TELL
from Smolette Adetoyese Shittu-Alamu
On Saturday 15th of August, Osun State will go to the polls to elect a new governor who will serve the people of the state for the next four years.
The election in August is one of the off-cycle electoral events that are held outside the four-year cycle general elections in the country. Its beginning in 1999 ushered in the nation’s 4th Republic, which we have so far practised for 27 unbroken years.
Since the year 2003 when the law courts started to re-determine who won elections in the country, off-cycle elections have started to hold in the country. That has since changed the narratives of electoral victories in our clime. Until the courts intervene in many cases it is not yet Uhuru for many INEC declared election winners in our country.
Last year off-cycle elections were held in Ondo, Edo and Anambra States at different times. This year 2026, two will be held in Ekiti and Osun States. Kogi State is another of the states where off-cycle elections are held every four years, outside the national electoral cycle.
Now the country is set for two such off-cycle elections this year: Ekiti on 20th of June and Osun on 15th of August 2026. Expectedly as a citizen of Osun who also resides in the state, the Osun election is one that I would want to concern myself with. More than that, it deserves commentary on its own because of how it has started to evolve, especially in the atmosphere of hatred, confrontation and bad blood and, across the divide, violent conflicts.
The 15th of August, the D-Day and the H-hour for the Osun election is a mere three months from now i.e. 12 weeks. What has been happening since political out-door campaigns started last March, has not been anything to write home about nor can it be said to be good enough. As residents in the state would admit, the period March 11th to 31st 2026, did not show off much in terms of political activities.
It was one in which citizens only saw the two or three major contesting parties branding their campaign vehicles and other items for the task ahead. Understandably it was all for preparations
As things stand now, citizens of Osun State are not likely to know the offices of another 2 or 3 more political parties ( beyond the first trio of Accord, APC and SDP) that are said to be based here in the state. Only the three of them, like the Accord, All Progressives Congress (APC) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) are seen to be on the ground. Aside from these three, many people in the state may not know the location of the headquarters of any other parties that operates in the state.
Among the three that can be said to be visible, the challenge has been mostly between Accord and the APC. This is understandable. The membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had had to move into Accord as a party to enable Governor Ademola Adeleke get a political platform on which to stand and run for the August 15 election.
Our greater appeal is to the political class within the APC and Accord political divides to sheath their swords and let peace and harmony reign in the land. They should know that the election will not be won through banners or posters or billboards.
Our people need a peaceful atmosphere to decide what they want and where to go on 15th August 2026.
Therefore, the animosity, struggle and tension that have been between the PDP and the APC over the years and which had over characterized them appears to have been transferred to Accord as it stands today.
In fact, escalated is a more appropriate word to describe the level the matter has degenerated into.
In the politics of Osun State as it is today, Accord and the APC appear to see themselves as the two frontline parties and thus the major rivals. Therefore, each of them wants to see itself as the top and not the underdog. This reality is creating an unnecessary rivalry or a struggle for superiority between the two parties. Unfortunately, this does not augur well for the state.
As stakeholders in Project- Osun, the undue rivalry is a development we think should be checked before it gets off hand completely and become a Frankenstein Monster, which would or may be too dangerous and uncontrollable, sooner than later.
Since the out-door campaigns took off, observers have watched the ugly trend with consternation. It began with the tearing of campaign posters of rival parties. Now it has degenerated into the destruction of banners and giant billboards of rival party. Somehow each of the two parties (Accord and APC) tend to accuse each other of this nasty and ridiculous development.
Recently, the news in circulation was about the killing of the son of a lady who is said to be a known sympathiser of Accord. Was this necessary at all?
So far, a lot of back and forth, accusations and counter accusations have been alluded to, by the two contending parties, APC and Accord.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC ) has so far been the only political party, amongst the big three, that has not thrown caution to the wind yet. That party continues to talk and reflect on issues such as how it will roll out electricity supply for the teeming population of the state and others. We hope it will stay in the outer lane of the political highway, which politicians love to ride on very carelessly.
On their part, the APC and the Accord/PDP stronghold on the other hand have been challenging themselves as to what each of them has done at the performance level in the past 7 and 12 years respectively both being eras in the past tense. While referencing the past, what the people would love to hear more from all of them is the deliberate steps each wants to take to make Osun a better place for its residence.
Without sounding immodest, the good people of Osun State must decry the tension politicians are creating in the land ahead the forthcoming election. Our citizens and residents should be careful and not allow the selfish clan of politicians to push them to a level of orgy they never planned for and in the end leave them badly short- changed.
We call on us all to be wiser and cleverer than we had been before.
Why in the first place should eye-catching billboards on dual carriage ways that cost so much to build and to erect, and billboards political parties erect for themselves or their candidates be damaged for no other reason than that they were mounted by an opposing party or candidate who must be seen as an enemy? Why? We ask.
Let us submit before we end this piece that life is too short for us human beings to be always willing to allow it during our time to hit an all-time low level of reasoning, which politicians are ever willing and ready to throw us into.
As rational human beings we must admit the fact that there is no way rivalry would not be played in politics or in any competitive narrative. But taking it to a ridiculous level as we do in Nigeria is something we must be ready to check and crush out decisively. The ball is really in our court as citizens and especially as voters.
Democracy that our dear country first borrowed from Europe through Great Britain, when we practiced parliamentary system until 1979 when we took the presidential system hook- line-and-sinker from the United States of America, is unfortunately not practised in our country the way it is done in the western world. That is the regrettable part of our learning process as a nation.
The position we take on this matter right now is one of appeal to all, a great appeal. The forthcoming election is one that only the electorate in the entire Osun State as a constituency would decide. Yes, only the electorate will decide through the ballot who governs.
Since this is so, our greater appeal is to the political class within the APC and Accord political divides to sheath their swords and let peace and harmony reign in the land. They should know that the election will not be won through banners or posters or billboards.
The quality of candidates or political parties they represent, the manifesto they bring or present to us and the capacity of such candidates to deliver are “sine qua non” for electoral success.
As civil society organisations like Yaga Africa remind us always, elections especially in third world countries are not won on the day of the election, but at the political parties primaries. This is where selfish political elites impose their lackeys and prevent quality men and women from emerging victorious as to go on and coast to victory. Now the party primaries for all the political parties are here with us. Let the godfathers relax their hold on the jugular of the people.
We appeal again to our politicians in Osun State to allow peace to reign as they spend the next 3 months criss-crossing the state for campaigns. The political class must please allow our citizens to breathe the breath of life which God gave us all.
If the political tension has been allowed to rise to this ridiculous level which makes out-door campaigns difficult to conduct even three months before election day, what would the last two weeks of electioneering campaigns look like?
We call on the political class to sit up and help to reduce the tension in the land. We also very importantly, invite the Nigeria Police, Osun State Command and all other security agencies in the state to do the needful in this regard.
The ideology or better still the ambition of a single individual politician or a political party must not be equated with the life of any single Nigerian. Our former president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan held this view some 15 years back. It is not only relevant but very extant in the way our politics should go in Osun State, and Nigeria as a whole.
Leadership is never about how long we sit on a seat. It is most importantly about what we do while there in the seat. It is also about the trust people have in us as leaders.
This is appealing to our politicians to allow us in Osun State to think, move on in our nation building effort. This way we can become more creative to decide what we want for ourselves. Our people need a peaceful atmosphere to decide what they want and where to go on 15th August 2026.
Let us all give ourselves a chance to live in Osun State with our two eyes closed and without anything to worry but only pray that the God anointed -governor will emerge on the 15th of August, 2026.
Shittu-Alamu, is a veteran broadcaster and former director of news and current affairs at the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation, OSBC
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