[READ & SHARE] Osun 2014: How I was defeated- Omisore Via @ iKanzee_RR

Sen. Iyiola Omisore, the candidate of the
Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), at the 2014
Osun State gubernatorial election, said his
defeat is as a result of the “clearly partisan”
acts of the former Resident Electoral
Commissioner, REC, in the state.
Omisore who made this remarks at his first
post-election briefing in Osogbo, yesterday,
said that by the time the electoral
commissioner was removed, he had already
done the damage.
Rufus Akeju, the Osun State REC, was replaced
by Segun Agbaje, a few weeks before the
election.
At the end of the election, Mr. Omisore’s
292,747 votes was not enough to defeat Rauf
Aregbesola, the incumbent governor and
candidate of the All Progressives Congress,
APC, who polled 394,684 votes to emerge
winner.
“It was not a race we came into unmindful of
the odds stacked against us,” said Mr.
Omisore, a former Senator.
“For instance, we had a situation where a
clearly partisan Resident Electoral
Commissioner had opened the entire electoral
system to our opponent from registration
stage through data storage to personnel
loading.
“Though the leadership of INEC eventually
took him out of the state weeks to the
elections, he already did a lot of harm in the
system that would take years to rectify. In
spite of this and the fact that all democratic
structures in the state are in the hands of our
opponent, our supporters still fought gallantly
in every poling unit in the state to achieve the
feat we posted in this election,” Mr. Omisore
added.
The PDP candidate urged his supporters to
remain calm as the party is still studying the
election results to determine their next line of
action.
“In the meantime, our situation office and
party are presently analyzing the results of the
elections against field reports. We shall be
making public our findings and the
appropriate steps accordingly,” said Mr.
Omisore.
“I however appeal to all our supporters to
remain calm, law-abiding and peace-loving.
Our abiding guide is that Osun state must not
be governed in the old ways anymore and
August 9 has given the demography of the
change-seeking people.”
Mr. Omisore said that his campaign strategy
took him to the nook and cranny of the state
where he saw the impact of “propaganda-led
governance” on the people’s lives.
“We shared the daily experiences of a people
traumatized and fervently hopeful of beneficial
change that democracy has promised to
them,” Mr. Omisore said.
“It did not escape our notice that many of the
everyday people in our towns and villages who
trooped to meet with us, valued our presence
and the regard we had for them, yet they bore
with courage and hope, the scars of neglect,
extreme poverty, and excruciating suffering.
“We were bold to reject financial recklessness,
deform of our education sector, scams that
deployed technology for profit rather than for
learning, bastardized empowerment programs
that only deny opportunities to our young
people, partnership that mean our artisans are
jobless, significant capital flight from the Osun
state economy and the lack of transparency in
public procurement process.
“We have been successful in raising the
consciousness of every one in Osun state to
these issues, enabling them to demand
accountability that will enshrine good
governance today and forever.”
Mr. Omisore also said that the result of the
election showed that the PDP is no longer a
push over in the South West.
“The best man does not always win, but a
winner emerges. We congratulate all the
gladiators in this effort; everyone gave of their
best,” he said.
“Collectively, we have achieved much more
than our individual aspirations for the Office
of the Governor of Osun state that we all
contested for. Our achievements go beyond
Government House in Abere, to the heart of
the people and our followers. We in Osun PDP
assert with great confidence that the business
of governance in Osun state will be not be as
usual again. The positive change we fought for
in the Rescue Mission campaign has indeed
started. We are all wiser.
“This is success we are thankful for. We must
celebrate PDP leadership, its members and the
extensive engagement of supporters of the
Iyiola Omisore Organization (IOO) on all
platforms, including the Omisore Youth
Support Forum (OYSF) and the engagement of
all media – print, digital and social. Everyone
was awesome.
“We collectively with the citizens and people
of Osun state will sustain the Rescue Mission
from a campaign to what I note it has
become, a socio-political movement for
positive change in Osun state, a force for
change that no one can deny or stop. We
came into this race to make that difference in
their lives and offer hope in the land,” he
added.