OSUN ELECTION- NUNC DIMITTIS Now that the election has been won and lost, I have the following take-aways : 1. PDP is more matured in their approach to politics. APC cries foul a lot and they are bad losers. When APC lost Ekiti, there was the shout of photochromic rigging and some even denounced the acceptance speech of Kayode Fayemi. The denouncement by party leaders made Fayemi recant later. I am excited that Femi Fani-Kayode was one of the first people to congratulate Aregbesola. He even said Ogbeni won convincingly. Ayo Fayose has congratulated Ogbeni also. President Jonathan has also done the same. Up till now, APC as a party is yet to congratulate Ayo Fayose. Democracy cannot be deepened if everyone approached politics the way APC does. APC contributed to heating the polity through reckless and feckless propaganda. I was surprised to later read in a newspaper that Obanikoro wasnt even in Osun State at all- he was in Ibadan. 2. APC needs to re-examine the importance attached to decampment of so-called political heavyweights from other parties. Olagunsoye Oyinlola lost in his ward to PDP in spite of his guerilla decampment. Just like Segun Oni who also lost his polling booth to PDP. This now shows that truly most of the 11 people on the entourage of Segun Oni didnt vote for APC. I still believe only the wife who asked, Dear, didnt you vote for APC? voted for the party. Out of all the celebrated decampees, only Isiaka Adeleke proved his mettle. That is a 33% success rate. In my opinion, thats failure. What APC needs is to connect with people- the grassroots- and not court political heavyweights. That is why this strategy is failing nation wide. I maintain that Rotimi Amaechi will not be able to deliver his state to APC. Abdul Fatah Ahmed will not be able to deliver Kwara to APC. Adamawa is lost already. 3. President Jonathan has delivered yet again on his promise for a free and fair election and I think he should be congratulated for sticking to his words. Ive read some of my friends on facebook where they wrote that if not for vigilance, Federal might would have been used to steal the election. I beg to disagree. If federal might was actually used, nothing would have stopped the PDP machine from having its way. If OBJ were the President and he decided to have his way, Ogbeni would have been preparing to go to court now to challenge his defeat. So lets give it to INEC and GEJ. However, for how long will we conduct elections with an over-policed environment? Can we afford to do this were all elections to be conducted on the same day nationwide? 4. Its not a colossal loss for PDP. This election shows PDP has made serious incursions into Osun State. The party can leverage on this election to retake key slots during the House of Assembly, House of Reps and Senatorial elections. Hon Rotimi Makinde will have a tough time getting re-elected this time around on the platform of APC. PDP can actually take 2 out of the 3 senatorial positions if they sustain this same tempo of political activities when the time for electioneering comes. While APC is celebrating, the PDP that I know has gone back to the drawing board to re-strategize. By now, they should know the primary reason for their failure in Osun was the candidature of Omisore. Im sure they wont repeat the same mistake elsewhere. I wager that if Fatai Akinbade or Wole Oke had been PDPs candidate instead of Omisore, the contest would have been too close to call or they might even have won. I celebrate with Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and I do hope that he will use this new opportunity to correct his identified mistakes and justify the mandate entrusted to him. bayoadeyinka/bayoadeyinka/index.php/entry/osun-election-nunc-dimittis-by-bayo-adeyinka
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 22:42:15 +0000