Anxiety in Osun over new gov

MAJOR cities of Osun State, on Saturday evening, returned to normal mode, as residents of the state showed apprehension while waiting for the official release of the governorship election results.

While activities returned to the cities such as Osogbo, Ile-Ife, Ilesha, among others, late Saturday evening, residents could be seen huddling in groups discussing the polls.

The election, which was keenly contested among three top contenders, Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Iyiola Omisore of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Ademola Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), was too close to call as of the time of filing this report.

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With the unofficial results announced by the returning officers at the polling centres already in circulation, it could be observed that each of the top three contenders maintained appreciable lead in their different areas.

Findings by Sunday Tribune showed that the politicians across the major cities were celebrating the victories of their parties in their respective strongholds while waiting anxiously for the outcomes of the polls in others’ terroritories as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to begin collation.

The APC governorship candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, won his Local Authority School, Popi Oloti, Unit in Iragbiji, Boripe local government area with a clear margin by polling a total of 451 votes against PDP’s 134 votes, while Omisore of the SDP polled six.

In Ile-Ife, Omisore polled 369 at his Moore Ward 001, Unit 3, located inside St Gabriel’s Primary School, while Oyetola of the APC polled 69, and Adeleke of the PDP polled 23.

Adeleke also won in his polling unit at Ward 2 PU 9 in Ede convincingly, polling  154 votes against APC’s 35.

From 5p.m., in most parts of the states, some of the voters were seen making calls to confirm results from various polling centres. Others were seen jubilating over the victory of their parties at the unit level while others were lamenting their losses.

At Ota Efun area of Osogbo, counting of votes continued in some polling units till about 6:30pm while the counting had already been concluded in most parts of state capital.

In Ikirun, Ikirun, Obaagun, Iree, Iragbiji, Ila Orangun, counting had been concluded at the unit level around 6:00pm with results being taken to the collation centres where the results were collated.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are in keen contest as they maintained early lead in their strongholds.

In Ila Orangun, the contest was keen between the APC and the PDP with a former interim National Chairman of the APC,  Chief Bisi Akande, losing in his  Atewogbade Unit 012, Ward 04 to the PDP.

The PDP trounced the APC in the Unit by polling 78 against APC’s 49 votes.

Meanwhile, commuters that got stranded continued their journey while some motorcyclists got their bikes seized.

We can’t make any comment

Contacted, the national secretary of ADP,Dr James Okoroma said they were not ready to make any hasty statement on the election until the result was officially announced.

“We are monitoring what is going on. We can’t speak on it until the results have been announced. We will make a categorical statement at the end of the day.

“We don’t want to jump into a hasty conclusion. We went into the race to win. In fact, our candidate, Adeoti, remains the best. Our people are on the field collating results and at the end of the day, we will separate the shaft from the grain and make a categorical statement. We love this democracy and we will continue to protect,” he said.