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The re-election of Jackson Ademola Adeleke as the governor of Osun State has reopened animated conversations around federal might versus peoples might and the forthcoming 2027 general election. How Adeleke moved from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Accord Party (AP), when his plans to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were aborted by those who thought they could win Osun via federal might, should be a subject of study and scholarship in Political Science departments of some of our universities.
In the August 15 gubernatorial election in Osun State, Adeleke was cast in the image of defeat and despondency. The APC stalwarts who moved into the state in droves cajoled and ridiculed him even before the first ballot was cast. APC leadership derided Adeleke with vehemence and boasted that the party had captured Osun. In the heat of brazen political intimidation by APC chieftains, some of his frontline backers in the state overnight switched allegiance to the APC candidate, thinking that they would succeed. Now they are indeed poor losers as the good people of Osun overwhelmingly renewed Adeleke’s mandate for a second term.
Adeleke was taunted, maligned and treated with contempt by the opposition. That also made the people of Osun to be on his side. He was called names and treated as a jester and dancer. His admirers called him a dancing governor in relation to his amazing dancing steps and moves. His detractors deride his dancing steps and showmanship and vowed that he would be defeated in the Osun poll.
The Osun governorship poll has come and gone but its lessons are still being discussed across the country. And they will be discussed for a long time to come. Adeleks’s sweet victory defies all permutations and predictions of how APC will capture the state with a landslide. At the end, it was the AP that won by landslide and not the APC. What an irony of fate. It will take some time for the APC to fully recover from the shocking defeat in Osun State. While President Bola Tinubu and other prominent Nigerians have congratulated Adeleke on his hard-fought victory, the Osun APC is still studying the outcome of the poll with a view of challenging it at the tribunal or not.
Going to the tribunal is part of our electoral process, but when an election was clearly and transparently won in a free and fair contest and many Nigerians including the leader of the APC praised the outcome, the best thing the APC candidate can do now is to congratulate the winner and forget the tribunal in line with Joash Amupitan’s anticipated reaction by losers in elections conducted by INEC under his watch. The APC put up a gallant fight in the Osun poll. However, the best candidate won. The victory is a victory for democracy. It is also a victory for peoples’ power. It is a victory for the resilience of Osun people in the face of obvious provocations.
The federal might was indeed put to use with heavy deployment of security, army, police, civil defence, immigration and others, yet the people won. The man of the people won. The bulldozer won. Despite the deployment of APC governors, senators and other party supporters and thugs to Osun State, Adeleke emerged victorious.
Why did Adeleke win the Osun poll? There are so many reasons. He was popular with his people. He ensures that civil servants are paid their salaries on time. He paid all their benefits despite federal government’s seizure of Osun local governments’ accounts and freezing Osun Government account by EFCC some days to the election. Adeleke is loved by Osun people. Apart from his beautiful dancing steps, Adeleke also worked in Osun State. He tarred roads and built bridges and invested so much in health, education and other sectors.
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His victory is a pointer that good work pays. It is a lesson for other governors. They should work for the people before thinking of a second term or whatever office they want. A second term will depend on first term performance. A second term is not a must. It is never a birth right. It is based on good performance. It is based on verified performance. It is based on the voters’ perception of the government.
Osun people should be highly commended for voting massively for Adeleke and protecting their votes. Voters in other states should emulate Osun voters. They are tenacious, resilient and dogged. President Bola Tinubu and INEC as well as security agencies deserve commendation in ensuring a free, fair and credible poll in Osun. Afrobeats star, Davido, must be commended for his vital roles in ensuring the victory of his uncle in the Osun governorship poll. Davido campaigned vigorously for his uncle and used the social media to a great advantage in alerting Nigerians of moves to deny them victory.
The opposition can learn one or two lessons from Osun poll and re-strategize against the 2027 election. INEC has passed the litmus test with Osun poll. It is hoped that INEC will remain neutral and apolitical as we move towards the 2027 general election. The same measure will apply to the police and other security agencies that will be on duty during the 2027 election season. However, there is still room for improvement in the conduct of our elections.
Deploying 15,000 policemen, many soldiers and other security agencies for the Osun off-cycle poll shows that our elections are over-militarized. INEC should come up with new strategies to simplify our voting processes. Let accreditation of voters and voting go on simultaneously instead of waiting for a particular time to do so. It’s time to consider early voting and voting by post or through phone to avoid voter suppression and intimidation.
It is sad that politicians still use inflammable and combustive rhetoric as seen in Osun where one senator reportedly urged his supporters to kill their opponents but later modified it to killing them through their votes. This is unbecoming of a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This use of violent language should not be tolerated during campaigns or elections.
The violence and killings that coloured Osun election should not be carried over to the 2027 elections. As Adeleke celebrates his victory with fanciful dance steps, let him do more work for Osun people. He should not disappoint them. Now that the election is over, he is the governor of all Osun people, including the opposition.
