In Osun State, it is D-Day. The people of the state will finally decide who rules them for the next four years. It is the day for the re-run election which will decide who the next governor will be.
The efforts to get a replacement for the incumbent, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, was started last Saturday with the governorship election.
No fewer than 48 political parties were registered for the exercise but it was a straight battle between the ruling All Peoples Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
With the APC featuring Gboyega Oyetola and the PDP, Ademola Adeleke, the battle was fierce on Saturday.
At the end of the exercise, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared the result which showed the amount of political energy that went into the contest.
With Adeleke having 25,698 votes and Oyetola, 25,345 an insignificant 353 votes separated them.
Giving the reason that voting in some areas were fraught with malpractices, the returning officer, Prof. Joseph Fuwape, declared the election inconclusive.
Consequently, the continuation of the battle was set for another day and that is today, Thursday, when a re-run is holding.
Ahead of the day, the two major parties having been girding their loins, have left no stone unturned in the bid to win the re-run.
In the circumstance, a former deputy governor of the state and governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Iyiola Omisore, became the one considered to be holding the key to the success of any of the two candidates.
Having come third in the Saturday election with 128,049 votes, he naturally became the most sought after person whose support would be needed for the final battle.
His home in Ife, Osun State, soon became a Mecca of a sort with top politicians of the PDP and APC falling over one another to win his sympathy.
For the PDP, Senate President Bukola Saraki and former Vice President and presidential aspirant visited Omisore.
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The APC sent a high-powered delegation shortly after.
The National President of the party, Adams Oshiomhole; Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun; Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and a host of others were in his house to plead for his support.
Eventually, he caved in. He gave his support to the APC.
And of course, that was after some negotiations which are obviously with some mouth-watering offers.
With the agreement to support the APC, it is expected that his supporters will vote for Oyetola in the affected seven polling units in four local governments – Osogbo, Orolu, Ife North and Ife South.
The PDP has since intensified its efforts in its campaign to seek the good face of the people in general.
Over the success recorded by the APC, to secure Omisore’s support, the PDP said it did not rely on any individual but God for success at the polls.
With the two parties having put in their best before the D-Day, it is left for the people of the state to make their choice today.
At the end of the day, it will be apparent, who the cap fits.
