Ismail Omipidan ,Abuja
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Osun State All Progressives Congress (APC), the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and the new entrant, African Democratic Congress (ADC) are expected to hold their primary elections on or before November 10th, this year.
While the PDP is unlikely to deny the incumbent, Governor Ademola Adeleke the ticket, the aspirants jostling for the APC ticket is growing by the day, just as it is not yet clear who the likely aspirants for the ADC would be.
However, considering the fact that the leader of the ADC in the state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, had in 2018 favoured Osun-West before a last-minute change, ADC may likely be looking the way of Osun-West as well.
For the APC, apart from the former Osun State Deputy Governor and immediate past National Secretary of the APC, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, who joined the race recently, another aspirant, a foremost lawyer, Hon. Kunle Rasheed Adekoge, SAN, who is well known as K-RAD, has equally joined the race.
Omisore, is from Ife, in Osun -East, while Adegoke is from Osogbo, in Osun-Central, like the incumbent National Secretary of APC, Senator Ajibola Basiru. Unlike Adegoke who had visited the party secretariat in Osun to announce his ambition to party leaders, Basiru is yet to visit the party secretariat to intimate party leaders of his aspiration.
But there are strong agitations within the party to offer the ticket to Osun -West Senatorial District. Daily Sun gathered that those pushing the idea are of the view that since the incumbent governor is from Ede, in Osun -West, there would be a balance of contest to have the major candidates from the area. Besides, Osun- Central, where Basiru and Adegoke hail from produced the governor in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2022. Cumulatively, the area had ruled the state for 15 years, while Osun -East, where Omisore hails from, had ruled the state for eight years, leaving Osun -West with just five years by the end of the current tenure of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
Adegoke’s entry into the race has no doubt put paid to the insinuations making the rounds that Osogbo does not have “quality” aspirant to bid for the APC’s ticket.
Presenting himself formally to the party leaders, in Osogbo, on Monday, Adegoke pledged to put himself forward in total loyalty and service to make the Osun great and sustainable, just as he promised not to disappoint the APC and the people of Osun, if given the chance to govern the state at the end of the day.
“The time for empty promises and political rhetoric has passed. The people of Osun deserve a government that is not just responsive but also proactive; a government that is not just well-meaning but, also effective and visionary; a government that is capable of engineering prosperity, creating wealth and not merely reliant on federal allocations; a government prepared to turn our abundant human capital to enviable assets.”
