OSUN HAS SPOKEN: THE PEOPLE’S MANDATE MUST NOT BE MORTGAGED
Mẹkunnu Kọya congratulates Adeleke, warns against betraying the people’s mandate
By Comrade Wale Balogun
Mẹkunnu Kọya has commended the resilience, courage and democratic determination of the people of Osun State who, despite enormous pressure, inducements, intimidation and other obstacles to a free, fair and transparent electoral process, stood firmly by their right to choose the candidate they wanted as their Governor.
Osun people have spoken, and their mandate must stand.
The movement warmly congratulates Governor Ademola Adeleke on his re-election and urges him to regard the victory not merely as a personal political triumph, but as a solemn mandate entrusted to him by the people of Osun State.
The outcome of the election has demonstrated once again that a determined and united people cannot be permanently defeated by political power, money, intimidation or the machinery of government.
A Congratulation with a Warning
Our congratulatory message to Governor Adeleke comes with a clear and unequivocal warning: he must not betray the confidence that Osun voters have reposed in him.
Governor Adeleke must resist the temptation to substitute the collective interest and democratic will of Osun people with personal political calculations, including any political arrangement or alignment designed to support the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027.
Whatever political understanding may exist between individuals, the mandate belongs to the people.
Osun voters did not give Governor Adeleke a blank cheque to negotiate away their democratic preferences. They voted in an election in which the APC and the political order it represents faced a strong rejection across significant sections of the electorate.
The Governor must therefore understand that the people who voted for him did so for their own interests, aspirations and future—not as an endorsement of any political bargain that may ultimately undermine those interests.
If Governor Adeleke truly understands the message of this election, he must protect the people from policies and political arrangements that deepen their hardship and must never mortgage the Osun mandate for personal political expediency.
The People Resisted Power, Money and Intimidation
Mẹkunnu Kọya particularly commends Osun voters for resisting the enormous political machinery deployed during the election.
The intimidating presence of APC governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives and other political heavyweights was not enough to substitute political power for the free will of the electorate.
Reports and observations concerning vote-buying, material inducement and attempts to reduce voters to commodities in a political marketplace were deeply troubling. Yiaga Africa, while stating that the official results were consistent with its independent statistical estimates, also raised concerns about vote-buying, voter inducement and gaps in electoral technology.
Yet, despite these pressures, the people demonstrated that poverty may be exploited temporarily, but the conscience of a people cannot be permanently purchased.
This is one of the most important lessons of the Osun election. Money may influence some votes, intimidation may frighten some citizens and political power may create fear, but none of these can permanently extinguish the determination of a people to choose their government.
The ADC and Aregbesola's Grassroots Strategy
Mẹkunnu Kọya equally commends the African Democratic Congress (ADC), its candidate and its leader in Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for the strategic political role played during the election.
To many discerning observers, Aregbesola remains one of the most experienced grassroots political strategists in the South-West. His understanding of grassroots mobilisation and community-based politics remains a factor that cannot be dismissed in assessing the outcome of the election.
The election has demonstrated that political structures built around genuine grassroots engagement can significantly influence electoral outcomes, irrespective of the size of the political machinery deployed against them.
Mẹkunnu Kọya therefore rejects any attempt by a political dynasty to appropriate the victory of the people or rewrite the history of what transpired before, during and after the election.
The re-election of Governor Adeleke was influenced by several factors—including voter dissatisfaction, opposition to the APC, the intervention and mobilisation of other political actors, grassroots dynamics and the determination of the electorate. It would therefore be historically inaccurate to attribute the outcome exclusively to the performance or electoral sagacity of any single individual.
INEC Must Answer the IReV Question
Mẹkunnu Kọya calls on the Independent National Electoral Commission under Professor Joash Amupitan to treat the Osun election as a serious warning and a learning point ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The interruption in the uploading of polling-unit results to the IReV portal during the election raises legitimate questions that INEC must answer openly and satisfactorily.
Yiaga Africa specifically questioned the prolonged interruption involving the uploading of results from 3,292 polling units, saying that it raised concerns about transparency and public confidence in the results-management process.
We therefore ask:
Why was there an interruption in the electronic transmission of results at such a critical moment?
What caused the interruption?
Who authorised it?
What safeguards were put in place during the period to ensure that no result could be compromised?
These are not questions that INEC should dismiss. They are questions arising from the legitimate expectations of Nigerians that modern electoral technology must strengthen—not weaken—transparency.
The fact that the official results subsequently fell within Yiaga Africa's independently projected ranges is reassuring, but it does not remove the need for INEC to provide a clear technical explanation of the interruption and ensure that such an occurrence cannot undermine confidence in the 2027 elections.
Professor Amupitan Must Not Fail Nigerians
Professor Joash Amupitan has a historic responsibility.
The 2027 election will be considerably more consequential than the Osun governorship election. Any perception that INEC is favouring one political party or candidate could have grave consequences for Nigeria's democracy.
The INEC leadership must therefore demonstrate, in both words and actions, that its allegiance is exclusively to the Nigerian Constitution, the electoral law and the Nigerian people.
One man, one vote must mean one man, one vote.
The vote of the poorest Nigerian must carry exactly the same weight as the vote of the richest politician.
Oyebamiji Should Accept the People's Verdict
Mẹkunnu Kọya calls on Mr. Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji to demonstrate statesmanship and accept the outcome of the election in good faith.
Every candidate has the constitutional right to seek judicial redress where genuine grounds exist. But the judiciary must never become a substitute for the electorate.
If there are legitimate electoral grievances, they should be presented before the appropriate judicial forum with credible evidence. But the people of Osun must not be asked to accept through litigation what they rejected at the ballot box.
The fundamental principle must remain:
The people's vote and mandate must count.
Threats, Intimidation and Incitement Must Be Investigated
Mẹkunnu Kọya calls on the relevant law-enforcement agencies to investigate credible allegations of threats, intimidation and inflammatory statements made before and during the election.
Where verifiable video, audio or other evidence exists against individuals alleged to have threatened voters or encouraged violence, the appropriate authorities must investigate and, where criminal liability is established, prosecute them in accordance with the law.
We specifically call for the investigation of the conduct and utterances attributed to Senator Fadahunsi, Ero Arike and others whose actions or public statements have been alleged to undermine the electoral process.
No politician—whether a senator, governor, party leader or grassroots actor—should be above the law.
Justice cannot be selective.
Free Popoola Alabi and End Political Persecution
Mẹkunnu Kọya is equally concerned about the continued detention of Popoola Alabi, a House of Representatives candidate for Ilesha and a member of Governor Adeleke's political circle.
Popoola Alabi was arrested and detained through what we regard as the political machination of Senator Fadahunsi, who sees him as a political threat.
We demand his immediate release if there is no legitimate criminal basis for his continued detention.
If there are genuine allegations against him, let them be openly stated and subjected to due process before a competent court. Political opponents must not be arrested, detained or persecuted simply because their political activities threaten the interests of powerful individuals.
Indeed, those against whom there is credible and verifiable evidence of threats against voters or attempts to undermine the electoral process should be investigated with the same urgency and seriousness.
The law must not be used as a weapon against political opponents while those accused of threatening the democratic process walk freely.
The Osun Message and the 2027 Warning
The Osun election is more than a governorship contest.
It is a warning to those who believe that federal power can permanently overpower the people.
It is a warning to politicians who believe that poverty has reduced Nigerians to political commodities.
It is a warning to those who believe intimidation can replace persuasion.
It is a warning to electoral institutions that Nigerians are watching.
And it is a warning to every political party preparing for 2027 that the Nigerian people are increasingly conscious of the power of their votes.
Mẹkunnu Kọya therefore calls on Governor Ademola Adeleke to cherish the mandate he has received, govern inclusively, protect the interests of all Osun citizens and resist every pressure to mortgage the state's democratic will for personal political calculations.
Osun belongs to its people—not to Adeleke, not to Oyetola, not to Tinubu, not to APC, not to any political dynasty and not to any individual.
The people have spoken.
The political class must listen.
A people determined and united cannot be defeated.
The mandate of the people must stand.
One man, one vote.
One people, one mandate.
Osun shall not be politically mortgaged.
Signed:
Comrade Wale Balogun
For Mẹkunnu Kọya
