APC Leaders Reveal Why they Were Defeated in Osun West Election

APC Leaders Reveal Why they Were Defeated in Osun West Election

Political pundits within and outside the state are still trying to understand and interpret the swing that led to the defeat of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the recently held Osun West senatorial poll. Some political observers have attributed APC’s defeat in that election to a low voters turn out. 

According to them, in 2015 for instance, 38% of the voting population opted not to vote while 61.6% got accredited and took part in the voting exercise. But the Osun west senatorial election presented a different scenario. Available data on the election reveals that 62.1% of the voting population opted not to vote while 37.9% took part in the exercise. 

It was on the strength of this percentage that Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defeated his APC opponent Mudashir Husain. 

In a recent interaction with the state Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, who is still grappling with the loss of that election (though not a pleasant time for one who threw all into the campaign and got ‘burnt’ literally), he was philosophical when we got talking about the election. 

He said: “ Defeat is good sometimes. When you read for an exam, and you pass, you can brag about your success. You can even tell your listeners that you didn’t read and you still passed. But when you fail, how do you explain failure?” It was a soul searching moment for this activist governor who strives on controversy and would unashamedly tell anyone who cares to listen that   ‘I love controversy’. He was on the campaign trail for his candidate and by all intents and purpose, the administration under his watch has done well for the people of Osun. So why did they turn their backs on him and the APC? According to state officials and even the governor, the state rates itself high in the provision of road infrastructure, education, employment and welfare scheme. And they beat their chests to assert that no project was executed in the state without the people’s input. “When this administration came into office about six years ago, we passed questionaires across the state so that the people would tell us the projects they would want the administration to embark on. I can tell you that there’s nothing we have done that does not have the approval of the people if the responses from the questionnaire is anything to go by.” I reminded him about the hajiba controversy and the role the state government played. “ I have family members and relatives who are Christians. My sister’s kids who stay with me are Christians. They go to church and I don’t interfere. To tell you the truth, I love controversy and love my Islam’. But if the truth be told, this passion for controversy has brought him nothing but trouble. I also reminded him that not many residents share his passion for a particular road project- the ring road that has caused the state an arm and a foot. Again, his response was interesting. “The elite is the problem. The people in the rural areas aren’t complaining. The state is been opened up. The people in the rural areas are happy because they can get their goods to the city faster and easier. The people complaining   now are those who feel they should have access to the state’s purse instead of the monies spent on these projects.” Now that’s really food for thought. My Bible tells me a labourer is worthy of his wages. Party faithful who have worked so hard to get party representatives into public office expect to be rewarded one way or the other and if that doesn’t happen, the consequences can be daring. Mr. Governor said he was aware he would have to do more in the area of stomach infrastructure. Without telling, ex-governor Fayemi’s lose in Ekiti is a constance reminder on how not to neglect party members. Added to this is the poor financial outlook of the state. With salaries and pensions not paid for several months, the party’s defeat was just an incident waiting to happen. In fact, salaries were paid a day before the election. This of course sent wrong signals to the electorate particularly civil servants who believed the state government had the resources to effect payment before then and refused to do so early enough but decided to use the payment of salaries as a bait to get them to vote.