Osun: Before the cookies crumble in PDP

THAT the recent Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) governorship election primary in Osun State ended up as an anti-climax is very disturbing. It speaks no good of an exercise, whose buildup promised a new dawn for the party.

The manner the aspirants had conducted their affairs prior to the event suggested that the event would be a watershed in the party’s history in Osun. But the mixed reactions trailing the victory of Senator Ademola Adeleke at the poll, implies that the last may not have been heard of that forum.

The Governor Seriake Dickson-led Electoral Panel had declared him the winner having score scored 1,569 to defeat his closest rival Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi who got 1562 votes. A  former Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, scored 52 votes while a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Nathaniel Oke, polled three votes.  A total of 56 votes were rejected. Some of aspirants had announced their withdrawal from the governorship primary before the exercise, which was held at the premises of GMT Hotel and Events Centre. Those who announced their withdrawal from the race, were Prof. Adeolu Durotoye; a former Minister of Youth Development, Olasunkanmi Akinlabi and Felix Ogunwale. Others included Chief Lere Oyewunmi, former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Adejare Bello and Ayoade Adewopo.

While it was expected that the outcome of the election would promote the party’s prospects, Adeleke’s victory appears to be threatening the relative peace in the party. And if the contentious issues are not addressed, the All Progressives Congress (APC) might capitalise on them and inflict deadly damages on the PDP.

Now, what are the issues?

Recall that Dickson had promised a free and fair exercise before commencement of the poll. To convince anyone doubting the prospects of a credible primary, he said: “This exercise will be free, fair, transparent and credible. The delegates will pick the candidate of the party. We won’t tamper with the wish of the people.”

However, if Ogunbiyi’s position on the outcome is anything to go by, the event was far from being credible. One of the vexing stands is the argument that Senator Adeleke was not eligible to contest. A majority believe that he failed to meet the requirements as stipulated by Section 177 (D) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).He was alleged to have submitted a document purported to be a testimonial as evidence that he was educated up to Senior Secondary certificate, which is not suffice to meet the basic qualifications stipulated by the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

The date of issuance of the purported testimonial submitted by Senator Adeleke was reportedly altered with a pen.

In fact, the Principal of Muslim Grammar School, Ede, Osun State, Mr Khalid A. Abbas, who purportedly signed the testimonial was said not to have been posted to the school in question as at the date indicated on the document.

Observers are worried about this because of its implications which could be interpreted to mean that the party didn’t field an eligible gubernatorial candidate.

Notwithstanding, allegation of irregularity is also trailing the outcome, as the Committee was accused of not providing a level playing field. Findings show that contrary to Section 30, Sub-section E of the Electoral Guidelines for Primary Elections 2018, the total number of delegates accredited was not announced before the commencement of voting. However, at the end of the whole exercise, the chairman of the panel announced 3,246 as total accredited delegates, a result which is said to be contrary to figures subsequently entered on the result sheet as 3242.

The declarations of materials before the commencement of the primary were learnt not to have been done. Consequently, the panel was accused of not making public the numbers of ballot papers, delegate tags, number of accredited delegates.

ALSO READ: Mass defection looms in Osun APC, PDP

Also, the accreditation and voting were said to have been done simultaneously, allowing for the manipulation of the voting process. Some delegate are aggrieved that contrary to Section 30 F, many unaccredited delegates were alleged to have been allowed to vote without tags or any form of identification numbers. So many alleged anomalies were also gathered to have shaped the exercise, a development said to have run foul of best practice.

For instance, many illiterate delegates were said to have been denied the right to choose who should write the name of their preferred candidate on their behalf. This may have been responsible for the large number of purported void votes.

In the light of these, many are calling on party leaders to ensure that justice is done. In fact, most party members want a decisive response from the panel to prevent the opposition from having the opportunity to exploit the crisis.

A source, who witnessed some of the occurrences at the primary said 128 votes belonging to Ogunbiyi were tampered with during the counting process. Hence, the call for the declaration of Ogunbiyi as the validly nominated PDP governorship candidate.

• Agbeseyi is an educationist based in Ilesha.