Senator Ademola Adeleke and Prince Dotun Babayemi have emerged as the ‘candidate’ of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, ahead of the July 16 governorship election.
Primaries of the party took place at two venues in Osogbo, yesterday.
A faction of the party chaired by Sunday Bisi held primary election at Osogbo Township Stadium. The Wale Ojo-led faction held theirs at WOCDIF Event Centre.
The PDP Primary Committee from the national secretariat led by the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Lawrence Ewurujakpo and ex-Minister of Transport Abiye Sekibo conducted the exercise in the presence of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for the Bisi faction.
At the primary election were Sen. Adeleke, Sanya Omirin (aspirant), Sen. Francis Fadahunsi, ex-deputy PDP Publicity Secretary Diran Odeyemi, lawmakers, Wole Oke, Bamidele Salam, Gani Olaoluwa, among others.
The faction began voting at 2:45pm, as delegates cast their votes into the ballot box. After the exercise, votes were sorted and counted by the committee.
Ewurujakpo announced the result. He said: “At the end of the primary election, Sen. Adeleke had 1,887 votes, Fatai Akinbade had zero, Dotun Babayemi scored zero, Akin Ogunbiyi had zero, Sanya Omirin scored four, Dele Adeleke had one and 24 votes were voided.”
He added: “By the power conferred on me as the Chief Returning Officer of this governorship primary, we hereby collectively declare Adeleke Ademola Jackson as the winner of the governorship primary election of the PDP in Osun State.
“Any other primary held outside this place is invalid and will not be recognised. The crown is here, the palace is here and the authority is here. Any exercise not done here cannot be recognised.”
Delivering his acceptance speech, Sen. Adeleke said: “No victor no vanquished. We are all winners. Let’s work together to rescue the people of Osun State from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government.
“The good people of Osun State have suffered enough under the APC administration. Pensioners are dying everyday. Salaries are not being paid as and when due. Our roads are in a terrible state of disrepair. I call on everyone to work together with the good people of Osun State and by the grace of God, PDP will win on July 16.”
A member of the PDP Board of Trustees, Shuib Oyedokun, ex-Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Erelu Olushola Obada, Prince Dotun Babayemi, Sen. Olu Alabi and Dele Adeleke (cousin of Sen. Ademola Adeleke), among others, were at the primary election conducted by the Ojo faction at WOCDIF Event Centre.
Delegates from the 332 wards in the 30 local governments also cast their votes.
At the end of the exercise, the Returning Officer, Adelani Ajanaku, and Electoral Officer, Abioye Musibau, gave a breakdown of the result.
Ajanaku said: “Total votes are 1,907, voided votes, 27; valid votes, 1,880; Omirin scored six, Ogunbiyi got 23, Fatai Akinbade had 28, Dele Adeleke polled 32 and Dotun Babayemi garnered 1,781.”
He declared Babayemi as the winner of the primary.