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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Residents of Osun State, will only Saturday (today) go to the polls to elect who will govern the state for the next four years.
The Osun State governorship election is one of the eight off-cycle elections in the country and the second to be conducted in 2022 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A total of 15 candidates will participate in the election. They are the incumbent, Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who is seeking a second term in office; Senator Ademola Adeleke, who is the flag bearer of the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); and Lasun Yusuf, a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, who is the candidate of the Labour Party (LP).
Others are Akinade Ogunbiyi of the Accord Party (AP); Akinrinola Omigbodun of the Social Democratic Party (SDP); Segun Awojide, (AAC); Atanda Kehinde (ADP); Awoyemi Adedapo (BP); Rasaq Saliu (NNPP); Abede Samuel (NRM); Ayowole Adedeji (PRP); Ademola Adeseye (YPP); Awoyemi Lukuman (APM); Adebayo Elisha (APP); and Adesuyi Olufemi (ZLP).
Although all the candidates campaigned and canvassed for votes, the election is expected to be a two-horse race between the APC and PDP.
It is an opportunity for the people of the state to either approve the work Oyetola has done in the last three and a half years or remove him from office.
With 1,463,470 voters eligible to vote out of a total of 1,955, 657 registered voters, the election is sure to be a battle between the two main contenders, Oyetola and Adeleke, who were also the leading candidates of in the 2018 governorship election.
The election will be contested in all the 30 local government areas, comprising 332 wards and 3,763 polling units.
It is now left for the people to come out and cast their votes for the candidate of their choice.