With less than two months for the electorates to decide who governs Osun state for the next four years, verbal fireworks have been reopened between Governor Gboyega Isiaka Oyetola, the incumbent; candidate of the APC and his main rival, Senator Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke of the PDP.

In a contest that has all the trappings of a re-enactment of the 2018 election rivalry; which spilled into a supplementary exercise, there appears to be no love lost between the two. The 2018 election could not produce a clear winner on the first ballot but did after a controversial rerun exercise. While Senator Adeleke won the first ballot with a majority of 353 votes. The final result at the end of the election as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was Oyetola 255,505; Adeleke 255,023, separated by 482 votes only.

The two candidates have picked up the gauntlets from where they seem to have hung them four years ago. Senator Adeleke perhaps, smarting from a bitter experience that he was rigged out in the last election, has pledged to his supporters that he would not accept a repeat of that experience. But, time and circumstances have changed, unlike four years ago, his opponent is now an incumbent who will be campaigning on his record of performance or failure after four years in the saddle. The people have a choice: To continue with Governor Oyetola based on their perception of his performance or hire a new captain. The APC has been in power continuously for 12 years with PDP as the main opposition party.

The message from Senator Adeleke is that he wants to play his card right this time around and revalidate “his victory” of 2018 (on first ballot). He contested the outcome of the election up to the Supreme Court which ruled that Governor Oyetola won the election. His 2022 campaign has been ensnared and its steam lowered by an intra-party dispute polarized the PDP in Osun state down the middle. The rightful owner of the gubernatorial ticket was resolved only two days ago (Wednesday) when Senator Adeleke received the clean bill of health from the judiciary. There have been intensive efforts to reconcile members of the Party but how deep this would penetrate is yet to be seen.

Senator Adeleke whose campaign took off about a forthnight before Governor Oyetola, must have shot the first salvo assuring his supporters that he is ready for the election and would not be “rigged” out this time around as it will be “fire for fire”. At another rally, he assured Osun people with confidence though with a tint of humour; that he has gone back to school to improve himself educationally and he is now a degree holder in criminology. He said he condescended to do this to underscore the importance of education to the youth of Osun. He said he is now as fit as a fiddle.

The die is cast and Osun governorship contest promises a lot of drama, verbal fireworks and no holds barred political punches and snide remarks from the campaign podiums. Opening his campaign in Ile-Ife yesterday (Thursday), Governor Gboyega Oyetola took a dim look at Senator Adeleke’s “fire for fire” statement submitting he would not go that route with his opponent because politics for him is not a “do-or-die” affair.

He then vaunted his experience and what he has in the bag saying Osun was too sophisticated to be governed by kindergarten politicians seeking where to perform experiment and further rubbed it in when he said “I have no money for private jets for monarchs or hard currencies to buy votes but endowed with capacity to lead Osun”

Governor Oyetola who spoke at the palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, during the flag-off of his re-election campaign in Ile-Ife, described himself as a man of peace and that he has good intention to govern the state.

“I am happy that the Ooni knows that I have good intention to govern this State. I may not be able to buy private jets, but I have all it takes to fix Osun. I don’t have hard currencies to splash around and I don’t believe in fire-for-fire approach, but I am confident of victory in the next governorship election because of the modest achievements of our administration and the wide acceptance from our people in the last three-and-a-half years.

“What we have done across sectors is evident for people to see. We have proved to our people that Osun is in safe hands in view of the equitable distribution of resources that had culminated into the development that our people have been witnessing in the nooks and crannies of the state.

“As you all know, a State like Osun is too sophisticated for kindergarten politicians to govern. It is costly to allow such people experiment with Osun.

Both camps are also trying to make it a campaign of issues as much as possible despite the jabs. Senator Adeleke had earlier unveiled a five-point Agenda which he would implement if elected as governor on July 16, 2022. Adeleke promised to give the welfare of workers and pensioners special attention as he would ensure “first line charge for workers’ welfare, salaries, gratuities, and pensions.”

He also intends to “Boost state economy by business partnering and support for business class; Osun money serving Osun people through homegrown infrastructure policy; People-focused social policy through skill-based education, affordable health care, state security, and social security support; and Agro-based Industrialisation for wealth and job creation for youths and women.”

He also promised to give priority attention to decaying infrasture across the state. His campaign grounds have so far been filled to capacity and his supporters attribute this to his appeal to the people saying he has “street credibility”.

Responding in passing to Senator Adeleke’s five-point Agenda, Governor Oyetola said “what we have done across sectors is evident for people to see. We have proved to our people that Osun is in safe hands in view of the equitable distribution of resources that had culminated into the development that our people have been witnessing in the nooks and crannies of the state.

The coming weeks will see the candidates taking their campaigns to the grass roots where the real assessment and test of popularity of the candidates will be determined. For the PDP candidate, there are suggestions that he may need to change his campaign metrics from what was used in 2018 as Governor Oyetola seems to have a better public perception than his predecessor.

His predecessor had a lot of baggages which angered the electorate but Governor Oyetola had smartly reversed some of the unpopular policies of his predecessor. Additionally, he seems to enjoy the trust and support of Labour Union leadership in Osun state. Governor Oyetola, would need to convince Osun people that he has given them enough dividends for their investment of votes in his candidacy four years ago to merit another term.

Without doubt, the PDP and Adeleke’s campaign hope to profit from the despair in the land and general lack of performance of the APC government at the federal level. The parlous state of the economy which has imposed hardship on the masses of the people across Nigeria is a strong factor that may also shape the minds of the people in the election. But, as they say, all politics is local. Governor Oyetola has to roll up his sleeves and convince Osun people that he has more in his pouch to better the lots of the people in the next four years.

Because of the fluidity in movement by politicians across the two political divides of APC and PDP, there is a growing clamour for a third force political party, strong and capable of wresting power from the two major parties often described as two sides of a coin. In Osun, the impact of that third force is yet to be felt. There are however, movements of “renegades”, aggrieved members in both the APC and the PDP, whether they will converge for the purpose of the election in that third force political party is yet to be seen.

All eyes are on the horison for the third force which pundits reckon could be the Accord Party. But, whether the Osun people would allow the party to come in from the cold and become a major player; only time will tell. If that would, however, happen, the party has to put its shoulder to the wheel more than it is doing now. It will need to keep pace with the tempo of the two leading parties so as to be enabled to overtake them and stay ahead of the pack; a dream, a reality or a mirage?