The tenure of the State Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola will be coming to an end in a matter of days after serving for 2 terms and it is a must that another person takes over the state mantle of leadership.
The tenure of the State Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola will be coming to an end in a matter of days after serving for 2 terms and it is a must that another person takes over the state mantle of leadership.
There are 48 candidates and parties gunning for the position but there are only 5 contenders with the rest being pretenders as we have in every election in Nigeria and we will be limiting our say on the topic to those 5 contenders.
1. Sen. Iyiola Omisore (SDP)
Sen. Omisore is perhaps the oldest Governorship candidate in Nigeria, he has contested, either passively or actively in every Governorship contest in the state since 1998.
He is a blessed politician with huge financial acumen.
The Former Deputy Governor of the state and a 2 term Senators left the PDP for the SDP months ago when the Centre can no longer hold and despite that, he has shown to be a force to reckon with in the incoming contest.
The Ife born Engineer is in for a serious battle and he is not a pushover anytime any day!
2. Alhaji Fatai Akinbade (ADC)
Alh. Akinbade remain the longest serving political officer holder in Osun.
He served as a commissioner under the military government, he served as a local government Chairman, he was once the State Chairman of PDP and later served for 7-year as the state SSG, all of these spanning over 16 years. He is an experienced politician of note.
In 2014, he took his first shot at the Governorship position under the platform of Labour Party and polled only a spares vote of 8,874 votes.
He started this year Governorship race with the PDP as an aspirant, but came a distant third with a paltry 56 votes and eventually dumped the party.
However, he is contesting this time around under the platform of a party with more national tentacles, ADC and he has the support of the former Governor of the state, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as well as that of the Former President, Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo.
3. Alh. Gboyega Oyetola (APC)
The APC candidate is the favourite to win this election on paper as things stand and the reason for that isn’t far-fetched, the party is the ruling party in the state, across all the Local Governments in the state and even at the Federal Level.
They are not short of human and material resources to prosecute this ambition.
Alh. Oyetola who is the immediate past Chief of Staff to Governor Aregbesola is a businessman of great repute who spent 30 years in the Private sector before his appointment in 2010, he is a financial guru, he is also rumored to be the cousin of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Jagaban is known to be a politician with the midas touch.
The combination of all of these means that other political party will be at their best to defeat him.
However, one thing that will affect his chance is the glaring lapses of the present Governor of Osun state, Ogbeni Aregbesola, especially in the area of payment of salary and pensions.
4. Alh. Moshood Adeoti (ADP)
The Iwo born politician is a politician of great repute, he is a typical seasoned politician who has served in many capacity for the past 30 years. He was the state SSG until his resignation 2 months ago.
He was one of those that show interest in taking over from Governor Aregbesola in the APC but left the party 2 months ago after the fallout of the primary election that produced Oyetola.
The former Chairman of the defunct ACN is known to be a party man and that was why his switching of political party from APC to ADP came to many has a surprise, he left the party with his arrays of loyalist which includes but not limited to former cabinet members, current serving state assembly lawmakers among others.
However, he is also the candidate with the most impediment in this race. First, many see him as a selfish politician and a man who is concerned only about his personal interest, wondering how he deemed it fit to leave the APC after serving as the SSG for over 7 years.
Another problem he is encountering is the fact that, his political party, the ADP has no National significance or structure, existing only on paper and in OSUN state.
But one thing that may work in his favour which Adeoti has been banking on is the issue of zoning. He is from Osun West, the zone that has been clamoring for the Governorship position.
If that is however enough to win the race remain a question that will be answered in a matter of days.
5. Sen. Ademola Adeleke (PDP)
The Senator representing Osun west Senatorial district at the red chamber emerged the PDP candidate in a controversial way which till date posses a great problem and challenge for his ambition.
The man, popular called ‘The Dancing Senator‘ is not only running under a well structured political party, PDP but also from the richest family in Osun state and a family that is respected by all and sundry.
Sen. Ademola Adeleke is the brother of the late Senator and Former Governor, Isiaka Adeleke as well as the popular Business mogul, Dr. Deji Adeleke.
He is an uncle to the sensational hip-hop artist, Davido and therefore, he is not short of both internal and external contract to pursue his Governorship ambition.
However, one thing that will go a long way against him is his certificate scandal.
The certificate he presented to INEC is a WAEC certificate and the results of the WAEC shows that he has F9 in mathematics and pending in other subjects as a result of being absent.
That he has not deemed it fit to obtain an education degree since 1981 when he sat for WAEC is really a catastrophic situation for him.
The elites, higher institution dons, and students of various higher institution of learning will most likely not vote for a man who has a poor WAEC that remain a subject of litigation.
In addition, PDP has lost many heavyweight politician, which includes but not limited to Sen. Omisore, Rt. Hon. Adejare Bello, Alh. Fatai Akinbade, Prof. Adeolu Durotoye among others and there are strong indications that Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi who lost the PDP primary election in a controversial manner to Sen. Adeleke by 7 votes will as well bow out of the party.
All these are worrisome and can dent the chance of the PDP who presented a man with a dented image.
However, the bright side is that, the PDP has a powerful National Campaign committee led by Sen. Bukola Saraki.
PDP is a threat in every part of the country and they are expected to be a party to look forward to as the September 22nd election in Osun draws nearer.
Over to you!
Leave a Reply