Omisore kicks but Aregbesola commends ‘smooth’ conduct of Osun guber poll

Rauf Aregbesola, Osun state governor, and Iyiola Omisore, one of those seeking to replace him, have disagreed over the conduct of the Saturday governorship election in the state.

While Aregbesola said the election has been smooth, Omisore, governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), said the exercise is marred by irregularities.

Speaking after casting his vote at his ward in Ilesa, Aregbesola commended the Independent Electoral Commission for the “peaceful” conduct of the election.

The governor said the large turnout of voters and their peaceful conduct show their desire to elect a leader of their choice.

“I must commend the voters for conducting themselves in a peaceful manner and for coming out in their large numbers,” he said. “This is the beauty of democracy.”

The governor also denied speculations that the payment of workers’ salary before the election was for political reasons.

But Omisore lamented what the “irregularities” in the conduct of the exercise, including alleged insufficient electoral materials in some polling units.

He also said the card readers were malfunctioning in some polling units in Ile-Ife.

Omisore, however, urged the voters to exercise their civic responsibility voting en masse and to also refrain from vote-selling.

There are 48 candidates seeking to replace Aregbesola in the excercise. The state has 3,010 polling units across the 30 local governments areas.

The frontline candidates are believed to be Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Omisore.