The National Secretary of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Dipo Olayoku, has urged Nigerians to draw lessons from what he described as the resilience of voters in Osun State ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Olayoku made the call on Monday while speaking on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, during a post-election review of the August 15 Osun governorship election.
He said the conduct of voters during the election demonstrated that determined citizens could maintain their political choices despite pressure, intimidation and other challenges.
“As a matter of fact, what it shows is that if people are united at some things, nothing can change their opinion. That’s exactly what the election shows,” he said.
Governor Ademola Adeleke was declared winner of the election after securing 511,067 votes against 444,815 votes recorded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Oyebamiji.
The election was marked by heightened political tension, allegations and counter-allegations, as well as increased security deployment across the state.
Olayoku argued that the significance of the election went beyond Adeleke’s victory, saying Osun voters had repeatedly demonstrated their ability to make independent political decisions without necessarily following the directives of political godfathers.
“They have always been showing it in the elections that they have their own conviction, they don’t take any directive from any godfather,” he said.
According to him, Nigerians should replicate that determination during the 2027 elections by actively participating in the electoral process and ensuring that their votes are protected from the polling units through the collation of results.
He said some voters in Osun remained at collation centres for hours after voting to ensure that results from their polling units were accurately captured.
“So, it is a lesson that Nigerians should learn in 2027. People that are determined, nothing can break them, no intimidation,” Olayoku said.
The NNPP chieftain, however, said the resilience of Osun voters should not prevent concerns about the conduct of the election from being examined.
He cited allegations of intimidation, violence, vote-buying and political interference during the election period.
Olayoku also referred to the controversy surrounding the freezing of an Osun State Government account by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) shortly before the election.
The account was subsequently ordered unfrozen by President Bola Tinubu.
He questioned the consistency in the handling of alleged vote-buying, citing a social media post by a woman who allegedly claimed that she received N15,000 to vote for the APC.
“A day after the governorship election, again, a lady came on Facebook thanking APC for giving her fifteen thousand naira to vote for them. Nothing has happened to the lady,” he said.
Olayoku also raised concerns over alleged intimidation of Accord party supporters before the election.
He maintained that the central lesson from the Osun election was the determination of voters to stand by their political choices despite the challenges surrounding the exercise.
“But what people are praising is the resilience of the people of Osun,” he said.
“It is not the election that the people are commending, it is the resilience of the people of Osun.”
Olayoku urged Nigerians to demonstrate similar commitment in 2027, stressing that protecting electoral choices requires citizens to remain engaged beyond the casting of their ballots.
“That’s the lesson from Osun election, not because the opposition won, but because they maintained and retained to win the elections. Anything could have happened going by what APC did before the election. They did everything to stop Osun people,” he said.
