Nigeria’s opposition party wins key southwest state
Nigeria’s main opposition party has won the governorship election in
southwest Osun state, the electoral commission said on Sunday, in a
major upset to President Muhammadu Buhari’s ruling All Progressives
Congress.
Osun is one of eight of Nigeria’s 36 states where governorship
elections are not being held at the same time as the rest of the
country because of legal challenges to previous results.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said Senator
Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 403,371
votes to unseat incumbent APC governor Gboyega Oyetola, who scored
375,027 in Saturday’s ballot.
“I declare … that Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke of the PDP,
having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby returned
elected,” INEC returning officer Oluwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe said.
Adeleke, 62, won 17 of the state’s 30 local government areas while
Oyetola won in 13.
The announcement sparked spontaneous celebrations on the streets of
Osogbo, the state capital. PDP supporters sang and danced and
motorists blared their horns.
Buhari on Sunday congratulated Adeleke, who became the 10th governor
since the creation of the state in 1991.
“With the election over, the president expresses conviction that the
people of Osun have expressed their will through the ballot, and the
will of the people must always matter and be respected in a
democracy,” Buhari’s office said in a statement.
“The president reassures the nation that the commitment of this
administration towards having credible elections remains unshaken,” it
added.
– Reports of vote-buying –
Election observers said the polling, which opened early with a large
turnout, was peaceful but cases of vote-buying were rampant.
Civil society group Yiaga Africa said it “received reports of acts of
vote-buying perpetrated by agents of the APC and PDP in some polling
units,” the observer group said in a statement on Sunday.
“At Olomu Mosque in Osogbo, PDP party agents were seen handing out
between N2,000 and N5,000 ($4.70 to $11.80) to induce voters,” the
group said.
At another polling station, in a grammar school in the Ife North
district, “party agents strategically positioned themselves by the
voting cubicle to see how voters marked their ballots”.
Nevertheless, Yiaga Africa “commended the electoral commission and the
security agencies “for ensuring the voters in Osun exercised their
franchise”.
Of the 15 parties that vied for the Osun seat, there were four
frontrunners; the APC’s Oyetola, who was seeking a second term,
Adeleke of the PDP, Akin Ogunbiyi of the Accord Party and the Labour
Party’s Yusuf Lasun.
However, it was a straight race between old political foes Oyetola and
Adeleke, who had lost by fewer than 500 votes after a run-off vote
four years ago.
– Wealthy political family –
Described locally as the “dancing senator” because of his penchant for
partying, Adeleke is the uncle of Nigerian superstar singer Davido,
who joined him on the campaign.
The PDP flagbearer comes from a wealthy political family. His father
was a senator in the 1980s, while his late brother, Isiaka, was the
state governor from 1992 to 1993.
Another brother, Deji, is a billionaire oil and shipping mogul and
Davido’s father.
Davido was in the state to drum up support for his uncle among young voters.
The ballot was seen as a battleground for Nigeria’s leading parties to
test backing for their presidential hopefuls ahead of the February
2023 election, when Buhari steps down following eight years in office.
The APC has chosen former state governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu as its
presidential candidate.
The APC’s loss in Osun is a blow to Tinubu’s regional influence.
Tinubu, a Muslim from the southwest, faces a tough challenge in the
presidential election from PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar, a northern
Muslim.
Another frontrunner is the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, who has been
enjoying growing support among younger people and is seeking to break
the APC and PDP dominance.
Last month, the APC won a governorship vote in nearby Ekiti state with
a landslide.
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