Osun Election: PDP candidate Adeleke accuses Gov. Oyetola of blocking campaign venues

Mr Adeleke, who expressed his bitterness, said he had ready contacted governor Oyetola stressing that he has been waiting for his reply.

Tosin Ajuwon • July 13, 2022

Gboyega Oyetola and Ademola Adeleke

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Osun governorship election, Ademola Adeleke, has accused co-contestant, Governor Gboyega Oyetola of denying his party access to Osogbo City Stadium and the Freedom Park, the proposed venues for his campaign grand finale on Thursday.

“As I am speaking to you right now, we have applied for the venue of our mega rally for tomorrow (Thursday) but up till now, they have not given it to us. We have been denied access,” Mr Adeleke told Peoples Gazette on Wednesday.

Mr Adeleke specifically said the Osun State government led by Governor Gboyega Oyetola has denied him access to the venue of the rally.

He spoke while fielding questions from our reporter over his preparation for Saturday’s governorship election as campaigns come to an end.

No fewer than six serving governors had arrived in Osogbo, the state capital, ahead of the PDP final mega rally.

The governors include; Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Douye Diri (Bayelsa), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), and vice-presidential candidate of the party, among others.

Former Nigeria’s senate president, Bukola Saraki, led the PDP caucus members that arrived in the state on Wednesday evening.

Speaking further, Mr Adeleke, who expressed his bitterness, said he had ready contacted governor Oyetola stressing that he has been waiting for his reply.

“I have even gone to see the governor (Oyetola) and I told him that we have applied several times for a venue for our rally and I asked him what’s going but he begged and said he would look into it.

“This state belongs to all of us, the APC did their mega rally yesterday (Tuesday) why are they not giving us? Please, we want peace,” he added.

However, the Osun Commissioner for Information, Funke Egbemode, denied Mr Adeleke’s allegation.

Ms Egbemode who spoke in a phone interview said the application for venues by the PDP came late, after it had been approved for other programmes for the same day of the rally.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had issued forty-eight hours as deadlines for political campaigns for the governorship election.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) had on Tuesday held its final campaign rally while the Labour Party (LP) held its own today (Wednesday).

Fifteen political parties would be participating in the Saturday Osun governorship election.

Although, the election is a effectively two-horse race between Adeleke and Oyetola, as both men had squared off for the same race in 2018.

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