The candidate of the Social Democratic Party in last Saturday’s election in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has given conditions that will make him support the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ademola Adeleke, in the rerun scheduled for Thursday.
Omisore gave the conditions when the Chairman of the PDP Campaign Council for the election and President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, led to delegation to his home in Ile-Ife, Osun State.
Among others, Omisore, who dumped the PDP to stand for election on the platform of the SDP, said: “I have given my programmes to both the APC (All Progressives Congress) and the PDP.
“My programme is like this: payment of salaries and pensions.
“Good governance is what is important to me.
“Anyone between the two that will do that will get my support.
“I am passionate about Osun State and my interest is the welfare of the people of this state.
“I have told those sent to me.
“At the appropriate time, we will tell you where we are going.”
Saraki told newsmen after the meeting: “We had a fruitful discussion with Senator Omisore.
“He used to be with us.
“And we believe he is helping us now.
“I am optimistic of a good outing for the PDP.
“After meeting with him, I am more optimistic now that with his support, the PDP will win.
“We are confident of a good outing.
“I am more confident now.
“I was hard on INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) because it declared the Osun poll inconclusive after doing a good job.
“The issue of vote-buying was on the front burner but that was reduced to the minimum as against what we witnessed during the Ekiti poll.
“At the end of the day, the poll was again declared inconclusive.
“That sort of took away all the commendations that should have gone the way of INEC.”
In a related development, the candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the election, Fatai Akinbade, has declared his support for Adeleke in the rerun.
Akinbade, who like Omisore left the PDP after a disagreement over the party’s governorship primary, said he had no regret despite the fact that the over 7,000 votes he garnered in the poll would have been enough to win the election for the PDP.
He said: “The election has come and gone but unfortunately, there is no winner yet.
“So, all of us that took part in the election are still in it even though the contest is narrowed down to two candidates.
“On Thursday, one of them must emerge through rerun.
“I have no regret not being one of the two or taking part in the election.
“The electorate must be respected.
“I cannot impose myself on them.
“I was in the PDP but due to differences, I left to contest in the ADC.
“Omisore also left to contest in the Social Democratic Party.
“As it is, the PDP was lucky to remain in the race.
“It is a lot of achievement despite all odds.”
The election was declared inconclusive by INEC because the difference between the votes scored by the two leading parties, PDP and APC, was lower than the number of votes cancelled.
After the collation of all the results from the 30 council areas of the state, Adeleke of the PDP had 254,698, while APC’s Gboyega Oyetola polled 254,345.
The candidate of the Action Democratic Party, Moshood Adeoti, scored 49,742, while Akinbade had 7,681 votes and Omisore with 128,049 votes.
INEC said the rerun would take place in seven polling units located in Orolu, Osogbo, Ife North and Ife South council areas on Thursday.