Osun 2026: Adesuyi says loyal voters, not vote buying, will deliver victory

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –

The governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in the August 15 Osun governorship election, Engr. John Adesuyi, has said his party will not engage in vote buying, expressing confidence that it can secure victory by mobilising what he described as loyal and honest voters who have stayed away from previous elections.

Adesuyi spoke on Wednesday at a Newspoint programme organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Correspondents’ Chapel in Osogbo.

According to him, although vote buying has influenced the outcome of some elections, the ZLP has chosen to rely on its programmes and strategy rather than inducement.

He said the party has a wider spread across Osun than many people believe, citing its performance in previous elections.

Adesuyi noted that the ZLP came sixth in the 2023 presidential election, ahead of some political parties considered more popular. He added that the party also recorded votes in all the local government areas of Osun during the 2022 governorship election.

He said, “The ZLP did not record zero anywhere. We were the last on the ballot paper, so anybody who voted for us actually wanted to vote for us. We have our spread, and we are not interested in vote buying. We are not going to be intimidated by crowds because crowds can easily be gathered”.

The ZLP governorship candidate said the party would focus on mobilising what he described as over 800,000 loyal and honest citizens who had stayed away from previous elections because they did not want to be part of what he called a corrupt system.

“Our own is to have access to them, let them know what we have, so that they can change their minds, pick up their PVCs and vote. We are convinced that within them, we can get the required number of votes to make the ZLP the winner of the election without having to tamper with the votes of other parties,” he said.