Iyiola Omisore Wins Osun PDP Guber Ticket

 

Former deputy governor of Osun State and erstwhile chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Dr. Iyiola Omisore, on Saturday, won the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary, polling a total votes of 1,128 to defeat the other two contestants.

With the victory, Omisore has become the candidate of the party for the August 9 gubernatorial election in the state.

A breakdown of the results of the exercise, which was held under tight security at the GMT Hotel in Osogbo, indicated that Senator Omisore polled a total of 1, 128 out of the 1,186 total votes cast, with the two other aspirants, Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi and Honourable Wole Oke getting 45 and 5 respectively, while 18 votes were voided.The voting exercise which commenced few minutes to 12 noon and ended some  minutes to 2 ‘0 clock, had 1, 285 delegates spread across the 30 local government areas in the state and one Area Office voting for their preferred aspirants.Addressing the gathering, the chairman of the five-member Osun PDP governorship primary committee, Alhaji Adamu Aliero, who was a former governor of Kebbi State, said though 1,380 delegates comprising statutory and ad hoc delegates, were expected to participate in the election, only 1, 280 showed up for accreditation.

He lauded the Osun State Working Committee of the party for their transparency in the organisation of the primaries and expressed optimism in the ability of Osun PDP to win the August 9 governorship poll.

In his acceptance speech, Senator Omisore said: “Today is an epoch-making day in the history of our great party, the PDP. It is so in the sense that a lot of landmines were laid to introduce divisive tendencies to the cohesion of our party in the run-up to our primary. The aim of the opposition and some disgruntled elements that made themselves willing tools in the hands of these people, stem from the fact that they were afraid that on August 9, 2014, the PDP will win the governorship seat of Osun State that was taken through the back door.

“I thank the leadership of our great party that, in spite of shenanigans by the APC, those who were sent from our National Headquarters in Abuja to superintend over the primary organised a free, fair and transparent primary. This, for me, bore an eloquent testimony to the fact that we are truly democratic in words and in deeds,” Omisore said.

While congratulating the party and his fellow contestants for their cooperation and understanding during and after the primary despite provocation by the All Progressives Congress (APC), Omisore asserted that “this is an indication that we have survived all divisive tendencies introduced by the APC to sabotage us and make us a laughing stock”.

Reacting after Omisore’s victory, one of the gubernatorial aspirants, Senator Olasunkanmi urged the PDP leadership to prevail on angry members to ensure that the arsenal they intend to use to fight the ruling party in the state is not directed at their fellow members, while Hon. Oke demanded for the review of the process of electing delegates, which he claimed was not transparent enough, just as he promised to work with other members of the party to ensure a good outing for the party in the August 9 election.

“I want to reassure my fellow contestants that this is a victory for all. We have all won.  All other elective positions are still there for grabs if we all work together. All hands must be on deck to ensure our victory on August 9, 2014 and other subsequent elections. I want to call on the chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega to listen to the voice of reason and redeploy the Osun REC, Ambassador Rufus Toyin Akeju, who has been proven overtime to have bias for the APC, in order to pave the way for  free, fair and peaceful election on August 9, 2014,” Omisore added.