Osun Update: Aregbesola wins Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State got a fresh mandate early Sunday morning to rule for another four years. The electorate endorsed the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in yesterday’s election with 387,527 votes counted so far in 26 of the 30 local government areas of the state. Trailing him was Otunba Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 285,925 votes in the 26 LGAs. Voters in Ilesa West, Ilesa East, Ejigbo, Ifelodun, Osogbo, Boripe, Irewole, Iwo, Egbedore, AtakumosaWest, Atakumosa East, Oriade, Ila, Irepodun, Orolu, Ede North, Ede South, Obokun, Aiyedire,Ifedayo, Olorunda and Aiyedade preferred Aregbesola flag bearer to Omisore and other contestants. The PDP flag bearer won in Odo Otin, Ife Central, Ife North, Ife East, Boluwaduro, Isokan and Ife South. Wild jubilations erupted in Osogbo and other parts of the state as the results trickled last night. Residents took to the streets congratulating one another on the outcome of the voting after several weeks of tension generated by the massive deployment of security operatives to the state ahead of the poll, harassment of leaders and supporters of the APC and a war of words between the APC and PDP over rigging allegations. The APC said yesterday that as many as 250 of its supporters were arrested at different times before the election with a view to intimidating the electorate. The APC alleged last night that the PDP was making moves to twist the result. “Credible information at our disposal indicates another criminal plot by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its allied forces to corrupt the open results of the election which have shown clearly the excellent outing of our party,” the party said in a statement by its Osun state spokesperson, Kunle Oyatomi. He said PDP officials were in “hurried and clandestine meetings to subvert” the process after failing to win in the fields. “The people of Osun have spoken and spoken well. The result of the election must be upheld,” the APC said. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in a reaction to the results asked the people of the state to defend their votes, saying people’s choice must be respected “no matter who wins”. The Omisore Campaign Organisation in a counter statement expressed dismay at “desperate bid of the All Progressive Congress to discredit the final results of the governorship election in Osun state through publication of fake election results and celebration of false electoral victory.” It said Omisore was “leading based on results collated so far and any concerted result has no basis in facts and legality. We await the official results from the electoral commission and we are convinced that the final results will confirm the electoral victory of Senator Iyiola Omisore.” Turn out by voters for the election was generally high across the state. Expectations in the camps of the two main parties were equally high. On hand to ensure that nothing went amiss were chieftains of the parties from different parts of the country. It was relatively peaceful despite a clampdown on APC members by security men. Operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS), Police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) were deployed on the streets. Election materials reached most parts of the capital early and accreditation of voters began by 8:am. Voters had little to complain about concerning accreditation although there were a few reports of hooliganism in parts of the state. In Ilobu for instance,, suspected thugs stormed a polling booth shooting sporadically in the air and attempted to disrupt the process of accreditation. They were however repelled by men of the NSCDC. Obokun Ward 3 and Odo Otin recorded similar incidents and in both cases security men acted promptly. The Commandant of the NSCDC in Osun state, Engr. Felix Gbolade said of the election: “Election was fine; we were deploying our officials as the situation demanded. Where there were issues of security, our men were able to restore calm.” The State Director of State Security Services (SSS), Andrew Iorkyar told The Nation that some polling booths requested extra security in Osogbo. “The election has been peaceful, some polling units demanded for extra security because of the large turn- out of people and we have provided security,” he said. The Nation
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 05:24:20 +0000
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