Some candidates On Sunday, in the September 22 governorship election of Osun State gathered in Osogbo, the capital of the state for a debate. Though the organizers of the debate invited five leading candidates, Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was absent.

The candidates who participated in the debates were Fatai Akinbade of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Moshood Adeoti of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Gboyega Oyetola of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Iyiola Omisore of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The televised debate, which was anchored by Channels television’s political correspondent, Seun Okinbaloye, was disappointing to watch. Most of the candidates seem unprepared for such an important discourse and left the impression that they saw the debate as a mere formality. Most of the responses were half-hearted, sentences were left hanging and unfinished because the candidates ran out of ideas to complete them. The debate was largely a snooze-fest. There were just a handful of sparks, the types usually associated with political debates.

Opening remarks
Mr Oyetola, who was the Chief of Staff of the incumbent governor of the state, Rauf Aregbesola, arrived late to the debate. He got off straight to answering questions without apologising to the audience and viewers for his tardiness.

According to Premiumtimesng. Mr Akinbade of the ADC, who had tried unsuccessfully to push through his governorship ambition, said he wanted to be governor because of his wealth of experience working under three military juntas, and then proceeded to reel out a list of clichés (I am well-equipped, prepared for the task ahead, I’m passionate) for why he should be elected governor without telling the people some of the things he had done in the past that proved his passion for governance.

Ironically, for a man who has changed parties three times, mainly because he did not get the nod to contest (he lost at the primary stage in both his previous attempts), Mr Akinbade said he was not “inordinately ambitious”.

Mr Adeoti, who until a few weeks ago, was the Secretary to the State Government and a member of the ruling APC, said the main reason he wanted to be governor was because he believed it was the turn of the Osun West Senatorial District to producer the governor, having not produced one in the present republic since1999. Mr Adeoti decamped to the ADP after he lost out in the politicking in the buildup to the APC primary election. He also added a list of clichés like youth and women empowerment, development, good governance and agricultural growth as other reasons he wanted to be governor.

Mr Omisore said he would plug the leakages in government and improve transparency in government spending if he was elected. He added that salaries of workers would be paid promptly. Some cadres of civil servants in Osun have not received full salaries for several months. Mr Omisore, however, did not say how he intends to generate the funds to offset the backlog of unpaid salaries to promptly pay the workers.

Mr Oyetola, unsurprisingly, said he would continue with most of the policies of the incumbent governor, especially in the areas of infrastructural development. He said his experience in the private sector would come in handy in running the states. He said he does not believe in zoning of elective positions in the state.

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