by Jamiu Yisa

The propaganda war between the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is deepening as the 9 August governorship election draws closer.

The two major candidates in the election, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the APC and Senator Iyiola Omisore of the PDP, have adopted various election-winning baits to curry voters’ favour. Omisore, in his desperation to win the election, has re-invented himself in the mould of the Ekiti State governor-elect, Ayo Fayose, believing that humbling himself by buying delicacies from roadside traders and taking rides on commercial motorcycles would deliver him victory.

His baits include the adoption of local appellations, identifying and eating with the common people on the streets, buying items from petty traders and paying in multiple-fold as well as distributing foodstuffs to the electorate, among others. Omisore, who won election to the senate in 2003 while in prison custody, rode on a motorcycle and displayed two pieces of roasted corn he bought on his way to a campaign rally. Part of the propaganda allegedly employed by the Omisore group is the alleged marking of buildings overnight in Osogbo and spreading false information that those buildings would be demolished by Aregbesola’s administration.

The group also sent out short message service (SMS) putting Omisore’s rating ahead of the incumbent governor, Rauf Aregbesola, ascribing it to a survey conducted by the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. The rating being circulated on telephone and social media claims that USAID had conducted a pre-election survey which favours Omisore.

The APC, on its part, engaged the opposition in a media and public war, dispelling the PDP’s propaganda with proof, facts and figures. It accused the PDP of collaborating with the Nigeria Customs to distribute expired rice to the citizenry. The party equally engaged in a vigorous house-to-house campaign as well as distributed food items to the electorate.

In a statement issued by its Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, while reacting to the PDP’s rating SMS, stated that the latest claim coming from the PDP represents another fraudulent claim aimed at gaining undeserved advantage.

PDP’s message read: “USAID opinion poll conducted across the state between 12-21 July put your honour ahead: PDP 58/ APC 42. Such poll may have 2 or 3 error margin.”

But reacting to this, Okanlawon said the alleged poll result is the manifestation of the falsehood for which the PDP and its candidate are well noted. “Credible information at our disposal shows that the PDP candidate in the 9 August governorship election in the state has been going about with false claim that an opinion poll conducted by USAID favours him leading the pack of candidates. We can say authoritatively that no poll of such was ever conducted by the USAID. The PDP and Omisore are hereby challenged to come forward and show the world evidence of the survey.”

He added that USAID is a United States agency that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and does not dabble into politics of its host country. “We want to put it on record and make bold to say that Omisore cannot come second to Aregbesola in a fair and credible opinion poll in Osun. The aim of Omisore’s unscrupulous claim is calculated to prepare a soft landing for a planned rigging of the election. Neither the result of a free and fair election or survey will ever place Omisore as a runner-up to Aregbesola, hence Omisore’s resort to fabrication of lies using local and international agencies to gain undeserved credibility,” Okanlawon said.

He reminded the people of Osun in particular and Nigerians in general that the whole structure of the Omisore campaign is premised on fabrication of lies, saying his claims that he wrote to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, over the Tablet of Knowledge (Opon Imo) has not been proved.
“We have said severally that when a candidate aspiring for a position of responsibility such as that of governorship displays this kind of huge integrity deficit, the society suffers serious setback should there be a error to allow them into power. For once, Omisore needs to spare the people of Osun the oddity of his fabrications and prepare for his impending humiliation at the poll come August 9, 2014,” Okanlawon stated.

Prince Diran Odeyemi, the director of Media and Strategy for the Omisore Campaign Organisation, in an interview, said while his party detests campaign of calumny, the APC has been the opposite of their belief, adding that the PDP, its supporters and the candidate have been the subject of verbal and physical attack.

“We believe in peace. This has endeared us to the people and the outcome of the election on 9 August will prove me right. It will be wrong to accuse PDP of violence because the records are there that no single incidence of violence was recorded in all the places we visited while it was in the news that we were attacked by APC thugs otherwise called ‘state boys’ by Governor Aregbesola.”

He added: “We did not campaign in Ilesa East because we were attacked almost immediately we completed our campaign in Ilesa West and APC felt humiliated with the support we got in a place considered to be Aregbesola’s stronghold. When he commenced his campaign in Ife, they had a field day with no record of attack anywhere. So who is violent in this case? Aregbesola recently in the papers told reporters that he does not look like a governor but a street boy and will fight dirty, so who is violent? Omisore has a pedigree and was properly brought up in a royal way; he is not cut out for violence.”

He argued further that it is the APC and Aregbesola that are desperate and have resorted to violence, not PDP or Sen Omisore. “How possible is it to rig the election? INEC to us is the referee and umpire that we believe craves credibility in its task.

“The Federal Government business is not beyond providing enabling environment for a fair, acceptable and credible election. International observers from all over the world will be in attendance and Nigerians are focusing on Osun. How do you rig election monitored by the voters in each 310,000 polling booths. It is not possible to rig where security agencies are policing. APC like to accuse others of what they intend to do and in some instances lay preamble for failure. It is their style which failed in Ekiti,” he charged.