The Governor of Osun State and the All Progressives Congress candidate, Rauf Aregbesola, polled a total of 394,684 votes to emerge the winner of the state governorship election held on Saturday.

Aregbesola won in 24 local government areas of the 30 local government areas in the state to maintain a clear lead. His closest rival and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Iyiola Omisore, garnered 292,750 votes to occupy second position. He won in six local government areas. The Labour Party’s candidate, Mr. Fatai Akinbade, occupied a distant third position. He won no local government area.

Aregbesola won in Ifedayo, Boripe, Orolu, Atakunmosa West, Ilesa West, and Ilesa East. He also won in Ayedade, Ayedire, Ede North, Ede South, Egbedore, Ejigbo, Ifelodun, and Ila local government areas.

Others are Irepodun, Irewole, Iwo, Obokun, Ola Oluwa, Olorunda, Oriade, and Osogbo.

Omisore emerged winner in Odo-Otin, Bolowaduro, Ife Central, Ife East, Ife North, Ife South, Isokan, and Iwo LGAs.

The announcement of the results brought to a climax the tension and excitement that preceded the Saturday event. Although the accreditation was scheduled to commence by 8am, voters were already at the various polling units as early as 6.30am waiting for INEC officials.

Our correspondents report that the election was largely peaceful in nearly all the local government areas of the state.

Our correspondents who covered the election in Osun East Senatorial District, where the two major candidates, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of All Progressives Party and Senator Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party, come from, observed that supporters of the two candidates came out early to vote.

With the heavy presence of security men on all major roads and in all the polling units, movement from one place to the other was restricted. From Osogbo to Ife and later Ilesa, our correspondents observed that security forces ensured that there was no vehicle plying the road except those with INEC passes.

The same applied to all the roads in the state, including the highway from Ibadan. It was a difficult day for travellers passing through the Ife-Akure federal road as soldiers also blocked the road.

Soldiers and other security men also mounted four road blocks between Osogbo and Ede, frisking voters and inspecting observers vehicles even after showing their accreditation tags.

Generally, there was no violence in the Osun East Senatorial District except in Akarabata ward, Lagere, Ile-Ife, where a man who was caught wearing a police vest, was alleged to be a fake police. He was apprehended by the security men at the scene and driven away in a police patrol van.

As scheduled, accreditation began by 8am and ended at 12pm. At Yemo Pottery Museum premises at Moore, where Omisore did his accreditation around 11.30am, there was a large media presence as journalists waited for the arrival of the PDP candidate. He eventually voted at exactly 12.50pm. He told journalists that he was confident of victory, accusing APC of violent conduct, while also praising INEC for preparing well for the election.

He said, “We thank God that so far so good, this is the best election we have had in the recent time because of the large turn-out of the voters. My message to the people is that they should remain calm, resilient and hopeful in the face of thuggery and violence because a new governor will emerge.

“Like any endeavour, particularly, any one that involves human beings, you cannot expect 100 per cent efficiency.

“We cannot say we have 100 per cent confidence on INEC. You cannot have 100 per cent confidence on any process that is managed by human “We cannot say we have 100 per cent confidence on INEC. You cannot have 100 per cent confidence on any process that is managed by human.

“INEC has done so well but not without some errors. It is difficult for INEC and even the military to curtail the preparedness of APC’s rigging and manipulation but we are going to surmount some of those challenges. We must pray that there will be no election manipulation and violence.”

In Ilesa, Aregbesola voted at ward 8 unit one in Ifofin, a few meters away from his father’s house, where he had relocated to for the purpose of the election. After voting around 12.40pm, he warned that any attempt to scuttle democratic process through rigging would be regretted by

“They will have themselves to blame if they scuttle the democracy. You can see people patriotism and commitment to democracy. If they can be 20 per cent committed like the ordinary people, the nation would have been the best for it. What they are doing by picking our chieftains and members is barbaric. They have been arresting, harassing and molesting our people for no just reason. The democracy is about making your choice freely without being hounded,” he said.

Punch