OSUN 2014: Aregbesola Is Popular, Connected With The People Says Report

The second term bid of the governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the August 9 governorship election, has received a boost, as findings of a survey scored him high in terms of popularity.

In the report of a survey conducted by a socio-political group, Good Governance Vanguard (GGV), Aregbesola has 82 per cent chance of winning the election, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Iyiola Omisore, has 9 per cent chance.

The Labour Party (LP) candidate, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, according to the report, has 7 per cent chance of winning, while other political parties shared 2 per cent, with an error margin of 2.5 per cent.

The report, which was signed by the Coordinator of the group, Pastor Mathew Adenrele, said that random selection approach was used to conduct the poll in all the nine federal constituencies of the state.

The respondents in the poll, the report said, cut across politicians, civil servants, artisans, market men and women and students.

Respondents were drawn from minimum of six major towns and communities in each of the federal constituencies of the state.

The report said the largest percentage of the respondents attributed their love for Aregbesola to his developmental programmes and policies, while they rejected Omisore for what they described as his “perceived criminal conduct” and his unfavourable antecedents when he occupied political offices in the past.

Some of the respondents, according to the report, identified the reformation in the education system, ranging from construction of new schools, distribution of tablets of knowledge (Opon Imo), increment of grants to schools and distribution of free uniforms as some of the policies that have positively affected their lives and made them show interest in the governor.

The report read: “In the course of compiling the results of this poll, it was established that the programmes and policies of Rauf Aregbesola’s administration are acceptable to the people and have given him popularity above other candidates.

“The largest percentage of the respondents attributed their love for Aregbesola to his policies on education, ranging from construction of new schools, initiation and distribution of Opon-Imo to students, distribution of free uniforms to students, free meal to elementary school pupils, cancellation of PTA fees by students and increment of grant to schools and encouragement of teachers.

“In the area of infrastructural development, all the respondents attested to the fact that Aregbesola’s administration has constructed a number of roads that no government has ever done in the past.

“While some of the respondents also affirmed their support for Aregbesola due to his approach to youth employment, especially, through OYES and other job creation strategies, some said their supports were borne out of their interest in his social security programmes like Agba-Osun welfare programme, care for physically-challenged and mentally-ill people,” the report read.

The respondents, according to the survey, have made up their minds to re-elect Aregbesola, with a view to appreciating his developmental programmes and allow him complete the projects he had started.

On the other hand, the respondents who voted in favour of Omisore and Akinbade, according to the report, were mainly politicians of PDP and LP extractions, who want their party to be in government.

BIOREPORTS