By Sodiq Lawal
Politics is fast tearing the Social Democratic Party (SDP) apart as some factional members of the party elected a former Deputy Governor of Osun state, Senator Iyiola Omisore, as the governorship candidate of the party for the upcoming governorship election scheduled to hold on September 22, 2018.
Omisore defeated two other aspirants, Atanda Munirudeen Kehinde and Oladeji Kolawole Yemisi, with a landslide victory in the primary election held on Wednesday, in 332 wards across 31 local councils in the state.
The returning officer and chairman of the party’s electoral panel from Abuja, Prof. Rufai Alkali, announced the results from all the state’s 31 local government areas, in presence of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials.
Omisore polled 123,485 votes to defeat Oladeji, who came distant second with 1,805 votes and Atanda, who scored 1,617 votes.
“In line with the electoral acts which guide the conduct of primary elections in Nigeria.
“I hereby declare Omisore the winner of the SDP primary election in Osun State,” Alkali said.
Alkali also commended the deep commitment of party members who, he said, participated in the election, saying “no negative report was received from any of the local governments,” as according to him, “everything went well.”
He said that the election was thorough, fair and transparent, adding that “with this, SDP has shown other parties what to do in conducting a good primary election, especially adopting a direct participation of party members, allowing people to chose a candidate of their choice, not a representative voting through delegates.”
This followed after another SDP faction, on Wednesday elected Munirudeen Atanda as their candidate for the election.
The primary, which took place at the SDP Secretariat on Gbongan road, Osogbo, was held amid tight security.
Chief Ademola Ishola, the SDP Chairman in the state, told party members after the exercise, to disregard claims that another faction of the party exists in the state.
