The African Action Congress (AAC) governorship candidate in the Osun State election, Olajide Esan, has alleged that Governor Ademola Adeleke’s victory was driven more by electoral inducement than by his record or what he offered the electorate.
Esan made the allegation while speaking on the outcome and conduct of the election during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday monitored by The News Chronicle.
According to him, the election did not fully reflect the will of the people, arguing that widespread poverty and economic hardship had made many voters vulnerable to politicians offering immediate financial assistance.
“Adeleke won the election, not really based on what he has to offer, but the capacity to promote inducement,” he said.
Esan said economic hardship had created a situation where some Nigerians were forced to prioritise immediate survival over their preferred political choices.
“So it’s kind of, I say, like Nigerians are trapped because they are not really voting for who they want, but they are voting for who can buy their food, have the money to decide where election is going to go,” he said.
The AAC candidate said he was dissatisfied with the outcome, maintaining that Nigeria’s electoral system had repeatedly failed to produce results that genuinely reflected voters’ preferences.
“I wouldn’t say I’m satisfied with the outcome because the way elections have been in this country doesn’t really reflect the will of the people because of the situation that people in Nigeria are in today,” he said.
Esan also criticised the country’s major political parties, arguing that they represented the same political establishment and ideology that had contributed to Nigeria’s economic and social challenges.
“Because the two parties you call major parties represent the same political ideology that has brought Nigeria to its knees,” he said.
He, however, said the AAC’s poor performance could not be attributed to a lack of campaign efforts, noting that the party held rallies and other programmes across the state.
He identified inadequate voter education as one of the major lessons from the election, claiming that some voters who were expected to support the AAC eventually voted for other parties.
“First of all, the lesson I’ve learned was that we didn’t do enough in the area of voter education,” Esan said.
He cited an alleged case involving a family of six, saying only one member eventually voted for the AAC despite the family initially indicating support for the party.
Esan said he viewed the election as a contest against the political establishment and what he described as voter ignorance rather than merely a contest against other candidates.
“I didn’t contest against our political party. I contested against the current establishment, the ignorance of our people,” he said.
He maintained that his manifesto and policy proposals were stronger than those of the other candidates, arguing that his campaign offered a different approach to governance.
“Of all the candidates, I can say that I have the best manifesto and I have the best plan for the people,” he said.
The AAC candidate also criticised Nigeria’s political leadership, describing some politicians as businessmen who present themselves as leaders while exploiting the country’s problems for personal gain.
He said the growing number of unemployed youths was a worrying indication of Nigeria’s future, accusing political leaders of taking advantage of existing challenges rather than addressing them.
“They are there to take advantage of every opportunity. They are there to take advantage of existing problems and to add to the existing ones,” he said.
Esan disclosed that he polled 1,558 votes in the election but alleged that the AAC’s representation at several polling units was compromised by individuals who impersonated the party’s agents.
According to him, some supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) allegedly used Accord Party uniforms during the election.
He further alleged that fake AAC tags were produced and used by individuals who were not authorised by the party.
“Places where we didn’t have party agents, they made fake party tags, and those people used it to act as our party agents because they know that we don’t negotiate,” he alleged.
Esan said the AAC had more than 2,000 potential agents but released only about 10 per cent of its tags because of fears that its agents could be compromised.
“We had over 2,000, but because these people were looking for ways to buy out party agents, we decided not to release the party tags. We only released about 10 per cent for people we can easily identify with and easily trust,” he said.
He also raised concerns about the voters’ register, questioning how the same voter’s name could allegedly appear in different polling units.
“I don’t understand why a single voter’s name would be in any voters’ register across different polling units, that once they have a voter’s card, they can go to different polling units to vote,” he said.
Esan called for the alleged irregularities to be addressed before future elections, stressing that the credibility of Nigeria’s electoral process depended on tackling such issues.
He further argued that Nigeria’s political system remained dominated by an elite culture in which politicians sought power primarily for control and personal interests rather than public service.
“The people we have now represent the same establishment, the same circle of elite culture,” he said.
“And when they’re contesting, they are not contesting to serve the people, they are contesting for who to be in charge or who to take the biggest meat.”
According to Esan, elections in Nigeria were increasingly becoming exercises in deception, warning that the country would struggle to make progress if citizens failed to take leadership and political participation seriously.
He said the AAC’s political movement was seeking a more participatory system of governance in which citizens would have greater involvement in decision-making.
“That is why it’s part of our plan to make leadership participatory, to make governors participatory, so every member of our society can get themselves involved,” he said.
Esan also proposed changes to ballot papers to make it easier for voters to identify candidates, suggesting that candidates’ names should be displayed more prominently.
“If it’s possible, I would like INEC to start having, even if they can’t put the candidate’s picture, they can put the candidate’s name maybe on one side, so that you can know who they are voting for,” he said.
On election-day mobilisation, Esan said the AAC provided some of its agents with about N5,000 to support their movement, while stressing that many of the agents were volunteers.
“That is about N5,000, not all of them. We didn’t send all of them out, and the thing is that the money was paid as a kind of sacrifice, because it’s our collective; it’s only our volunteers,” he said.
