The ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Osun state, the main opposition party in the state, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Wednesday held their primaries ahead of the July 8 Osun West senatorial district by-election.
The primaries which were held at various locations in the state went peacefully. APC members conducted their primary election in Osogbo while PDP and SDP conducted theirs at different locations in Iwo Town.
At the end of the primaries, Senator Mudasiru Hussain of APC was declared winner with 2,412 votes, Ademola Adeleke of PDP polled 343 votes and Hon. Bade Falade won with 15 votes under SDP.
Sanusi Rikiji, who chaired the screening committee for the APC primaries declared Hussain winner of the election.
Rikiji, an incumbent Speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly announced the result at the venue, saying Hussain polled 2,412 out of 2, 413 total valid votes.
In his acceptance speech, Hussain expressed his commitment to the welfare of the people of Osun West Senatorial District, advancement of democracy and good governance in the country.
He called for the observation of a minute silence in Honour of the late Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke whose death he described as painful.
He gave an assurance that if he is returned to the Senate, he will effectively use the mandate to serve the people of Oṣun West Senatorial District and build on the successes he recorded when he was in the Senate between 2011 and 2015, and also build on the achievement recorded by the late Senator, Isiaka Adeleke.
At the primaries of PDP, all the senatorial aspirants of the party stepped down for the younger brother of late Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke who decamped to the party on Tuesday.
The aspirants; Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi and Rt. Col. Olayiwola Falabi said they stepped down for Adeleke after a stakeholders’s meeting of the PDP in Osogbo in the early hours of Tuesday.
Specifically, Akinlabi said “if truly you are a good party member, you will agree with the decision of the party.”
Akinlabi stated that as a party man, there is nothing the party said that he will not do.
His words “if we had conducted the election yesterday, I would have emerged, but 24 hours to the election, things changed. My party has spoken, my leaders within and outside the state called me to step down in the interest of the party. I cannot because of my ambition say that  the suffering of our party members continue.”
He then appealed to PDP members to work collectively in the interest of the party by winning the July 8 bye-election.
At the end of the primaries, Ademola Adeleke’s emergence came through affirmation after scoring 343 votes in the primary exercise conducted by national committee of the PDP from Abuja national secretariat led by Chief Pegba Otemolu.
It would be recalled that before his defection to PDP, Demola had emerged unopposed candidate of APC when his co-contestant, Senator Mudashiru Hussain was disqualified by the APC screening committee and the appeal.
But, Hussain was cleared by the National Working Committee of the APC, hence the reason Demola dumped the party.
In his resignation letter made available to our correspondent by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Ajibola Bashiru, Demola said his resignation was due to lack of trust in the party.
The letter reads in part: “I am constrained to take this decision due to the obvious manipulations and political godfathers and power brokers that created the cloudy and controversial circumstances that led to the mysterious re-qualification of a candidate that was disqualified at two levels of the party’s screening committee.
“Equally important and unacceptable is the fact that the party has chosen to conduct the primary in Osogbo instead of Iwo, the senatorial district headquarters thereby exposing the process to potential nullification.
He expressed his lack of confidence in the outcome of the primary, saying “a manipulated process will only lead to a manipulated outcome.
Adeleke, also in his remark said, “I accept to contest under PDP come July 8, we shall have victory, nothing can stop us, we are moving forward , it is God’s project.”
Speaking during the primary exercise, the PDP national officer, Otemolu said “we had thought that this exercise would take longer time, but with the unfolding events, we are going to spend few hours”.
He said that Adeleke was screened by the party on Tuesday and was presented a certificate thus giving him the opportunity to participate in the party’s primaries.
Packaged by Bunmi Oladejo
