Osun State is highly dynamic when it comes to voting. The radicalism of the voters is so spectacular that no state can be more swing than Osun, the middle of the southwest region.
The 2023 general elections have further proved that Osun can’t just join the bandwagons of the other states who have become traditional base of the PDP or the APC. You can’t simply predict how the electorate in the state would decide.
In the last general elections, the All Progressives Congress almost swept Osun State with its symbolic broom. The party claimed two Senate seats and 7 House of Representatives slots out of 3 and 9 respectively.
And one would have thought that the state would continue to queue behind the ruling party, but otherwise is the case. The results so far have shown that the electorate in Osun State are literally tired of the All Progressives Congress. Hence, they swung to another.
Take for instance in the Ayedaade Irewole and Isokan federal constituency, Mrs. Taiwo Oluga lost two local government area. She has hitherto lost her seat to the PDP candidate. It’s more surprising that she lost her Ayedaade Local Government Area.
The margin isn’t that wide. Osun State voters don’t give as high as 80 percent of their votes to a particular candidate, no matter how popular he or she may be. More than a half will tilt towards the winner, while at least 40 percent or so will go elsewhere.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is enjoying the influence of Ademola Adeleke, or the Adeleke’s family at this moment. The party has won the hearts of the majority of the voters in the state.
Mr. Lere Oyewumi, the Osun West Senatorial district candidate of the PDP, also reportedly recorded victory in the poll. Voters in that axis of the state have dumped the All Progressives Congress. Till June, 2023, Mr. Lere Oriolowo would be in office at the Senate.
When Osun State people decide to switch, they do so massively and abandon the parties that have been enjoying their support. There has been no bond between them and any party.
The gubernatorial election also points at the claim that Osun swings. When it comes to good governance, former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola did to the best of his ability. Yet the voters rejected him and his party, perhaps because of events at the national level.
A party can test its ability and acceptability in Osun State. The results of elections in that state reveal the performance of the party at all levels. The people accepted the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011.
They voted for Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, the ex EFCC boss. That was the only state he won in the 2011 presidential election.
The campaign in southwest is to have all Yoruba people vote for Bola Tinubu. The results so far actually show Tinubu leading in the state but with a razor thin gap. Atiku Abubakar is very close to the APC presidential candidate.
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