Though the scripture says, a prophet has honour, except among his own people. But on mundane issues like politics, especially in an unusual clime like Nigeria, charity must begin at home. This must have informed the do or die attitude of Nigerian politicians to win convincingly in their constituen­cies all in the name of having home support.
So, when the results of the just concluded governorship election in Osun State started trickling in that Saturday, the anxiety of most politicians was about the results of their polling booths, polling units as well as their wards. Interestingly however, not a few party chieftains were literally declared ‘personae non grata’ by their people through the ballot boxes
Notable among them were the former governor of the state, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), state Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Bola Ajao, PDP candidate’s spokesman, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, and State PDP Chairman, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa among others.
Result showed that Oyinlola’s APC lost to PDP by 61 to 125 in Okuku. On the side of the PDP, Olaoluwa lost by 95 to 142, Diran Odeyemi lost 113 to 215 and Ajao 126 to 208.
Daily Sun visited their various domains to find out why their kinsmen rejected them at the poll considered to be very crucial to their socio-economic welbeing and political career.
Even in Okuku, with Oyinlola and Madam Bolaji Akande, who is the current Commis­sioner for Human Resources and Capacity Building, the APC could not win a single unit out of the 19 units that make up voting points in the town. At the end of the count­ing, APC had 11,950 votes against PDP’s 12, 902 votes
In Okuku, some residents who spoke with our correspondent blamed Oyinlola for “not carrying them along when defecting to the APC.”
Mrs. Omosetan Omonrele, a textile trader told Daily Sun that, “Uncle Lagun (short form of Olagunsoye) brought PDP to us in Okuku and became our party leader onto whom we look up for political direction.” Her grudge against the former governor was that, “even the weekend before he declared for APC, we went to him to confront him about the rumour that he wanted to defect to which he said there is nothing like that.”
The nursing mother in her late 30s explained that “when he decamped without our input, we decided to pay him back by not voting for him to show our displeasure.”
Another resident, Mr. Abolarinwa Tunde (ward 2, unit 9) described Oyinlola’s defection to the APC as’ “betrayal of trust,” arguing that, “he is not supposed to abandon former Deputy Governor, Senator Iyiola Omisore at the time he needed our support to reciprocate his earlier good gesture for our brother, Lagun.”
At Ward 1, Unit 7, a leader of The Omi­sore Brothers, a campaign group for Senotor Iyiola Omisore 2014, who pleaded anonym­ity “in reference to royalty because I am also a prince,” regretted that, “our own uncle, who brought the party to us just abandoned us in the storm when we needed him most as our mentor to give us direction.”
What we did, according to him was to reciprocate Omisore’s generosity, saying, “we did not regret and will never regret for doing so.”
He disclosed that, “Oyinlola’s 2003 ticket was donated to him by Omisore with the understanding that after his terms in office should also support him,” saying, “if we failed to vote for Omisore that Saturday, he may think that we are all traitors.”
Another Princess, who has a liquor shop in the town also blamed Oyinlola’s defeat in Okuku in particular and Odo-Otin Local Government generally on “on the manner he treated Omisore,” of whom he said, “volun­teered his back on which our brother climbed to the top.”Residents of Ikirun, headquarters of Ifelodun Local Government Area of Osun state have explained why they voted for Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) instead of Senator Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) despite the relationship between Omisore and some indigenes of the town.The PDP State Publicity Secretary, Prince Bola Ajao who hailed from Ikirun lost in his polling unit at Oke-Ola, ward 08, Ifelodun Local Government during the election to the APC.A resident of the area, Mr. Jacob Oyebiyi who said he voted for the APC disclosed that the people of the area decided to vote for Aregbesola in appreciation of the numerous developmental projects he executed in the area.
According to him, Aregbesola’s adminis­tration rehabilitated the Oke Afo road which was within ward 08 where they voted add­ing that the area did not benefit during the tenure of the PDP led by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola. The decision to vote massively for Aregbesola was informed by the poor perfor­mance of the PDP-led government between 2003 and November, 2010.
Another resident of the area, Mr. Abiola Odeyinka who claimed that he voted for the APC said “we did not benefit from the administration of Bola Ajao when he was the chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state,” saying, “what Aregbe­sola did for us within the last few years was unparallel.”He added: “I as an individual, I do not hate PDP, but when we compare the achieve­ments of Aregbesola with what the PDP achieved in seven and a half years, you will know that it is only an ungrateful person that will vote against APC. “The Governorship candidate of the PDP is so arrogant that even members of his party did not support him. We have not enjoyed anything from him in this part of the state, so, how could we have voted for such fellow,” he stated.
He expressed confidence that Aregbesola would develop the area in the next one year beyond the imagination of the people.He also advised Bola Ajao to team up with the APC leaders in the area for him to be accepted by the people of the ward.
In Ibokun, Obokun Local Government of the state is the home town of the spokesman of Senator Iyiola Omisore, Prince Diran Odeyemi. All the residents, who spoke with Daily Sun dismissed Odeyemi as somebody not on ground at home.
Mathew Omogboye of Ward 1, Unit 4 and Sikiru Fagbamila of Ward 1, Unit 8 described Odeyemi as “a foreign politician, who doesn’t identify with his root,” disclos­ing that, “when he was working with former governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, he did not help any of us ap­plicants from this town.”
Speaking in the same vein, Ademola Hakeem and Temitope Olatubosun added that, “we saw him last here when he aspired to be governor in 2010 before the current governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola came to power.”
According to them, their brother disap­peared only to surface recently as a cam­paigner for somebody else, wondering “how anybody could vote for a stranger brought by a son of the soil, who himself is not popular among us.”
All the respondents unanimously admitted that, “we voted for somebody who has trans­formed our hitherto neglected community, in whom we have confidence that will still do more for us,” waxing philosophical that, “a known devil is far better than an unknown angel.”
A woman, who claimed to be Odey­emi’s aunt declined to mention her name but volunteered that, “I did not vote for his candidate because I don’t know him,” adding however that, “if he were to be in the contest, I might consider him because blood is thicker than water.”
At Olorunda base of the State Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, residents were not interested in discussing his electoral misfortune as our respondents said, “we have put him in his proper place and moved on.”
An elderly man, Pa Ogunbufunmi Ajik­anle, told Daily Sun that, “your mission here is not relevant to us any longer,” stating emphatically that, “if the election is repeated tomorrow, he would get less votes that what he got in that election.”

Why we voted against our sons –Osun residents