OSUN DECIDES: The price and the prize
It is the D-day in Osun State as the election opens by 8am when the people will start casting their ballots to elect the man who will lead them for the next four years.
The race to the Bola Ige House has become a two horse race between incumbent governor, Adegboyega Oyetola and his main challenger, Senator Ademola Adeleke. There are 3 other visible candidates and 10 fringe candidates in the race who do not have much going for them besides just being on the ballot.
Oyetola has made his case to the people of the state during his over two months grueling campaign tours that took him to the 30 Local Governments of the state where he held open rallies, traversed palaces and interacted with ordinary folks. The Governor wants the people to assess him on his record in office in almost 4 years. He had pointed to the many roads he constructed which he put at over 500 kilometres, the over 300 primary health centres he rebuilt which earned his government award from the World Health Organisation and the World Bank, payment of salaries, pensions and the regime of fiscal discipline he instituted among others. Oyetola believes he has achieved enough to earn a re-election.
While the sitting governor beats his own chest as a performer, his main opponent, Senator Adeleke framed him as a bumbling failure who should be booted out of office. He accused him of not fixing all the bad roads in the state, failure to industrialise and keep the people safe against attacks from criminal herdsmen all of which he promised to make happen.
While many people may not take Adeleke serious because of his poor academic record and glaring lack of aptitude for the job, his populist appeal seems to be working in his favour. In 2018 whilst being derisively called a jester for his exuberant dance steps he was still able to hold his own and pushed the election to a run-off.
It is on record that the incident of pre-election violence has been minimal in this election circle in Osun State – a major credit to the political actors who have largely conducted themselves in a more civilised ways. The greater accolades should go to the Independent National Electoral Commission that has significantly improved the process. Politicians now know that violence, brigandage, ballot stuffing and other criminal activities no longer have any material effect on electoral outcomes.
What is the cost of getting the prize in Osun?
Senator Adeleke, the PDP candidate had hinted he is ready to buy votes in one of his campaign rallies. In a video that has now gone viral, Adeleke who is from one of the wealthiest families in the state said he is ready with dollars, pounds and huge naira war-chest to buy his victory at the poll. Feelers from the ordinary voters on the street also reveal that the people are willing to sell their votes to the highest bidder. There had been reported cases of hoarding of voters’ cards by politicians.
According to the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Osun State, Professor Abdulganiyu Raji, the state has 1,955,657 total registered voters. Out of the figure, 1,479,595 people have collected their permanent voter’s card representing over 75% of registered voters.
It should be noted that the smaller parties in the election have accused the two major parties of only relying on vote buying to win. Candidate of Labour Party and former Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr. Lasun Yusuf had made this point of heavy monetisation of the Electoral process where he accused APC and PDP as the major culprits.
With voters willing to sell their votes for as little as N5000 and N10,000 being the upper limit, what then will be the cost of winning the prize by the eventual winner?
