By Dapo Akinrefon

THE respective political parties presented candidates to fly their party’s flag for the August 9 governorship election slated to hold in Osun State.

The candidates have also made attempts to go to the nooks and crannies of the state to sell their purposes and plans for the state.

The electorate have listened with rapt attention to the candidates’ manifestos during the electioneering campaign rallies and will decide who will govern them in the next four years.

Aregbesola

: The Six Point Integral Action Plan

This Six Point Integral
Action Plan derives from the cardinal development action points defined by the Rauf Aregbesola administration to realise the development agenda for the State.

Aregbesola’s action plans are captured in some slogans which include: Banish Hunger, Banish Poverty, Banish, Unemployment, Promote Healthy Living, Promote Functional Education, Promote Communal Peace and Progress.

According to the APC candidate, these six points are defined as integral because the delivery of the development vision requires a combined implementation of each of these points.

The Six Point Integral Action Plan was part of the manifesto enunciated by Aregbesola during his first outing as a candidate in 2007.

The manifesto in the form of the famous Green Book was actually first defined in 2005 to serve as the blueprint for the development agenda the Aregbesola team was to unfold.

Since assumption of office in November 2010, the Six Point Integral Action Plan has formed the foundation of the initiatives and programmes of the Aregbesola administration.

Omisore’s Eight Point Rescue Mission Plan

Fittingly for the leading opposition candidate, the agenda of the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Iyiola Omisore is dubbed as a rescue plan.

Omisore

While unfolding the plan, Omisore said the plan was articulated to build a united front and pro -people policies for the development of the people of the state.

According to him, the Rescue Mission aims to bring about Prosperity and Development that would in the end leave no one behind the Vision

The eight point cardinal programme attended by the chorus “That all may live, thrive and soar” has as its components with equally catchy catchphrases:

Restoration of the Dignity of Education: Education, the wisest investment we can make Health, wealth and social safety nets: Healthy People, Wealthy People

Gender Equality and Youth Development: Our Women, Our Children, Our Legacy

Gainful Employment and Wealth Creation: Fulfilled Aspirations, Engaged Hands

Technology and Infrastructure; Environmental Sustainability: Harnessing innovation for growth Agriculture, Food Security and Rural Development: Green Fields and Strengthened Communities, Public Service Administration, Monitoring and Accountability: Service and Professionalism, Good Governance, Peace and Security: Harmony between us and within us.

Akinbade: Providing quality leadership

The Labour Party candidate, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade says “I am resolved to work towards the goal of providing quality leadership that will work tenaciously to bring about the required development and give our people a new lease of life.”

Akinbade

He urged that “Let us go into a partnership that will positively affect our collective fortunes.”

He listed the party’s programmes to include mechanised agriculture, industrialisation, integrated rural development, improved infrastructure and restoration of the middle class.

Other programmes are human capital development, water supply and sanitation as well as building of egalitarian society through welfare programmes.

Akinwusi: My Pact with Osun People

For the candidate of the  Social Democratic Party, SDP, Mr Olusegun Akinwusi, his manifesto is a pact with the people.

Akinwusi pointed out that “as people looked away in disillusionments and frustration, we know how to fill the void created by these foreign locusts. This is because they think they own this government, but we are here today to take it back.”

Akinwusi

The SDP candidate declared that “the time for that politics is over. It is time to turn the page.”

Hear him, “Let us be the generation that will end poverty in Osun State. Every single person willing to work should be able to get job, or training that leads to a job and earn a living wage that can guarantee his or her livelihood.

But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It is not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the road block that stand in our path. It is not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight.

Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.

Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young graduate, of the woman whose shed was wickedly destroyed and the businessmen whose take home profit daily diminishes.”

 Voting strength

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the registered voters in the state is put at 1,407,222.

Also, there are 310 polling units in the state.

742,000 permanent voters cards have been collected, representing 61.83 per cent of the total 1.2 million available.

Population
The 2006 census figure put the population of Osun State, also known as State of the Living Spring to 3,423,535.

Local Governments

Aiyedade
Aiyedire
Atakumosa East
Atakumosa West
Boluwaduro
Boripe
Ede North
Ede South
Egbedore
Ejigbo
Ife Central
Ife East
Ife North
Ife South
Ifedayo
Ifelodun
Ila
Ilesha East
Ilesha West
Irepodun
Irewole
Isokan
Iwo
Obokun
Odo-Otin
Ola-Oluwa
Olorunda
Oriade
Orolu
Osogbo