An aide to Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, said the national chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Umar Ganduje, suffered from verbal diarrhoea and swollen ego.
Rasheed said Ganduje had an agenda to destabilise the South-west and create a crisis for President Bola Tinubu at the home front.
A chieftain of APC in Osun State, Hon. Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, said the party’s victory in Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo State was an indication that more states governed by the opposition parties, would be won by APC in no distant time.
At the same time, a foreign observer group, International Police Chaplain Sustainable Development and Law Enforcement Inc., USA, declared that the final result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) truly reflected the records of the ballot boxes at the polling units.
Reacting to an alleged vow by Ganduje to hijack Osun in 2026, Rasheed said the APC national chairman was unhappy with the peace and united front behind Mr. President from the South-west and had now launched vicious attacks to ignite regional political battles to weaken the president ahead of 2027.
He said the anti-democratic utterances of the APC leader contrasted sharply with the democratic credentials of Tinubu.
Rasheed stated that Ganduje spoke like an amateur dictator without respect for history.
He said, “As a well-read politician, one would have expected Dr. Ganduje to know that electoral contests depend mostly on local indexes and factors and that what obtains in Edo and Ondo are surely different from political facts on ground in Osun State.
“Local permutations, grievances, and interests dictate how people vote rather than superimposed force.”
Rasheed cited the failure of the APC leader to win the Kano State governorship race for his party.
But Oyintiloye, a member of the APC national campaign stakeholders engagement committee for the election, said with the overwhelming support and votes given to the party and its candidate in Ondo State, Lucky Ayedatiwa, states being controlled by the opposition should be prepared for massive defeat during their elections.
Oyintiloye emphasised that the massive 366,781 votes secured by the APC candidate, as against 117,845 by the PDP candidate, was a good indication pointing towards APC’s victory in the next round of off-cycle elections in other states.
Presenting the assessment analysis for the off-cycle election in Akure, the mission spokesperson and Director of Administration and Organisations at the African Regional Command, Mr. Oscar David, urged candidates and political actors to engage legal channels in case of contestation and disagreement in results, to sustain social peace and avoid breakdown of law and order.
He stated that the election was peaceful, transparent, credible and successful, with minimal incidents and complaints by party agents at polling units and collation centre.
The group stated, “The IPCSL mission commends the people of Ondo State in their conducts and cooperation with our team members across the LGAs (local government areas), political parties and all stakeholders for enabling environment towards successful election, with show of patriotism and democratic culture, while urging all to continue to work to preserve national peace and stability in order to consolidate democracy and the rule of law, especially in a challenging socio-political context in the country.
“The mission asserts, without fear of any contradictions, that the final result declared by INEC truly reflect the records of the ballot boxes at polling units. IPCSL welcomes the good collaboration between the various international missions and domestic observers. Likewise, we salute the quality of the exchanges and shared experiences in the mission to Ondo State.”
Yinka Kolawole and Fidelis David
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