Adegboruwa Tasks Adeleke To Provide Quality Leadership For His People

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Human Rights Activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa SAN has shared his thoughts about the just concluded Osun State Gubernatorial election which saw the emergence of Senator Ademola Adeleke as Governor-Elect.

Recall that the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ademola Adeleke, obtained the highest number of votes in 17 of the 30 Local Governments in Osun State according to results declared by INEC this morning. His closest rival, Governor Gboyega Oyetola of All Progressives Congress won in 13 Local Government Areas.

The results showed that Adeleke obtained 403, 371 votes from 30 LGAs while Oyetola got 375, 027 votes.

In his response to the outcome of the election, Adegboruwa noted 7 take-home points from the poll in th South Western state.

Adegboruwa started by questioning the Campaign strategies for the elections, according to him, the election was not won on the basis of programmes, Policard or ideologies.

He said: “The two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party both imported musicians to sing and dance for the people as if entertainment is the engine of good governance. They had no concrete plans for the people of Osun beyond the usual soap box rhetoric.”

Moving further, Adegboruwa observed that if we can guarantee the independence and autonomy of INEC, to conduct elections in an atmosphere of freedom, liberty and fairness, the will of the people will become established in the leadership recruitment process.

He also lauded the deployment of technology in aid of free and fair elections. He described it as “Crucial to the success of the electoral process, especially in the accreditation of voters, the voting proper and the transmission and collation of election results.” Nothing that “The same day that the people of Osun elected their governor, lawyers all over Nigeria also elected members of the Executive Council of the Nigerian Bar Association. The election was being monitored as voting progressed and winners were announced immediately after the election. There is no need to give room for election riggers and manipulators to corrupt our electoral system.”

The Senior Advocate emphasised that if elections can be free and fair in Nigeria and become the outcome of the genuine will of the people, politicians and leaders will strive to do better.

He said there will be accountability, respect for voters and performance will become the order of the day. These are some of the factors that drive development in other climes.

Adegboruwa also addressed the menace of godfatherism in Nigerian politics saying the reign of godfathers in the Nigerian political space can and should be terminated and then Nigeria will witness some progress.

He said “No leader that has emerged through the ballot process will ever take the people for granted if there is a credible process of change. Should the governor-elect fail to perform after he assumes office, it should not be difficult for the people of Osun to reject him as they have done to the incumbent governor, four years from now. That should be the hallmark of democracy.”

According to him, the victory of Senator Adeleke is evidence that when people are determined they can never be defeated. Once they have made up their minds as a people to protect and defend their votes, the process of manipulation will be difficult to perfect.

“I congratulate the good people of Osun for their tenacity and peaceful conduct. I commend INEC, the election monitors, the security agencies, the media and indeed all those that made the Osun election possible.

The only way that the governor-elect can merit any commendation is for him to go back to the drawing board and fashion out programmes that will deliver development for the people of Osun. The period of dancing ended yesterday; we want to see results” He concluded.