About one million voters in Osun State will today elect a new governor to pilot the affairs of the state for another four years, but this will be done amid tight security and tension.
The last one week has seen an unprecedented influx of security operatives in the state and the number keeps rising in the build-up to the poll.
Heavily armed security operatives from the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps have been arriving in Osogbo, Osun State capital and other major towns in the state in large numbers.
Meanwhile, the presence of the security operatives, particularly military personnel, at major junctions and entry points into the state has led to apprehension among residents.
A resident, Mrs. Bunmi Ogunkeye, told Saturday PUNCH that many voters would shun the poll because of the heavy security presence in the state. She said the activities of the security operatives had been creating fears in the mind of people.
She said, “Sometimes when the security operatives are passing in their convoy of vehicles with sirens, they harass motorists on the roads and shoot into the air for no just reason. It is good to have adequate security during elections but there is a limit. We all know the excesses of military men.”
Another resident, Mr. Oladeji Okanlawon, said he would not vote for fear of being hit by stray bullets.
Okanlawon said he would pray for his preferred candidate in the comfort of his room.
He said, “With the way things are going, I will not go out to vote and I will tell my family members to do the same. With many guns around, anything can happen. A bullet that is not targeted at you could hit you even if you have done nothing wrong.”
However, there are some residents who have described the heavy security presence in the state as better than having touts take over the electoral process like it has been done in the past.
Twenty candidates are vying for the Osun State governor’s seat and last minute preparations were in top gear ahead of the election on Thursday and Friday.
Some of the candidates include the incumbent governor, Rauf Aregbesola of the APC; a former Deputy Governor of the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore of the PDP; and the Labour Party candidate, Fatai Akinbade.
According to the residents, the three candidates are considered the strongest and the ones with biggest shot at the keenly contested seat.
On Thursday morning, the Independent National Electoral Commission began the distribution of electoral materials to local government areas ahead of the election.
INEC Public Relations Officer, Mr. Kayode Idowu, told Saturday PUNCH that the “law provides that a candidate must have 25 per cent in at least two-thirds of the state and have the highest number of votes to emerge the winner.
Meanwhile, on the streets of Osogbo, the main subject of discourse was often centred around politics and the chances of the candidates in the poll. Often, residents were sighted in clusters discussing their preferred candidates.
Findings by Saturday PUNCH showed that Aregbesola had a stronghold in Osogbo but Omisore was expected to keenly fight for votes there too.
Findings by our correspondent who felt the pulse of residents there showed that Aregbesola had an edge over Omisore in the capital city, also considering that his deputy, Grace Tomori, is from the city.
Aregbesola is also said to be strong in his hometown of Ilesha, which has two local governments, Ilesha East and West.
Omisore’s strongest areas are in Ife town, which has four local governments – Ife Central, Ife North, Ife East and Ife South. His running mate, Rafiu Bello, who is from Ede town, is expected to deliver Ede North and South to the PDP.
In spite of Aregbesola’s suspected stronghold in Osogbo, residents expect the final results in the state to be close, considering that Osogbo and Ife have the largest numbers of registered voters.
While Osogbo has 110,670 registered voters, the four local governments in Ife have a combined figure of 266,891.
Akinbade is said to have a stronghold in his hometown of Ogbaagba and the neighbouring Iwo town.
The dynamics of Nigerian politics played out on Tuesday with the defection of a former governor of the state, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, an indigene of Okuku in Odo-Otin Local Government Area, from the PDP to the APC. But generally, Oyinlola’s stronghold is in Osun Central Senatorial District. His influence also extends to Osogbo.
However, the PDP has been playing down Oyinlola’s influence in Osun politics in the build-up to the election.
The Zonal Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, South-West, Chief Ishola Filani, on Thursday dismissed the defection, saying it would not affect the party’s fortune in the state.
Speaking at a news conference in Osogbo, Filani said, “He left the PDP in Osun State, but the question is what effect will this have on us on Saturday?
“And our submission is this. It will have no effect whatsoever on the fortunes of Omisore becoming the next governor of Osun State. Where Oyinlola is coming from, there are many people to fill whatever gap, if any, that he is leaving behind.”
Filani expressed confidence in the PDP’s chances in the election, saying the party had gone round “the 30 local government areas in the state”.
He also said Osun residents were tired of the current government and needed change.
Filani said, “Aregbesola’s government has no touch with the people. There is nobody in Osun State who feels the impact of the APC government just like it is everywhere, in Oyo, Ogun and Lagos states. And there was a demonstration of the rejection recently in Ekiti State.”
He described the PDP candidate as a person with a track record of success as a former deputy governor of the state and as a senator.
Filani said, “We want to be in the mainstream of Nigerian politics and that is why we have started recovering our lost grounds. We started in Ekiti State and we are now going to Osun.”
At a separate news conference in Osogbo on Thursday, Akinbade urged security to pay more attention to areas he considered hot spots in the state. He said such local governments as Atakunmosa East and West, Ife North and South usually witnessed violence in past elections.
He said, “I want to appeal to the security agents to monitor flash points to prevent violence there. Places like Atakunmosa East and Atakunmosa West, Ife South and Ife North should be monitored.
“The security agents should also concentrate on villages where hoodlums used to rig elections.”
Efforts to reach the spokesperson for Osun State Police Command, Folasade Odoro, for comments were not successful as she neither picked her calls nor responded to text messages sent to her mobile phone.
However, the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, has vowed to crush attempt by mischief makers to create problems on the election day. He also defended the deployment of huge security personnel in Osun State ahead of the poll.
He, however, created fears among stakeholders when he asked them to beware of the numerous electoral offences they could easily fall into.
Citing relevant sections of the Electoral Act, Abba said, “There are many offences that can easily be committed. You must beware so that you don’t fall victim of any of these offences.”
He noted that security agencies would be on the look out to arrest electoral offenders who within 300m radius of a polling unit, breach any of the laws.
“Three hundred metres is a wide area and you may handle a stone in your hands and it could be interpreted as being armed, so beware.”
Meanwhile, there has been an influx of people into Osun, particularly Osogbo, giving hotel business in the city a major boost.
In the build-up to the election, customers scramble for accommodation as most hotels in the town are fully booked or occupied. The visitors range from journalists to the Independent National Electoral Commission officials, election observers and officials of non- governmental organisations.
The manager of White Plain Suites and Towers, Ogundipe Bamidele, described the increase in patronage as a “drastic change”.
He said, “For the past one week, our rooms have been fully occupied. We are fully occupied in terms of indoor and outdoor activities. Today, we have served over 200 people in our banquet hall.
“Normally, our hotel is one of the highly patronised facilities in Osogbo with an average booking of 60 per cent of our rooms, but now we are fully occupied. People have been begging us for rooms in the last one week but we cannot manufacture rooms. We wish we could give them rooms.”
Bamidele added that the hotel management had maintained its room prices in spite of the pressure.
“Our room prices range from N8, 000 to N20,000 and that is what we still charge,” he said.
At Yetty Hotel, Odi-Olowo, also in Osogbo, where some renovations were ongoing in some of its 25 rooms, all the available rooms had been occupied during our correspondents’ visit.
The hotel manager, Mr. Akin Oyerinde, regretted that the management picked the election period for the renovations.
He said, “We are the new managers, previous people didn’t manage the hotel very well for the owner. It was in a very bad shape when we came in. But all the available rooms have been taken by some officials who are in Osogbo for the election.”
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