By BASHIR ADEFAKA
Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in last Saturday’s inconclusive governorship election in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has chosen to form alliance with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to win the re-run election that has been scheduled for Thursday September 27, 2018.
An alliance with Omisore is considered by two leading parties, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the APC to be pivotal to win the rerun and both had made overtures towards him in the last few days only for him to pick the APC on the long run.
He announced his party’s alliance with the ruling APC evening of Wednesday at his Ile-Ife home saying his decision to enter into a pact with APC was in the interest of 128,000 Osun people that voted for him during the last inconclusive election and the entire people of the state, to form a coalition government.
He told journalists that he decided to back the APC after the party accepted the conditions he gave earlier for his support.
The DEFENDER reported early Wednesday that a high power APC team, led by the National Chairman of the Party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, accompanied by some APC governors and a minister of the Muhammadu Buhari Administration, had secured Omisore’s agreement to back the ruling party for success at the rerun.
Omisore, before the APC team, had also played host to Senate President, Dr. Olusola Saraki on behalf of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) behind closed door but, like in the case of his meeting with the APC leaders, details of discussions were not made public.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said 2,637 voters that collected their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVCs) will participate in today’s rerun election.
The Resident Electoral Commission (REC), Mr. Segun Agbaje, told journalists in the premises of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Osogbo, where the materials were collected and dispatched that the electoral umpire and security agencies were tracking the materials to ensure they arrive at their destinations safely.
A document released by INEC gave a breakdown of the 2,637 eligible voters that will participate.
It stated that in Oyere 11, Alapata village in Ife North Local Council, out of 353 that registered, 241 had collected their PVCs; in Adereti village, Ife South, 812 registered while 585 had collected their PVCs; in Alutu Erin Primary School, Albert Village, 502 registered but 311 collected their PVCs; in Kajola village in Orolu Local Council, 393 registered but 303 had collected their PVCs; in Idi Iya village also in Orolu, 387 registered but 353 collected PVCs; in Gbogbo Primary School, also in Orolu, 167 registered, 150 had PVCs and in Adewole Steet, Ataoja E, in Osogbo, 884 registered while 694 collected their PVCs.
The INEC disclosed that the 861 PVCs not collected in the seven polling units were in its strong room.
It will be recalled that the governorship election actually took place across Osun State on September 22, 2018 in which the PDP secured the highest votes but was declared inconclusive by the INEC due to facts made available in line with the law.
The election was generally acknowledged to be peaceful. Some agents working for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and one INEC staff were however arrested for electoral related crimes including vote-buying.
The electoral body scheduled the rerun for Thursday September 27, 2018.
PDP candidate Ademola Adeleke polled 254,699, while his closest challenger, Isiaka Oyetola of the ruling All progressives Congress (APC) had 254,345 votes.
The Returning Officer, Prof. Joseph Fuwape, who is also the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, declined to make a return on the grounds that the margin of win was less than the 3,498 registered voters in the polling units where election was cancelled by the commission.
Consequently, the INEC scheduled a rerun for this Thursday in the seven units in Ife-North, Ife-South, Orolu and Osogbo local government areas where the poll was cancelled.
