Preparatory for Thursday’s supplementary governorship election in Osun State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has begun to woo opposition parties against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which came second in last Saturday’s election that was declared inconclusive by INEC.
PDP candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, had polled 254,698 votes to APC’s Gboyega Oyetola, who polled 254,345 votes, leaving a margin of 353 votes, which INEC said was lower than the 3,498 votes cancelled in seven polling units spread across two local government areas of the state.
The Social Democratic Party’s candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, came third in the election.
PDP, which has also headed to court to challenge INEC’s declaration, is talking to other opposition parties to form an alliance against the ruling party.
Leading the charge is Senate President Bukola Saraki, who is the head of the PDP campaign for the election in the state.
Saraki met Omisore yesterday in Ile-Ife as part of the efforts to rally a coalition for Adeleke against Oyetola in the essentially two-corner fight on Thursday.
Saraki disclosed the outcome of the meeting in his tweeter handle that both parties had agreed to work together.
“I thank Senator Iyiola Omisore for the warm reception he and his people gave me and members of my entourage in Ile-Ife today (Monday). We have agreed to work together because our goals are the same,” he stated.
According to him, “We all want good governance in Osun State. Over the next 24 hours, we will work out the details. Our discussion will definitely be useful for the growth of democracy in our country; the development of Osun State and its people; as well as for future engagements among political players.
“From now on, it will be a win-win situation for the State of the Living Spring and Nigeria, in general.”
After the collation of all the results from the 30 council areas of the state, Adeleke of the PDP had 254,698 while the candidate of APC, Gboyega Oyetola, polled 254,345.
Candidate of the Action Democratic Party, Moshood Adeoti, scored 49,742, while the candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Fatai Akinbade, scored 7,681 votes. Omisore scored 128,049 votes. Adeoti left the APC while Akinbade defected from the PDP to contest in the election.
INEC said the rerun would take place in seven polling units located in Orolu, Osogbo, Ife North and Ife South council areas on Thursday.
Even though PDP is concentrating on Omisore, whose strongholds the rerun election would be holding, the party has reached out to the other candidates, believing that it is important to secure as much support as possible in other to make victory certain.