Senator Iyiola Omisore, the candidate of Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the last Saturday’s inconclusive Osun gubernatorial election has asked his supporters to vote for any candidate of their choice in the rerun election scheduled for tomorrow.
While Omisore came third in the election, the rerun poll is between Ademola Adeleke of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Gboyega Oyetola of All Progressives Congress, APC who came first and second in the election respectively.
The PDP candidate scored 254,698 votes to beat his APC who polled 254, 345 votes while Omisore scored 128,049 votes.
However, INEC declared the election inconclusive as it noted that the margin between the two leading parties, PDP and APC, is less than the over 3000 number of those not allowed to vote in the seven polling units.
The rerun election will hold in Ife North and South, areas considered to be strongholds of Omisore, hence leaders of APC and PDP have been courting his support.
Indeed, both parties claimed that the SDP gubernatorial candidate had pledged his support to their candidates in the supplementary election.
Contrary to this claim, Omisore on Wednesday in a statement signed by his media aide, Jide Fakorede, however, asked his supporters to support any candidate of their choice.
He said, “Osun state has always been a stellar example of democracy where the people have consistently and freely expressed their franchise to determine who governs them. This should remain so. Osun people have shown that it is not business as usual. It is a positive deviation from what was hitherto the norm.
“I am telling my people that they should go with any political party that believes in what we in the SDP stand for; good governance, social justice and accountability. I have already detailed how we planned to restore Osun to the path of good governance through the five thematic pillars in the manifesto I shared during the electioneering. I will not negotiate for personal gains and abandon my people.
“My alliance is with the people of Osun state irrespective of the political party they belong. I want my people to be treated with the dignity they deserve. I desire that they have a government that will be accountable to them. I want them to experience the good governance the founding fathers of this state envisaged.”
Omisore further reiterated that he has told the parties that have solicited for his support to approach the electorates and ask for their mandate
“I have assured them that I will not coerce them for political or social power. It is because I have kept my promise that has made me enjoyed their unalloyed support all these years.
“It is the right and democratic freedom of people to choose by their own free will. Their votes should not be coerced by money, vote buying, intimidation in form of militarisation, political and social power.
“Their voices of demand for good governance, accountability and human dignity should continue to be heard as well as salaries paid. All these are what I stand for and which the SDP had promised the people all through our electioneering campaigns. They are still paramount to me as we collectively chart the way forward for the governorship elections rerun in Osun state,” he said.