Ademola Adeleke

Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan

Saturday, 8 July, 2017 will stand out in the memory of the people of Osun West Senatorial district in particular, and Osun State in general. This was the day of the bye election to fill the seat of the Senate that became vacant as a result of the sudden death of Senator Isiaka Adeleke, representing Osun West Senatorial District on April 23 2017 at the age of 62.

Senator Adeleke who hailed from Ede and the first governor of the state, died at Biket Hospital in Osogbo. His death shook the state to its foundations, leading to tension and protests. There were insinuations and accusations that he was murdered by his political opponents because of his ambition to contest in the 2018 gubernatorial election.

Consequent upon the demise of Adeleke, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, fixed 8 July for bye-election to elect a new senator for the constituency, commencing with primaries within the registered political parties. The primaries were not without intrigues.

Two candidates, Mr. Ademola Adeleke, a younger brother to Senator Isiaka Adeleke and Senator Mudashiru Hussain, a two-term House of Representatives member and a one-term senator and Osun State Commissioner for Cabinet Matters signified their intentions to contest on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. While Adeleke was cleared, Hussain was disqualified from contesting the primaries by both the party’s electoral committee and the three-man appeal panel set up by the National Working Committee, NWC, of the Party. According to the electoral committee and appeal panel, Hussain was disqualified because he did not resign his position as a member of the Osun State Executive Council 30 days to the primary election as prescribed by the party’s constitution.

Hussain, who is from Ejigbo, rejected the disqualification, arguing that he had resigned his appointment as commissioner since the 6th of June, adding that he had fulfilled all the requirements of the law. He was, however, eventually cleared by the party’s NWC to contest the election. This did not go down well with Adeleke who resigned his membership of the APC in protest and defected to PDP, where he was gladly received and subsequently adopted as the party’s candidate for the election.

In the build up to the election, eight political parties in the state endorsed and adopted Adeleke as their candidate. The opposition political parties under the aegis of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, CNPP, directed their members and supporters to vote for Adeleke in the 8 July bye-election. The state chairman of CNPP doubled as the state Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Popoola Olatunji, openly declared the supports of the opposition parties for Adeleke. The opposition parties include: Action Alliance, AA; Social Democratic Party, SDP; Green Party of Nigeria, GPN; Alliance for Democracy, AD; Democratic People’s Party, DPP; Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN; People’s Party of Nigeria, PPN and People’s Democratic Movement, PDM.

At the end of the bye election, Adeleke of PDP won in nine out of 10 local government areas with a total votes of 97, 480 to defeat Senator Hussein of the APC, who pulled 66, 116 votes. Adeleke was consequently returned by INEC as senator representing Osun West Senatorial District to complete the tenure of his elder brother, late Senator Adeleke.

Reacting to the outcome of the election, the state Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola wrote on his official Twitter account: “I congratulate Ademola Adeleke on his victory at the poll. The people have spoken. Democracy won and we respect the people’s choice. Important lessons have been learnt and we will be back stronger.”

The result of the election is a strong signal that the APC, which is the ruling party in the state, has a lot to be worried about as to what fate has in store for it in the subsequent election. To some commentators, this could be an indication that the PDP is capable of unseating the party in the next governorship election holding in 2018 in the state.

Senator Mudashir Oyetunde Husain

The loss of the election has been attributed to many factors. First is the huge support and love the late Adeleke enjoyed among the people of the State. According to a school of thought, the PDP victory in the by election was a protest against the APC for its failure to adopt Ademola Adeleke as its candidate, which could have served as a way to compensate Adeleke’s family and Ede, the hometown of Senator Adeleke, for the loss of their son.

Secondly, the state’s residents could not imagine Ejigbo which produced the current speaker of the state House of Assembly and a federal representative in the National Assembly to produce another top notch political elective officer when many towns cannot boast of any elective political officer.

In addition, some commentators believe that the popularity of Governor Aregbesola is waning. Practically all sectors in the state, including doctors, civil servants, retirees, and traditional rules, have one axe or the other to grind with his administration as they are being owed several months of unpaid salaries. The governor is also being accused of high handedness and insensitivity to the plight of people of the state.

Rauf Aregbesola

While the bye-election has come and gone, the hurdle ahead is still the 2018 gubernatorial election. People are keeping their fingers crossed to see if the APC would be able to rise from this colossal defeat and re-strategise to win the election and also if the PDP would seize the opportunity of the victory to forge a common front to win the incoming elections. In the views of two political scientists, Dr Stephen Lafenwa and Dr Akanji, of Political Department, University of Ibadan, UI, opined that the result of the by election in the state could be argued to be a pointer to what may happen in the subsequent elections in the state. But they feel that APC has not lost its relevant in the state as may be thought. “Nobody should think that Adeleke’s victory at the last election in the state will affect the subsequent election in the state. That is not a strong indication that PDP will unseat APC through next year governorship election in the state. Adeleke winning the last election cannot be said to in the state is not Adeleke can still come back to APC. So, PDP should not rejoice that its current victory will give it easy ride to government house next year”, Dr Lafenwa.

Dr Olajide Akanji added, “The last election in Osun was a protest vote against what the people over there consider to be insensitivity of the government to people’s plight, indication that power resides with the people, electorates are sane and know what they want and indictment on Aregbesola that he is not in control as he thinks and his popularity is waning. But all of these do not necessarily spell doom for APC in the subsequent elections”.

In the meantime, the PDP continues to savour its victory and the new Senator, Ademola Adeleke, dubbed “Dancing Senator” by the Social Media, has since been sworn in.