Who Wears The Cap?
The battle for the soul of the state is basically between Omisore and Aregbesola. And as the day draws nearear, analysis and opinions are divided in the two lines. Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a top PDP member, has boasted that what happened in Ekiti State would be repeated in Osun: “As far as we are concerned, we know the election will be free and fair. Therefore, we are working hard and campaigning very hard, and we know that by the grace of God, we are going to win the election…I think people don’t know who Omisore is. Omisore is a grassroots person. I can assure you that those who are saying Omisore is not a grassroots person will regret saying that on 9 August. They would be surprised. Omisore is not campaigning in the style that is known to many people, whereby they bring people from all over the place to attend rallies and make noise. He is supported by Ayo Fayose, the governor-elect of Ekiti, and all others who share same thought and dream.”

Apart from prominent Christian leaders who are believed to have endorsed Aregbesola through their visits to him, Bayo Adeyinka, a blogger, presented seven reasons why it would be victory for Aregbesola at the election. According to him, Omisore is only desperately trying to be an Ayo Fayose and a Jimi Agbaje in Osun State, but the people know him enough to make a decision. “While you cannot deny that he has a semblance of structure, having been the deputy governor of the state and also a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, his Achilles’ heel is that he has been successfully tainted by the accusation of involvement in Bola Ige’s murder,” he said.

“Whoever is his campaign director needs to get fired as he has run one of the most bizarre and lacklustre campaigns ever. His efforts to align with the masses fell flat – his handling of two roasted corn [ears] in both hands, his ride to a campaign venue on an ‘okada’ and his absurd combination of two different ‘Ankara’ materials as cloth are images that have defined his campaign. He has not successfully exploited Rauf Aregbesola’s obvious weaknesses.” Adeyinka also listed the disunity in the PDP, Aregbesola’s above-average performance, the governor’s massive campaign network, the grassroots support enjoyed by the governor, and the geo-political demographics in the state as considerations that would work against Omisore.

A major plus for Aregbesola is the opinion poll that was released by the firm of TNS-RMS, a member of Gallup International, on 31 July in favour of Aregbesola. The poll states that Aregbesola maintains a good lead, with 73 per cent of the residents of the state supporting the governor while Omisore comes far behind at 54 points and 16 per cent, representing a two per cent decline from earlier survey. “The APC also rates very high in the survey as its top-of-mind and awareness increased from 75 per cent to 78 per cent over the two polls, followed by a very far distance by the PDP with 18 per cent, a drop of three per cent from 21 per cent in the first study. The Labour Party maintains third rank with a negligible one per cent. Furthermore, electorate choice for APC is now 70 per cent – boosted by one per cent increment. 19 per cent say they would vote for the PDP, another three per cent drop. Electorate choice for Labour Party remains one per cent,” the poll said.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has declared its readiness for the election in spite of the allegation thrown up by the APC that the commission was starting on a shaky note. The Federal Government, as reported last week, has deployed over 5,000 officials of the Department of State Security Service to the state to maintain peace during the exercise. Again, the APC is not comfortable with this arrangement as the party argues that this was a strategy used in Ekiti by the PDP.

In any case, Nigerians are anxiously waiting for the outcome of the exercise