Saturday, August 9, 2014

Osun poll Updates: Aregbesola in early lead as voting ends - Live Updates




Rauf Aregbesola takes a pose after casting his vote at Ifofin unit 1 polling centre in Ilesa Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state has taken an early lead as the gubernatorial election reaches a climax. Cumulative results as at 6:17 p.m. reveals that the incumbent governor leads the pack. His party, the All Progressives Congress has so far recorded 213,465 against 150,553 of his main contender Senator Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party. 


By our own collation , PDP is ahead  of APC — Fani-Kayode

The Osun State governorship election holds today August 9, with 20 candidates representing 20 political parties vying for the ticket to the Osun Government House.
Apparently, the contest is between Rauf Aregbesola, the incumbent governor and candidate of the All Progressives Candidate (APC) and Iyiola Omisore, a former Senator and candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
Fatai Akinbade, a former Secretary to the State Government and candidate of the Labour Party (LP), is, however, hoping to spring a surprise on both major contenders.
A total of 1,407,222 registered voters (INEC’s post March 2014 CVR) spread across three Senatorial Districts – each of the Districts have 10 local governments – are expected to cast their votes.
Continue..



The gender distribution of the voters shows that there are 661,394 (47%) male and 745,828 (53%) female voters across 332 Wards, 3,010 Polling Units, and 3,379 Voting Points in the state.

Osogbo, the state capital, has the highest number of registered voters with a 110,670, followed closely by Ife Central with a voting population of 95,471.
While Mr. Aregbesola enjoys a huge support in the capital, Mr. Omisore hails from Ile-Ife.
19 domestic and 10 foreign observers were accredited by INEC to monitor the election.
PREMIUM TIMES’ Festus Owete and Ben Ezeamalu are in Osun State and will be bringing you live updates on the election.
You can also follow our live updates on twitter with the hashtag #OsunDecides

LIVEBLOG


20:33
At the final collation center in INEC headquarters. Journalists are setting up their equipment while INEC officials are tidying up the seating arrangement.

Outside the headquarters, there is a heavy presence of armed soldiers and police.
We will bring your the final results, as announced by INEC, if our reporters are not singled out for exclusion. In both Anambra and Ekiti elections, PREMIUM TIMES reporters were not allowed access to the the final collation centers. 
19:35
Osun Election Result: By our own collation , PDP is ahead  of APC — Fani-Kayode
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, [PDP], Femi Fani-Kayode, has responded to claim that the candidate of the All Progressives Congress [APC], Rauf Aregbesola, is coasting to victory in today’s governorship election in Osun state.

Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES via telephone, Mr. Fani-Kayode said the tallying of the votes was still going on and that it was therefore too early to award victory to any of the candidates.

“As far as we are concerned, by our own collation, we are ahead,” the former minister said. “We defeated them (APC) heavily in our strongholds and in their strongholds, the race has been very close.

“All these claims that they have won is not true. It is disinformation and we advise that people wait for INEC to announce the authentic result.

“I can tell you that it is not over.”

Analysts have however pointed at early results from polling booths as indicating a lead for the APC.

While the PDP candidate, Iyiola Omisore, performed well in parts of his Ife stronghold, the APC candidate appears to be leading in most parts of the state.

Results will however first be collated at the local government  level before they are forwarded to INEC’s headquarters in Osogbo, the Osun state capital, for final collation.

The Chief Returning Officer for the election is expected to announce final result by Sunday morning.
19:08
Result at PU 4 Ward 2, Ile Olojin, Gbongan, in Ayedada LGA.
PDP 142 APC 155

The crowd’s celebration is muted due to the presence of armed security officers who had ordered them to move yards away from the counting point.
18:25
Things are getting charged at PU 4 Ward 2, Ile Olojin, Gbongan. An APC agent slapped a PDP agent during an argument over the validity of a ballot paper.

Armed police and army officers have arrived to restore calm.

The INEC officials are still sorting the ballot papers.
18:14
6.10 p.m. Sorting still ongoing at PU 4 Ward 2, Ile Olojin, Gbongan, in Ayedada LGA. The crowd wait patiently.

17:27
Below is the full text of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s statement after voting.

The People Will Protect their Votes, Aregbesola says after voting

“Beside the initial show of unwarranted force shown by a section of security agencies, one cannot understand why this is heavily biased against my party. Starting from 1am this morning not less than 150 of my party members have been harassed, threatened, bastardised. Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of my state was manhandled and maltreated. When you have such a discriminatory attitude such action in a democracy, this is a bastardised democracy. Let is be known that we are under the siege of gun.
“Having said this about the run up to the election, I must not fail to recognise the smooth nature of the process in my polling g centre, the people received us enthusiastically and in a very orderly manner which was void of any crisis. What I witnessed when I visited the polling centre was commendable. My hope is that what happened when I visited this polling unit is the experience state wide. It is my hope that if this is the case, we will sing a good song of the strength of democracy.
“The strength of the people in a democracy is to freely, fairly and transparently choose whoever is most appropriate to govern them, by their own judgement.
“We expect that the enthusiasm of our people is sufficient to douse the exuberance of the over zealous miscreants”.
Aregbesola. August 9; 2014
17:18
Results at PU 4, Ward 3 in Modakeke (there are three ballot boxes):
1. PDP 33 APC 103
2. PDP 73 APC 161
3. PDP 53 APC 126

The crowd jubilate as the last result is announced.

Earlier, a couple of motorcyclists from Ife, a short distance away, had sped past the polling unit celebrating the PDP victory in their own polling units.
17:02
The Labour Party’s candidate has issued the statement below saying he is the candidate to beat in the ongoing election and advising his major challengers to step down to save themselves from imminent defeat.
Read full statement below:
“The All Progressive Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party have failed in their unholy strategies on the Labour Party candidate, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, aimed at confusing the electorate.
“The APC through one Adabanija and the PDP through Diran Odeyemi had claimed separately on their facebook accounts, that Akinbade had teamed up with their cursed parties
“The question is: how many parties will Akinbade merge with at the sametime? Anyway,we at the Labour Party know that both the APC and the PDP are already seeing defeat that is why they are dropping Akinbade’s name all over the place but they have failed! The people of our dear state are wiser and have rejected the APC and the PDP. It is Labour Party they want.
“Akinbade has said it severally that he would never step down for anybody because it is him the people of the state want.
“He is in the race to win and not just to partake like the olympians. So disregard all rumours from the APC and the PDP.
“If Aregbesola and Omisore are threatened by Akinbade’s profile,they should just withdraw from the race to save their face. It is never too late!”
16:58
@pmnewsnigeria is reporting that former governor of Osun State, Isiaka Adeleke, could not vote as he fled from his home to avoid being arrested by security operatives. ‪#‎OsunDecides‬
More results:
Ward7 PU002 Ede North PDP 99, APC 138, APA 2, PPA 2, Void 14
Ward7 PU001, Ede North result: ADC 1, APC 180, PDP 169, PPA 2, Void 9 
Ward7 PU008, Ede North result: PDP 161, APC 183, ADC 1, PPA 3, UDP 1, Void 9 
16:37
4.30 p.m. at PU 3, Ward 4 in Modakeke. The INEC officials are sorting the votes, the voters wait patiently.
16:27
More results
Ward7 PU003, Ede North result PDP 91, APC 139, AA 01, ACPN 02, PDM 02, Void 13 
 Ward7 PU006, Ede North result APC 223, LP 03, ACPN 02, UPN 01, NNPP 01, PPA 01, PDP 110, Void 20
16:15
More results from Ife Central. These wards are few meters away from the palace of Ooni of Ife.
Iremo 4: PDP 141 APC 79

Iremo 5: APC 52 PDP 143

Iremo 6: PDP 150 APC 49

The people have taken to the streets here in wild jubilation.
15:37
Voting still ongoing at Ward 01 Unit 11 Church Street Olorunda LGA. 439 accredited voters, out of 863 registered voters.
15:35
Final results in Ward 10, Ife Central:

Unit 3: PDP 140  APC 62

Unit 8: PDP 95     APC 26

Unit 12: PDP 148   APC 47

Unit 4: PDP 100    APC 64

Unit 11: PDP 34   APC 14

Unit 2: PDP 118    APC 61

Unit 10: PDP 101   APC 41
15:31
Result for Ward03 PU005, Ejigbo LG: ACPN 01, APA 01, LP 04, PDP 43, APC 122 #OsunDecides
15:21
There is rowdiness at Ward 8 Unit 7, Iragbi Road, Olorunda over suspicion that a young man is planning something untoward. Again some voters are complaining they have been denied right to vote even though they were accredited.
INEC polling officials said at the time they were counting people and marking fingers for the actual voting those complaining were not around.
Meanwhile, voting is in progress and out of 1324 registered voters only 691 were accredited and 683 were on queue when voting commenced 12.30pm.
15:07
Wild jubilation at Ife Central.



Brutalization of APC members may “affect” election results – Aregbesola

Mr. Aregbesola after casting his vote told journalists that the “brutalization of several” of his party members could affect the entire result.

“Several of our party members were singularly intimidated, harassed, terrorized, and brutalized.  After all of these, were equally arrested.

“The Attorney General, a known officer of this state, was without justification brutalized and taken into custody. They released him barely 45 minutes ago, since 1 a.m early this morning.

“My Commissioner for Agriculture, Wale Adedoyin, was equally brutalized and taken into custody since 1 a.m, he has just been released.

“Several of our people, people who have demonstrated some interest in the election were arrested and brutalized.

“Election is just an aspect of the democratic process. It is not just the art of voting.  A democratic process begins from the registration of voters to verification of people, and collation of voters cards.

“The question we must ask is, what we have witnessed here, is it replicated statewide?

“I pray that our security agents live up to their billing.  Leading members have been at the receiving end of their molestation.

“The authorities in Abuja are just abusing their powers. This could affect the overall effect of the entire result.

“I wish that the orderliness we have witnessed here would permeate the entire state.”

13:30
The governor has cast his vote and is now addressing journalists.
voting in progress in most polling units at the moment. At ward 5 unit 05 Salvation Army School, Alekuwodo, Osogbo, a total of 468 voters, out of 924 registered voters were accredited and are currently voting.
13:24
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13:24
An argument at the governor’s polling unit. Two female SSS operatives, standing too close to the ballot booth, refused to move away. They have been let alone.

The INEC presiding officer has finished explaining the voting procedures. “Make sure I sign, stamp, and date your ballot paper. Else, it will be invalid.”

Voting has begun.
13:20
550 voters accredited out of 866 reg. voters in Ward2 PU001, Ejigbo LG. Voting is yet to commence at 1pm.
13:07
Security is intensified in many locations as voting begins.
Aregbesola is waiting to cast his vote in his hometown in Ilesa-East

12:51
At Maitainmi Mosque 001 PU ,336 voters were registered while 228 were accredited.
Aregbesola waiting to cast his vote in his hometown in Ilesa-East.
At Ward 10 unit 002, Dada Estate, Egbedore LGA, accreditation has ended. Voters are queuing to vote. They formed three long lines. the turnout is huge.
Women hold the key to deciding this election.

 12.29

The governor, beaming with smiles, steps out of his family home to cheers from children and supporters.
He waves his trademark two finger salute to the crowd.
The children scream “APC!” But were quickly cautioned to stop. Voting is about to start.
12.13
Rowdiness as voters struggle to queue for voting at the state governor’s polling unit in Ilesa-East.
11.32
At ward 8 unit 7, Iragbiji Road, opp Police station, Olorunda LGA, five party agents – PDP, APC, LP, PPA and NCP are complaining that they were not allowed to get accredited. At the unit, INEC officials said 1324 were registered to vote and accreditation is almost concluded.
11.14
A lot of people are waiting to vote at Ward 8, Unit 1, Mr. Aregbesola’s PU in Ilesa East. All of them have been accredited.
Adekunle Busuyi, a PPA agent, says that accreditation began at 8 a.m.
“Everything is alright so far,” he adds.
The governor had been accredited five minutes ago.
11.10

So far so good. 
11.04

12 important facts to know about Osun Election

1. Osun State was created from old Oyo State in 1991.
2. It has 30 local governments.
3. Each of the three senatorial districts in Osun has 10 local governments.
4. Osun has 9 federal constituencies (House of Reps members) and 26 State Assembly Constituencies.
5. According to the 2006 census, Osun has 3,423,535 people.
6. Valid Number of Registered Voters (post March 2014 CVR) – 1, 407, 222
7. There are more female voters in Osun Gender Distribution of Voter Population: Male: 661,394 (47%) Female 745,828 (53%)
8. Number of Registration Areas (Wards) – 332
9. Number of Polling Units – 3, 010
10. Number of Voting Points – 3, 379
11. Osogbo has highest number of registered voters, 110,670, followed by Ife Central, 95,471.
12. There are 20 governorship candidates recognised by INEC for the Osun Election. None of them is female. There are, however, 7 female deputy governorship candidates.
(All facts sourced from the website of the Independent National electoral Commision, INEC).
10.47
At Unit 5, College of Education, Ilesa, no accreditation going on. The INEC officials say they are done with every voter on ground and waiting for more people to come. Stephen Kolade says that “things are okay.” “We are just waiting to start voting,” he adds. Mr. Kolade, a 300 level Agricultural Science student, however, said that they had been unable to sleep in their hostels due to soldiers’ disturbance. “Yesterday, a group of people were about entering the school, the soldiers told them to sit on the ground and arrested them. Up till now, we don’t know their whereabouts. Up to 20 of them.” Another student says, ” We don’t know if those soldiers are genuine or fake soldiers.”

10.18
The APC in Osun sent the below updates to our newsroom from its Situation Room in Osogbo. PREMIUM TIMES is unable to confirm any of the claims at this time. We are trying to reach out to the appropriate authorities to confirm the claims.
1]. A huge number of APC agents denied tags in many local government areas including Osogbo, Ifedayo, Atakumosa West. In Osogbo, only 60 out of 227 agents were given tags.
2]. The Good Governance Forum in Osun has urged all eligible voters to go out en-masse to cast their votes and not be intimidated by the presence of security agents in the state or news of arrests of political leaders.
3]. Clampdown on APC leaders in Osun continues as Alhaji Tijani Oladosu, (aka TILAD), Quadri Owonikoko (a.k.a Integrity) were arrested midnight and whereabouts unknown.
4]. After hours of interrogation, Lai Mohammed, Sunday Dare released by security agents.
5]. Over 40 voters arrested in Erin Osun while on queue for accreditation.
6]. Alhaji Raimi Shitu, Vice Executive Secretary, Odo-Otin LG arrested midnight.
7]. Chairman of O’SCHOOL in Osun and Chieftain of APC, Alhaji Lai Oyeduntan’s house invaded in Osogbo.
8]. APC stalwarts Octogenerian lawyer, Pa J.O Fakayode, being detained in Ora Igbomina after being picked up by security agents from Oke Ila 9]. All APC agents in Osu, Atakumosa West have been arrested by soldiers
10.17
At Gbangan Rd Polling Unit, opposite Omisore’s campaign office, Osogbo, accreditation is going smoothly under the rain.
10.11
In several polling units in Ilesha West voters are done with accreditation, they are now waiting for voting to commence. Election proper starts at noon, about 120 minutes away.



10.04
Premium Times spoke with John Oyegun, National Chairman of APC and he confirmed the arrest of Lai Mohammed and 4 others but have been released. He said he was released in such a way that his day has been made useless.
09.50

PDP candidate cries out over of unfair treatment of agents

Diran Odeyemi, director of Media and Strategy for the Senator Iyiola Omisore governorship campaign in Osun State, told PREMIUM TIMES that INEC officials at Polling Units in Obokun local government were requesting for a letter of introduction from PDP agents. "How it works is that the party writes a single letter to INEC to introduce all the agents, and then INEC will issue tags to them. But what's happening now is that when our agents get to their respective polling units, they will request for another letter introducing the individual. "I've complained to INEC and they have rectified the problem. But we have lost about two hours," said Mr. Odeyemi. Mr. Odeyemi is Mr. Omisore's Director of Media and Publicity.
09.46
At Ward 05 Salvation Army School, Osogbo accreditation is in progress. There is huge presence of voters anxious to get accredited. Agents of PPA, PDP, APC and ADC are here.
09.35
At ward 10 Dada Estate, Osogbo, accreditation commenced 8am. However some voters cannot find their names in the register and they are worried. Only one party agent - Oyerinde Ayodele Lukman of APC is here for now.
09.33
At Ward 005 unit 002 Osogbo Grammar school, the turnout is impressive. Voters are queing up peacefully for accredition which began a few minutes past 8am. A total of 900 persons registered to vote here according to INEC adhoc staff. There are 4 party agents out of 20 - PPA, PDP, LP and APC
09.25
Accreditation ongoing smoothly in many polling units in Osogbo. 


 08.54

There is light showers of rain in Osogbo. Many voters came prepared with umbrellas, it appears. Voters queue under umbrellas, accreditation not disrupted.
08.41
Accreditation has begun in PU (Polling Unit) 16 Ward 4 in Osogbo.
08.09
Accreditation of voters commenced at 8:00 a.m. in Agbale Vill PU (009), Agbongbe II, Ede North LGA.
07.55
It's a humid morning in Osogbo. The temperature is 24 degrees Celsius. Voters have begun to head towards their polling units for accreditation which starts by 8 a.m. Military checkpoints dot several locations around the capital.



 APC alleges ‘arrest’ of Lai Mohammed  


The All Progressives Congress (APC) has claimed that security operatives arrested Alhaji Lai Mohammed, its national publicity secretary in Osogbo, capital of Osun state very late on Friday. The party, which had raised loads of alarm in the buildup to the gubernatorial election in their state, earlier released a statement, saying that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was collaborating with the security agents to arrest leaders of APC, the ruling party in Osun. 


Mr. Williams Adeleye, personal assistant to Mohammed, said the security agents suddenly interrupted a telephone conversation he was having together with his boss and all attempts to reach him since the time of the arrest were unfruitful. 


“I was on the phone with him when I suddenly heard voices, saying you are under arrest, enter this vehicle,” said Adeleye in a statement. “Subsequent attempts to reach him failed as his numbers all rang out.” 

Kunle Oyatomi, APC’s director of publicity, research and strategy, described the arrest as an indication that security agencies are partisan in the governorship poll, urging them against unwarranted provocation of its members across the state. However, efforts to confirm the news from Folasade Odoro, the police spokeswoman in Osun, did not yield any result, as she neither answered her calls nor responded to a text message sent to her mobile phone. Out of 1,407,222 registered voters in the state, a total of 986,117 eligible voters are expected to participate in the process of electing the leader that would preside over the affairs of Osun for the next four years.

 PDP scribe commends peaceful atmosphere

The National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prof Wale Oladipo has commended the on going conduct of the governorship election in Osun state.


Speaking after been accredited at PU001, Enuwa square palace frontage, Ife East, local government, Professor Oladipo commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for ensuring timely arrival of election materials at their respective polling centres.



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