Osun 2022: Labour Party Agents Only Seen In 14% Of Polling Units – Report

Labour Party’s presence was only felt in about 527 of the 3763 polling units in Osun State during the just-concluded governorship polls, a report by YIAGA Africa has said.

The report titled “Yiaga Africa’s Situational Statement On The 2022 Osun Gubernatorial Election” said Labour Party (LP) polling agents were seen at 14% of polling units while the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had 99% polling agent presence.

The civil society organization said it deployed 500 carefully trained stationary observers and 32 mobile observers to all the 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Osun State to observe the accreditation and voting process as well as present its assessment on the general conduct of the election and credibility of polling unit level results.

THE WHISTLER had reported how Ademola Adeleke of the PDP defeated the incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola of the APC with a margin of 28344.

Adeleke polled 403,371 votes while Oyetola garnered 375,027 votes.

Labour Party’s Yusuf Lasun came a distant fifth with only 2,729 votes behind the candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Kehinde Atanda who polled 10,104 votes and Akinnade Ogunbiyi of Accord Party who secured 4,515 votes.

Reacting, Labour Party presidential flagbearer, Peter Obi, commended the party for a ‘hard fought battle’ saying that the outcome of the poll was not a verdict on the fate of the LP in the forthcoming 2023 general polls.

“I extend my warmest personal congratulations to Senator Ademola Adeleke on winning the Osun State Gubernatorial elections.

“I also congratulate the candidate of our Labour Party, Lasun Sulaimon Yusuff and his running mate, Adeola Adekunle Atanda, for a hard fought battle and their spirit of resolve and sportsmanship, despite the outcome.

“Within this very short period of only a few weeks, the Labour Party has made its presence and political impact felt nationally. We must strengthen our collective resolve not to relent in our noble march to take back our country.

“Much work remains to be done, hence we must focus the totality of our efforts now on the forthcoming 2023 general elections,” he said.