BY GBENGA OLARINOYE, OSOGBO
Though there are 20 candidates contesting tomorrow’s gubernatorial election, two of them, Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress, APC and Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP clearly stand out.

None of the remaining 18 candidates of the fringe parties is expected to make any headway in the reckoning of many stakeholders.

Akinbade: Labour Candidate and Akinwusi: The SDP candidate

However, though they may not win, two of the minor candidates, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, the Labour Party candidate and Elder Segun Akinwusi, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP stand out as two irritants to the major candidates.

They should be, having flocked with the two candidates until recently.

Akinbade is famously known as the father of the PDP in Osun State, being the first state chairman of the party. He is famed as the only man in the state who served all three military administrations leading to the Fourth Republic and after helping to enthrone the PDP in government in 2003 became the Secretary to the State Government, SSG. He served in that position until the judicial dismissal of the Olagunsoye Oyinlola government in 2010.

Intrigues within the party led to his exit forcing him again to lay the foundation of a new political party in the state. The Labour Party which he chose has, however, not had much prospects and not even the only Labour governor in the country, Governor Segun Mimiko of Ondo State has helped to ginger support for him. Mimiko is a close friend of Omisore, the PDP candidate, a fact that led many to suggest that the only Labour governor was not enthusiastic towards his candidacy.

Akinbade built the PDP from the scratch in the state because at the time he became the chairman, PDP had only one member in the state House of Assembly which incidentally was produced from Akinbade’s constituency in Olaoluwa.

Despite his political prowess, the Labour candidate is stymied by resources and lack of structure. The party is also factionalised with three major factions contesting legitimacy.

Akinbade is leading one faction, Comrade Rufus Oyatoro is leading another faction while another faction led by Chief Bankole Afilaka has already been alleged to be working for Omisore. Oyatoro’s faction has itself publicly declared support for Aregbesola.

ELDER SEGUN AKINWUSI, the SDP candidate was until now only reckoned as a successful bureaucrat who successfully served all three civilian administrations of the Fourth Republic.

He rose to become Head of Service in the Oyinlola regime and subsequently stayed in that office for one and half years until his retirement about two years ago.

For the nine years he served as HOS he was never reckoned as a politician and thus the surprise that greeted his entry into the gubernatorial fray. Despite his fervent presence in social media and attacks against the two major candidates, it is, however, difficult finding traces of the Akinwusi campaign on the field.

Winning his polling booth would be a miracle.

Osun facts and figures

Created August 27, 1991 with a land area of 9,251  km2 (3,572  sq  mi), Osun State has:

* Three senatorial zones

* Nine federal constituencies

* 27 state constituencies

* 30 local councils

* 334 wards

* 6389 polling units

* 1,407,222 registered voters

* 4,449,319 estimated population

Bounded in the West by Oyo State; Ondo and Ekiti states in the East; Kwara State in the North and Ogun in the South, Osun State is blessed with mineral resources like gold, clay, limestone, kaolin and granite as well as agricultural resources.

Tourist sites

The state also has numerous tourist sites and attractions. They include:

•The famous Ife bronze

•The Oranmiyan Staff which is believed to be the fighting stick of Oranmiyan, the son of Oduduwa who was a great warriorThe Ife Museum.

•Obafemi Awolowo University Zoological gardens, Ile-Ase.

•Yeyemolu Shrines and Oduduwa groove, Ile-Ife.

•Osun Osogbo Sacred Groove – venue of the internationally recognized Osun Osogbo festival and a UNESCO, world heritage site

•Adunni Susan Wengers Centre,

•Genesis Arts Gallery

•Nike Arts Gallery,

•Jalumi War Site, Inisa

•The Olumirin Water-Falls, Erin-Ijesa, Igbo-Sango at Ede and the Ayikunugba Water- Falls at Oke-Ila.