The African Action Congress (AAC) governorship candidate in the Osun State governorship election, Olajide Esan, has alleged that Governor Ademola Adeleke’s victory was driven largely by vote buying and inducement rather than the strength of his policies or what he had to offer the people.
Esan, who spoke during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, said the outcome of the election did not truly reflect the will of the people, arguing that widespread poverty and economic hardship had left many voters vulnerable to politicians who could provide immediate financial assistance.
According to him, the issue of vote buying was not limited to one political party, as both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Accord allegedly participated in inducement during the election.
“Adeleke won the election, not really based on what he has to offer, but the capacity to promote inducement,” Esan said.
He explained that many voters were struggling to survive and were therefore forced to make electoral decisions based on immediate economic needs rather than long-term policies, governance and development.
“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, you know, buy their food, have the money to, I mean, to decide where election is going to go,” he said.
Esan said he was dissatisfied with the outcome of the election because, in his view, Nigeria’s electoral system has repeatedly failed to produce results that accurately reflect the preferences of voters.
“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.
He also criticised the political establishment, arguing that the two dominant political parties were operating on essentially the same ideology that had contributed to Nigeria’s current economic and social problems.
“Because the two parties, you call major party, represent the same political ideology that has brought Nigeria to its knees,” Esan said.
The AAC candidate further questioned the quality of governance in Osun State, arguing that leadership should prioritise human capital development rather than projects he described as “kangaroo projects” designed to siphon public funds.
“Definitely, because if you really understand what standard is all about, a leader has to take human capital development seriously. It’s not just about doing kangaroo project to siphon state money,” he said.
When asked whether he considered the projects being implemented by the state government to be “kangaroo projects,” Esan responded:
“Definitely, definitely because there is a lot of money, I mean money has come into Osun state but you can’t really see it on the people.”
Esan also rejected the suggestion that the AAC’s poor performance was simply the result of inadequate campaigning.
He said the party held rallies and organised programmes across Osun State, adding that its campaign reached communities and local governments throughout the state.
“We do our rally. We do different programmes in the Australian state. We go all across the local governments in the Australian state from word to word and all that,” he said.
However, he admitted that the party did not do enough in the area of voter education, which he identified as one of the major lessons from the election.
Esan cited the example of a family of six who, according to him, initially appeared to support the AAC, but whose votes did not ultimately reflect that support.
“First of all, the lesson I’ve learned was that we didn’t do enough in the area of voter education because there were a lot of people, like there was a family of six who voted for us. But at the end of the day, we realised that only one of them did vote for AAC or that voted for AA,” he said.
He said his campaign was not simply a contest against other political candidates but against what he described as the entrenched political establishment and the lack of voter awareness.
“I didn’t contest against our political party. I contested against the current establishment, the ignorance of our people,” Esan said.
Despite his defeat, Esan maintained that he had confidence in the quality of his manifesto and policy proposals, insisting that he believed they were stronger than those presented by the other candidates.
“Because of the fact that of all the candidates, I can say that I have the best manifesto and I have the best plan for show people,” he said.
He maintained that until the underlying economic conditions affecting Nigerians are addressed and voters are adequately educated about the importance of their choices, elections may continue to fall short of reflecting the genuine will and aspirations of the electorate.
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