Osun decide: Aregbesola, Omisore at the mercy of the People

Aregbesola and Omisore

The people of the state of Osun will decide the fate of two political candidates today as they go to poll to choose the state’s next governor. 20 candidates are out to vie for governorship position but only the candidates of the ruling party in the state, APC and the Opposition party PDP have so far got the people’s attentions.

The contest is strongly between the incumbent Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and the state’s former deputy governor, Iyiola Omisore both of whom have great chances of winning today’s elections.  Here are some of the permutations that may work for or against the two popular candidates.

·         Aregbesola’s performance is said to have been echoed in many quarters by people who had hailed the transformation that had taken place in the state since the APC government was sworn in on November 27, 2010.

·         The incumbent governor, according to permutations, is expected to win in Osogbo which has the highest number of registered voters in the state with 110, 670.

·         The election will present an opportunity for the majority of the residents to pay back Aregbesola for the transformation he has carried out in the state capital.

·         The influence of former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola in Odo Otin Local Government Area with 48,720 votes and in other councils in the Osun Central Senatorial District may be a boost to Aregbesola’s re-election bid.

·         The APC should have an edge in Ila Local Government which has a former governor and the immediate past Interim Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande.

·       On the other hand,  Ife leaders are said to be set to support Omisore because no indigene of the town had ruled the state since it was created out of the old Oyo State in 1991.

·         Another factor which may work in Omisore’s favour is that no governor has ever won a second term in the state since 1999.

·         Some monarchs said not to be pleased with Aregbsola’s leadership style are seeing today’s election as an opportunity to effect a change in the leadership of the state.

·         Some people are of the opinion that Omisore’s Youth Support Forum with about 300,000 populations has put the PDP candidate at an advantage over his co-contestants.

·         Omisore, whose victory is believed to be a great advantage to President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election, has the “federal might” backing him. 

t        These and many others calculations have been put up by the supporters of the PDP and APC candidates, but whatever the argument is, its left for the people to decide who will pilot the affairs of the state in the forthcoming democratic dispensation in the state of Osun

2015: Who matches Agbaje, Dosumu’s qualities in APC ?

   Barely six months to the 2015 general elections, the age long battle between Lagos state and Federal government is again rekindled as the People Democratic Party demonstrate a renewed efforts to capture Lagos .While the state’s ruling party APC is bent on retaining and maintaining the state’s unbroken political records.

Jimi Agbaje

   To maintain the status quo, a number of politicians from APC

Dr. Leke Pitan

Akinwunmi Ambode

camp have announced their aspiration and are set to confront whoever the PDP presents for the gubernatorial race in 2015. Prominent among the aspirants are Senator Gbenga Ashafa, Senator Ganiu Solomon, Dr. Leke Pitan, Dr. Tola Kasali and Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode. 

   On the other hand, the People Democratic Party with the backing of  the Federal might are still scheming on who will represent the party between Jimi Agbaje who recently defected to the party and Dr. Ade Dosumu who represented the party in 2011 gubernatorial elections.

Senator Gbenga Ashafa

    However, the personality of the APC kinsmen announcing their readiness to contest against Dosumu or Agbaje is becoming a subject of concern in the state. It would be recalled that the two PDP favorites were defeated by Babatunde Fashola in 2007 and 2011.

It is also worth mentioning that Fashola did not lose the 2007 and 2011 gubernatorial elections because he was presented by the ruling party to contest against veteran politicians like Musiliu Obanikoro and Jimi Agbaje. No, his personality, profile and the leadership quality he exuded during electoral debates also got him the peoples’ nod.

Ade Dosunmu

   Similarly, the PDP has a choice of choosing one of the two good candidates (Jimi Agbaje and Ade Dosumu) these two have seen it all in Lagos politics; they have tasted electoral defeats and must have gone back to the drawing board.  So, whoever the PDP presents between the two is a good candidate. But who among the many APC aspirants is embodiment of potentials that would match Agbaje or Dosumu’s qualities come 2015?

Ebola: TB. Joshua Promises to work with govt

In a bid to curb the spread of Ebola virus in Nigeria, the general overseer of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet Temitope Joshua has pledged his readiness to work with government to ensure the virus is not spread through the church.

Prophet T.B. Joshua

He made the promise during Lagos state government and federal government delegates’ visit to the church on Sunday.                                                               

The visit, which was led by the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris was said to be aimed at sensitizing the church and its membership on the menace of the deadly Ebola virus and to ensure that no victim of the virus came into the church from other countries.

Revealing the motive of the visit, Idris said the delegation decided to pay the visit to the church because of the recognition that it was an international Christian centre whose congregation comprised people from all over the world, including the countries of the West African sub-Region which had already been infected by the Ebola disease.

Prophet Joshua therefore promised to work with government and made it known that the church is also taking steps to curtail the spread of the disease in Nigeria. One of such measures according to him is to visit any of the countries, rather than allow their residents come into Nigeria.

He said “I am ready to work with you. I love my country and I will be ready to work with you. Even if it is a rumour, there is need to secure our environment to ensure that it is safe.