An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Farouk Aliyu, has attributed the party’s defeat in the Osun State governorship election to internal divisions and resentment over the emergence of its candidate, Bola Oyebamiji.
Mr Aliyu said some APC members who were dissatisfied with the process that produced Mr Oyebamiji withheld their support during the election, contributing to the party’s defeat.
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He made the remarks on Monday during an interview on The Morning Show programme on Arise Television, where he said the APC did “everything humanly possible” to win the election but failed to maintain unity within its ranks.
According to him, the outcome was largely driven by internal factors rather than external interference.
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He acknowledged that while some party members supported Mr Oyebamiji, others refused to work for his victory because they were angry about his emergence as the candidate.
According to him, some members either withheld their support or failed to mobilise their followers for the APC candidate, effectively contributing to the party’s defeat.
“The party deployed significant resources, but it failed to maintain unity,” he said.
Mr Aliyu said the APC needed to examine the details of its performance rather than immediately blame individuals or external factors for the defeat.
He said, “The party did not necessarily do anything wrong, but now we have to analyse the details of the outcome.
“The people of Osun wanted a different party in power.”
Other factors
The APC chieftain also identified other factors that may have affected the party’s performance, including controversial remarks attributed to Osun East senator, Francis Fadahunsi, whose comment was widely interpreted as a call for violence against supporters of the Accord Party.
“From now on, whenever you see Accord members, kill them. I authorise you to kill them. They have wives and children too. This is a federal government election. On election day, even if they come with voter cards, we won’t allow them to vote,” Mr Fadahunsi said.
Mr Aliyu suggested that some APC supporters may have become overconfident, believing that the federal government’s influence would automatically translate into electoral victory for the party.
He described the outcome as a wake-up call for the APC at both the state and federal levels, saying the party needed to improve its performance and address internal grievances.
He also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission for its use of technology during the election, particularly the electronic transmission and viewing of results through the IReV portal.
He said the election had demonstrated that governors and political parties must rely on their performance and relationship with voters rather than assume electoral support.
Mr Aliyu accepted the outcome of the election, saying the people of Osun had chosen the Accord Party and that their decision should be respected.
The concluded election
Mr Aliyu’s comments came after the conclusion of the Osun State governorship election, in which the incumbent Governor, Ademola Adeleke, defeated the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji.
Mr Adeleke, the Accord Party candidate, secured 511,067 votes, while Mr Oyebamiji polled 444,815 votes, giving the governor a winning margin of 66,252 votes.
Mr Adeleke won in 19 of the state’s 30 Local Government Areas, while Mr Oyebamiji won in 11.
The ADC candidate, Najeem Salam, came in a distant third with 17,180 votes.
A total of 2,339,544 voters were registered for the election, while 1,010,684 were accredited.
Of the votes cast, 985,079 were declared valid, and 20,721 were rejected, bringing the total number of votes cast to 1,005,800.
The figures were based on the aggregate of results announced at the various local government collation points and subsequently collated at the state level.
The Osun governorship election was an off-cycle election, one of eight governorship elections in Nigeria conducted outside the regular electoral cycle.
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