Osun election as INEC, Buhari’s trophy

 By Ken Ugbechie

The ides of any month does not always present good news. Right from the old Roman empire, ides signposted bad omen; moments of pain. Ides also come with a hangover of disillusionment a day after. Such was the case of the Osun governorship election. Held on July 16, Osun election threw up a mix of joy and sorrow.

It was joy for Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who won the election. Joy for his supporters, family and friends; even his party. But not so for Gboyega Oyetola, the incumbent governor, who flew the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag and lost. For an election initially projected to be a four, at least, a three-horse race, it tapered to a battle of two parties, APC and PDP. While Adeleke grossed 403,371 votes, his closest, Oyetola, polled 375,027 votes. A difference of 28,344 votes.

Governor Oyetola and Senator Adeleke flaunt two diverse personalities. Oyetola has all the trappings of a gentleman. He represents the old conservative brigade of politicians. He was the incumbent but he never showed it during the political debate. He struggled to tell his own story. An incumbent governor ought to tell his own story. Showcase his accomplishments. Dictate the debate using landmarks and touchstones of his achievements. Oyetola did not do that. He failed to impress; was unconvincing and his lack of sophistry and charisma draped his face. He looked mortified; frazzled like a man afraid of an impending apocalypse.

Not so, Adeleke. A rip-it-off dancer with awesome street credibility and charm, he won many hearts at the debate. He demonstrated he had a clear roadmap to develop the State of Osun. He rode on the crest of street popularity. The tag Adeleke, the dancing Senator, gave him a somewhat ‘unserious’ persona. But during the debate, he leaped out of his street shell and showed a rare back-to-back knowledge of governance, fiscal management and investment poaching. He struck the right chord which resonated with his people: Create jobs, create wealth, attract foreign direct investment as an “international guy”, to use his exact description of himself.

Adeleke said much more. To many observers, he was ahead of the other contestants in that debate. But eloquence and fineries of speech do not win elections in Nigeria. Otherwise, the likes of Pastors Kris Okotie and Tunde Bakare would have been in and out of Aso Rock long before now. Adeleke won because of other factors, chief of which is the Electoral Act 2022 which guarantees electronic transmission of election results. One of President Muhammadu Buhari’s best legacies is the revised Electoral Act which he accented into law. This has made it possible and lawful to transmit election results electronically to INEC server right from the polling units. This has made elections a bad business for creepy politicians and their recruits of thugs who hitherto compromise elections by falsifying results. For this, Buhari should show off the Osun election as his trophy. Electronic transmission of results means that the most popular and widely accepted candidate will win elections in Nigeria, going forward. It means that votes will now count. It spells an end to ballot-snatching and the deployment of ‘force’ to get over the competition. It’s a legacy worthy of celebration.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), this time, has bragging rights. Both the tech element and human factor collaborated effectively to deliver one of the freest and fairest elections in the chequered chronology of polls in Nigeria. INEC deserves applause and every diadem festooned on the electoral umpire. Right from 2010, INEC has shown a progression in its quest to get the electoral process right. It introduced the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines which helped to clean up the voter register. Any credible election begins with a credible voter register. Progressively, INEC introduced the card reader (though selectively applied in 2015 election, and subject to manipulation). And now, it has introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the booster shot against rigging. In the previous elections in Anambra and Ekiti, there were few reported cases of technical glitches with the BVAS. INEC promised improvement. In Osun, Nigerians saw improvement with the BVAS. The umpire still has a good eight months to patch up observed cracks in the BVAS. It must not assume super-efficiency. Even the best and most light-years-ahead of technologies could still throw up hitches. But INEC has been organic, not static. Kudos!

The 2023 general election is more massive than any state election. Over 80 million registered voters across 176,846 polling units nationwide with 18 political parties contending for honours, the logistics is enormous both in manpower and technical deployment. While it’s pertinent to garland INEC in laudatory robe for its sterling outing in the Osun election, the umpire should be reminded that Osun is not Nigeria. There is a greater mountain to climb, ahead.

The Osun election also threw up the issue of governance as a social contract. Many postulate that Oyetola lost because he under-performed. Yet, some insist that Adeleke won because he’s by far the most popular candidate among the crowd of contestants. They even claim that he won the 2018 election but was knocked out on technical ground, a loss finally sealed by the Supreme Court. But even if Adeleke was ‘robbed’ in 2018 as he claimed, the last four years presented Oyetola an opportunity to make the most of the social contract he entered into with the people of Osun. I believe he didn’t, otherwise he could not have been rejected by his people despite the incumbency factor.

Overall, Osun election deserves special inquisition because of its many upsets. Incumbency could not fly. Royalty as well as political longevity failed to deliver. A few teasers: Elder Bisi Akande, a political methuselah, chieftain of APC and former governor of Osun state lost in his Ila LGA.  Another shocker: Senator Bashir Ajibola, the Director General of Oyetola Campaign Organisation was snookered in his Osogbo base. Then, there was the case of His Royal Majesty Abdulrosheed Akanbi, the famed Oluwo of Iwo. Ahead of the election, he had promised Oyetola 90,000 votes from his domain. He could only muster 17,421 while PDP trailed dangerously close with 16,914 votes. And you wonder why some voters do not heed the call of their traditional rulers these days.

Last line: Vote-buying is still a leech that has refused to go away. While Nigerians commend the professionalism of the battery of security personnel before, during and after the election, they must not close their eyes to vote-buying. Labour Party candidate, Lasun Yusuf, said vote-buying was taking place just behind security men at his polling unit. This is anathema. Criminality should never be pampered. Coercing and inducing poor voters with money is a criminal offence and must be so treated.

But we should admire the genteel disposition of Governor Oyetola in the face of defeat. He was equanimous. He communicated calmness to his supporters. And there was peace in the land. This is a lesson for everyone, including the PDP. Congratulations to Buhari, INEC, the PDP, the security apparatchik and to all stakeholders who participated in the least bloody governorship election in Nigeria.