Gentlemen of the Press!
I welcome you all to my first post-election briefing after the Saturday governorship elections in our beloved state in which I contested as the governorship candidate of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Our campaign strategy and approach have been unique, taking us to every corner of this state and engaging everyone in each nook and cranny.
We presented our eight Cardinal Programmes with clear indicators to allow everyone to hold us to account on what we said we shall achieve in four years, should providence give us the opportunity of success in the ballot. In the course of our house-to-house outreach, we all saw and shared the impact of propaganda-led governance on the lives of our people. We shared the daily experiences of a people traumatized and fervently hopeful of beneficial change that democracy has promised to them. 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. At its end, we have initiated a process of rescue and given democracy a new paradigm in Osun State. The outcome of the polls assert this firmly, even if in its entirety it is not the outcome that we desire. As aptly put by Sam Omatseye in the The Nation of Monday August 11, 2014: ‘It is an APC victory but it is not time to gloat. The PDP was not crushed. With over 292,000 votes Omisore showed his strong foothold on the state. It shows the PDP is not yet 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. 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 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. It was not a race we came into unmindful of some of the odds stacked against us. 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. I salute them and all the good people of Osun state who gave us that massive support as reflected in the official results. I stand tall to assure them that their efforts will not be in vain. I have resolved to continue to provide leadership for accountable democratic governance in Osun State until our dream of total rescue and restoration is realized.
Let it be known that our people will no longer be taken for granted as we have opened the floodgate of democratic challenge which no force on earth can challenge. In our scorecard of the Aregbesola-led APC administration in Osun state, we have presented issues that we shall both invite and expect response to. We shall continue to call for freedom in access to information that will guarantee accountability. We shall track the performance of the government in power, just like we did before. We shall take forward our gains in vibrant voices and people engagement that will ensure that treasury is protected from sustained abuse. That is the value of our democracy and the impact of our success.
I shall be at the forefront as our people keep to press for the real dividends of democracy and the expansion of the democratic space in our dear state.I remain a democrat to the core and the whole essence of our involvement in politics is to ensure that we take our people out of bondage and make a change that assures tomorrow. I restate my undaunted support the people of Osun state everywhere they are and live, as well as a personal commitment to the peace, progress and development of our state. I add to this my sincere appreciation that the citizens and all stakeholders have heeded our call in the PDP for a non-violent electoral process. We have together shown to the whole world we can disagree, call out inconsistencies and incompetence without a clarion call to violence. This we did together, in collaboration with both state and national security agents. I am deeply appreciative of the protection achieved in both lives and property.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. 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. The governorship election is just an event in that process of the quest for a new Osun state where our people would live a happy life of fulfillment where the goods of the land are served to all and not only those who are privileged to be in power. I therefore appeal to them to keep hope alive as we stand shoulder -to-shoulder to continue what we have started in the overall objective of raising the bar of leadership in our state. As we trudge on in the task ahead of building our state.
I take solace in the words of Theodore Roosevelt:`It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
I must not end this without thanking the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and National Leader of our Party, His Excellency Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, and the entire leadership of the party for the unalloyed support given to us in the course of this elections. Our participation and the outcome of the elections have shown the huge potentials of our party in Osun state in the days ahead.God Bless Osun State!God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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