to ensure continuity and the consolidation of the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s achievements and legacies   also stated  that he was aware that the opposition camp has  increased what they have in their arsenals , the ruling party is according to him however, set and prepared to get such efforts end a mirage.  He also noted that the ruling party has made history through the success of the Direct Primary system as it has gotten the state on the part of political rejuvenation