Browsing: Olalekan Oni

By Olalekan Oni The outcome of the recently concluded Osun State governorship election offers an opportunity to undertake a broader empirical assessment of the electoral performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Rather than interpreting the Osun result as an isolated political event, the more meaningful approach is to examine it as part of a larger sequence of off-cycle elections conducted since the emergence of the Tinubu administration in May 2023 Sometimes, politics is best understood not by the noise around the ballot box, but by the numbers that emerge from it. Since President Tinubu assumed office, the country has witnessed eight off-cycle governorship elections across eight states and four geopolitical zones. Here is the breakdown: In Bayelsa State, Duoye Diri of the PDP won with 175,196 votes, while Timipre Sylva of the APC had 110,108 votes. In Imo State, Hope Uzodinma of the APC recorded a landslide victory with 540,008 votes, while Samuel Anyanwu of the PDP came a distant second with 71,503 votes. In Kogi State, Usman Ododo of the APC came atop with 446,237, while Murtala Ajaka of the SDP came second with 259,052. In Edo State, Monday Okpebholo of the APC won with 291,667 votes, and Asue Ighodalo of the PDP came second with 247,274 votes. In Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the APC was victorious with 366,781 votes, while Agboola Ajayi of the PDP came second with 117,845 votes. In Anambra State, Charles Soludo of the APGA recorded a resounding triumph with 422,664 votes, while Chukwuma Umeoji of the APC came a distant second with 99,445 votes. In Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji of the APC triumphed with 319,224 votes, while Wole Oluyede of the PDP came a distant second with 40,543. In the recently concluded Osun State gubernatorial contest, Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party came first with 511,067, while Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji of the APC came second with an impressive 444,815 votes Of these eight governorship elections conducted since Tinubu became President, APC won five; PDP won one; APGA won one; and Accord won one. The eight elections collectively produced 4,875,767 votes, of which APC candidates secured 2,618,585, approximately 53.7%. And remember: these were battles fought across North Central, South East, South South and South West. APC won convincingly in Imo, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo and Kogi. It competed strongly in Bayelsa, where PDP retained the state, and fought a remarkably close contest in Osun, where Accord eventually prevailed. The only state where APC recorded a genuinely poor showing was Anambra, won by APGA. But there is another statistic the opposition would rather not discuss. In every one of these eight states, APC finished either first or second. Not third. Not fourth. Not scattered into political irrelevance. First or second; every single time. That is not the record of a party that has disappeared from the political map. That is the record of a party that remains consistently competitive across multiple regions of the country. …