Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State has lamented that the nation’s electoral laws on screening of candidates for election is weak, positing that, “I felt ridiculed contesting with somebody like Senator Ademola Adeleke.
This is even as the army has promised to partner with the state in tackling myriads of insecurities bedeviling the state. This was made known when the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Division of Nigerian Army, Major General Okwudili Fidelis Azinta, meet the governor in his office in Osogbo.
The army general said: “We are here for two reasons. First is to congratulate Mr. Governor on his election and his victory at the Supreme Court. “We are also here to meet with him in line with the directive of the Chief of Army Staff that we should work with other security agencies in the state to ensure that the state is far more peaceful than it is.”
Meanwhile, Oyetola said of Adeleke in his office when leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by Professor Yemi Farounbi, paid him solidarity visit on his victory at the Supreme Court. The governor noted that there was lack of control in the Nigeria electoral system.
According to him, “the country’s electoral system is weak especially regarding the screening of candidates which gave room for somebody like Ademola Adeleke to contest for governorship seat of the state.
“Sometimes when I sat down and realised that I was actually contesting with Adeleke, who is best at dancing, I felt ridiculed, very ridiculed,” the governor lamented. He stated further: “It would have been a tragedy for our state if the whole thing had turned the other way round.
“Anybody that is seriously concerned about the development of the state would at least be interested in whoever is going to pilot the affairs of the state. “One wonders why the country’s electoral laws would have allowed that guy to even contest in the first instance. We don’t have control.
“Even in the North where we believe they’re disadvantaged in terms of education, they put in the best always. “See whoever goes for any political office in the North is always the best of their stuck.”
Governor Oyetola also lashed at Adeleke’s family for allegedly speaking out of ignorance claiming that the PDP candidate won the governorship election in the state The governor said he did not only win the election at the polls but floored his opponent, Adeleke, at the courts.
According to him, “It must be out of ignorance for his defeated opponent’s brother Mr. Deji Adeleke, to have claimed that they won the election.
