Encomium
GOVERNOR Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State defeated his arch rival, Senator Iyiola Omisore of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in the governorship elections held on Saturday, August 9, 2014.
He defeated Omisore by 100,047 votes. While he polled 394,694 votes, Senator Iyiola Omisore had 294,747 votes.
Governor Aregbesola also trounced Omisore in 23 local government councils out of 30 in the state.
The local government council where Aregbesola defeated Omisore included Ede North, Ifelodun, Ayedaade, Obokun, Iwo, Irewole, Osogbo, Olorunda, Atakunmosa East and Ejigbo.
Others included Ifedayo, Ilesa East, Ilesa West, Boripe, Ila-Orangun, Oriade, Orolu, Atakunmosa West, Ede South, Irepodun, Olaoluwa, Egbedore and Ayedire.
Senator Iyiola Omisore, on the other hand was only able to win in seven local government council areas. These were Ife South, Boluwaduro, Odo Otin, Ife Central, Ife North, Isokan and Ife East.
Aregbesola and Omisore, ironically are from the same Osun East senatorial district. While Aregbesola won majority of the votes in Ilesa axis, Omisore won majority of the votes in the Ile-Ife axis of the senatorial district.
Before the announcement of the results by the Returning Officer for te election, Professor Bamitale Omole, the Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), there were different versions of the results being posted by supporters of the two major candidates.
While supporters of Governor Rauf Aregbesola were posting it on the internet that he was coasting home to victory, those of Senator Iyiola were also doing the same.
In fact, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, a staunch member of PDP and Mr. Diran Odeyemi, the spokesman for Senator Iyiola Omisore Campaign Organisation wrote it on the internet that people should not believe the stories that Aregbesola was winning. They claimed it was their candidate that was leading.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), was also not left out of the posting on the internet. He posted that the electorate in Osun should not leave the collation centres until the elections results are announced to avoid manipulations.
Dr. Muiz Banire, National Legal Adviser of APC did not only call for vigilance on the part of the electorate and party agents, he also called for prayers to prevent the PDP from doctoring the results. But around 7.30 a.m on Sunday, August 10, 2014, when Professor Bamitale Omole announced the final result, not a few heaved a sigh of relief because many were already thinking the results would be manipulated in favour of Senator Iyiola Omisore.
THE MAN, AREGBESOLA
Governor Rauf Aregbesola, a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from The Polytechnic, Ibadan, has been in politics since the moribund Third Republic of 1989-1993. He had contested for the Lagos House of Assembly primary of his party, Social Democratic Party (SDP) then but lost.
He later became the Campaign Manager of Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who contested for the Lagos West senatorial district. Tinubu won the election and that was how their friendship started.
Again, in 1998, when Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, returned from self exile to contest for the governorship of Lagos State, it was this same Engineer Aregbesola that he called on to be his campaign manager. Tinubu won the election and became the governor of Lagos State. He appointed his friend and trusted ally, Rauf Aregbesola, the Commissioner of Works. Again, in 2003, when Tinubu was vying for second term as governor of Lagos State, it was the same Aregbesola he called on to head his campaign team. The campaign team was tagged, The Mandate Group. Tinubu won his second term bid and appointed Aregbesola again as his Commissioner of Works.
In 2007, he moved to Osun State to contest the governorship election against the incumbent, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola. He did not win that election until November 26, 2010, when a Federal Appeal Court in Ibadan declared him winner and threw the incumbent out of the government house.
That was how he became the governor of Osun State on November 27, 2010.
On Saturday, August 9, 2014, he won the governorship elections of Osun for second term.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola is married to Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola, a professional caterer. They met in Kaduna when Aregbesola went for his youth service there.
Between them, they have four children – three males and one female.
WILL OMISORE EVER BECOME OSUN STATE GOVERNOR?
SENATOR Iyiola Omisore, the defeated governorship candidate of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in the just-concluded Osun State election has been nursing the ambition of being the governor of the state since 1998.
His first attempt to become the governor of the state in 1998, was frustrated by Chief Bola Ige, a leader of Alliance for Democracy (AD) then who pacified him to step down for Chief Bisi Akande, who eventually became the governor in 1999.
He was, however, compensated with deputy governor position. He was, unfortunately, frustrated out of the party when he was impeached as the deputy governor.
Omisore left AD to join PDP and was eyeing the governorship slot of the party in the state for 2003, when disaster struck in 2002. He was alleged to be the mastermind of the gruesome assassination of Chief Bola Ige, and for several months he was behind Agodi Prisons, Ibadan.
Because of the murder charge he could not be given the party’s ticket for the post of governor. He was, however, compensated with the Osun East senatorial district seat which he contested and won while in prison for alleged murder.
In 2010, he was warming up to take over from Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola in 2011, as the PDP candidate, when fate played cruel game on him. The Federal Appeal Court sitting in Ibadan, gave judgement on November 26, 2010, to the effect that Rauf Aregbesola was the winner of the April 2007 elections.
The court instructed that Rauf Aregbesola must be sworn-in the following day, November 27, 2010. Thus, the ambition of Senator Iyiola Omisore to take over from Governor Oyinlola as the next governor of the state went to the winds.
It was a double jeopardy for Senator Iyiola Omisore whose election as a senator had earlier been annulled by an electoral appeal tribunal in 2009.
In 2011, he contested Osun East senatorial district seat again and was defeated by Senator Christopher Babajide Omoworare, who presently is occupying the seat.
In 2014, he was jinxed again. His ambition to rule the state for the fourth time went in flames with his out-right trouncing by Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
Will he vie for the same post in 2018, when Aregbesola will be rounding off his second term? Only time will tell.
– TOLANI ABATTI
