Arise Television anchor, Oseni Rufai, has taken a swipe at the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, over the just concluded Osun State governorship election.
Speaking during Arise Television’s ‘Morning Show’, Rufai asked Wike to stop ‘gaslighting’ Nigerians over the outcome of the election.
The anchor rubbished claims that the Federal Government did not deploy its influence and resources in the election.
According to him, significant political and financial efforts were allegedly made to secure victory for the APC but ultimately failed.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke, winner after he polled 511,067 votes to defeat the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, who got 444,815 votes.
Adeleke won 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji won 11, giving the incumbent a margin of 66,252 votes.
Reacting to the outcome of the election, Wike said the APC would have won the election if Tinubu had chosen to deploy the full weight of federal power.
Responding, Rufai dismissed the argument, describing it as denial and ‘gaslighting’ of Nigerians.
He said claims that federal influence was not deployed was difficult to reconcile with the scale of political activity and resources allegedly committed to the election.
According to him, federal-aligned interests made substantial efforts to influence the outcome but still failed to secure an APC victory because voters in the state resisted the pressure.
