After Osun Defender’s Story, Osun APC Blasts PDP On DPA Poll
Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has lauded the management of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, for disassociating itself from the controversial Democracy Polling Agency (DPA), which had recently published a report suggesting that the Osun APC was fracturing, with members purportedly defecting to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Osun Defender had earlier reported that the OAU management has denied affiliation with the Democracy Polling Agency (DPA), a group that said it conducted a survey on major political parties in the state.
The group had, in a report released to some reporters and bloggers, claimed to be an affiliate of OAU, a development that was outrightly denied by the university.
“OAU is a University. We can’t have any affiliation with any democratic or autocratic group. That is not true,” the Public Relations Officer of the University, Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju told Osun Defender’s reporter when contacted.
Osun Defender also observed the non-existence of the group on the internet in its investigation.
The group had in a snippet of the report of the survey conducted from the period of August to October 2024, on state of political parties in Osun, said the opposition party in the state, the All Progressives Congress, APC, had split into two halves with the Omoluabi faction holding roughly 45 percent of the old APC membership with the remaining about 60 percent being with the Oyetola faction tagged Ilerioluwa group.
It also said that from the period covered by the survey, the 60 percent share of the APC for Oyetola has dwindled by close to 45 %, adding that from across the three senatorial districts, the Oyetola faction of the APC has suffered torrents of decamping which may continues even as the survey was rounded up by October ending.
The report said respondents who left the APC mostly moved to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party whose membership swelled by more than 40 percent within the period under review.
Reasons cited for the mass exodus in the report from respondents’ reactions include – the impressive performance of the Osun Governor, the rigidity of state APC leadership to reconciliation moves, the slow response of Mr. Oyetola to discontinue his guber bid, the worsening economic climate and series of disasters that had befallen the party leadership in some local governments.
READ: OAU Website Shows No Affiliation With Democracy Polling Agency
Meanwhile, Osun State PDP Chairman, Mr Sunday Bisi, in a statement issued by him described ‘the impressive performance of Mr Performer, Governor Ademola Adeleke, as a focal point of attraction bringing new members across all parties most especially from the embattled faction of the former governor, Ileri-Oluwa group
In a response, Osun APC blasted the PDP, accusing the party of orchestrating a smear campaign to discredit them.
The APC in a statement signed by Chief Kola Olabisi, Director of Media and Information, described the PDP as “visionless and desperate,” resorting to “fraudulent surveys” to claim popularity.
Olabisi lambasted the PDP for attempting to “prop up a collapsing image,” stating that the ruling party’s approval ratings are dwindling despite the fabricated claims of mass defections from the APC to the PDP.
According to the statement, “The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has commended the management of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), for its refusal to be drawn into the nefarious activities of a faceless group, Democracy Polling Agency, which fraudulently claimed to have carried out a survey that showed that the state chapter of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been harvesting the members of the major opposition APC in the state.
“The incognito group which had falsely claimed an affiliation with the reputable OAU had in a report made available to the public through some selected reporters and bloggers, claimed to have conducted a survey between August to October 2024 on the state of political parties in Osun State, stating that ‘the opposition party in Osun State had split into two halves with the Omoluabi faction holding roughly 45 per cent of the old APC membership with the remaining about 60 per cent being with the Oyetola faction, tagged Ileri-Oluwa group’.
“It was also stated among other things in the composition published by the faceless Democracy Polling Agency that ‘parts of the reasons for the passive mass exodus of the APC members to the PDP was because of the impressive performance of the sitting Governor Adeleke; the rigidity of the state APC leadership to reconciliation moves; the slow response of former Governor Oyetola to discontinue his governorship bid and the worsening economic climate and series of disasters that had befallen the party leadership in some local government councils’.*
“The most pernicious development was the commendation of the fraudulent survey by the visionless and confused Osun State chairman of the PDP, Mr Sunday Bisi, in a statement issued by him where he described ‘the impressive performance of Mr Performer, Governor Ademola Adeleke, as a focal point of attraction bringing new members across all parties most especially from the embattled faction of the former governor, Ileri-Oluwa group’.
“In its denial of the faceless Democracy Polling Agency, the Public Relations Officer of the OAU, Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju, had stated that: “I am not in any way aware of our university’s affiliation with such a group as Democracy Polling Agency. Such affiliation is not to my knowledge. I don’t know anything about it. That is the position”.
“We, in the Osun State chapter of the APC, find it ludicrous, ridiculous and derisive that a supposed ruling party could go to the extent of employing the services of some of its glorified members to pose as a fictitious body that carried out a fraudulent survey in the state with a view to conferring a non-existent positive status of an advantage on an apparently sinking party at all its levels of administration at the national, state, local government, ward and unit levels.
“Now that the Management of the OAU has come up with a polemic against the composition of the PDP elements tagged a survey by the visibly embattled and wobbled ruling party in the state, we are of the opinion that if Sunday Bisi, the Ede country-home appointed state PDP chairman has a modicum of conscience left with him, he should, without further delay, tender his letter of resignation for misleading the party and head straight to his beer-parlour business in the remotest part of the ancient town of Ilesa.
“We are not unaware that the PDP nationwide is a sinking ship of which the plight of its Osun State chapter is pathetic which is the reason its leadership is looking for any available straws to grasp at in order to avert the imminent sinking which is too late in the day.
“We can see that the name, sight or image of the workaholic, urbane, lettered and consummate immediate-past state Governor Gboyega Oyetola now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, has always been the major cause of ceaseless headache to the PDP handlers and their collaborators in Osun State and that the concerted effort to destroy him before the 2026 governorship election is a collective project of the rudderless PDP and the ruling government in the state.
“We are not unmindful of the fact that the results of the last governorship election despite all the atrocities and crimes perpetrated by the PDP thugs against the APC members and supporters before and during the said election where 403,371 votes was recorded for Governor Adeleke, the PDP candidate while Alhaji Oyetola, the APC candidate, garnered 375,027 votes with a difference of 28,344 votes, has been a cause of sleepless night for the PDP controllers in the state.
“We challenge Sunday Bisi, Governor Nuru and their cohorts to swear with their most precious valuable possessions in life that the last series of elections in the state which produced the House of Assembly members, National Assembly members and the governor himself were not without killings and maiming, orchestrated by the PDP thugs, which subsequently gave fraudulent victory to all the PDP candidates.
“It is too recent to forget how the PDP members and their supporters were helped by both the pliable statutory and unconventional security officers to vote till around 11:30pm in Ede and Owode, two strongholds of the PDP in the state, in the election which ought to have ended at 4:00pm.
“We want to remind Sunday Bisi and the satellite governor that the blood of about 30 members and supporters of the APC who were needlessly killed by the PDP thugs in order to rig the elections for all the candidates of the now ruling party won’t allow them to have a rest.
“We want to appeal to our esteemed members to continue to remain focused and united and the members of the public in general to disregard the fraudulent survey of the faceless Democracy Polling Agency which is only existing in the imagination of the apparently jittery PDP handlers in Osun State.
“Osun APC is one united entity under the leadership of Alhaji Oyetola and the state Executive Committee under the chairmanship of Sooko Tajudeen Lawal. “
Sodiq Lawal is a passionate and dedicated journalist with a knack for uncovering captivating stories in the bustling metropolis of Osun State and Nigeria at large. He has a versatile reporting style, covering a wide range of topics, from politics , campus, and social issues to arts and culture, seeking impact in all facets of the society.
