The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has challenged allegations that its governorship candidate, Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, engaged in vote-buying during the August 15 governorship election.
The party specifically questioned the conflicting figures cited by three prominent figures from the governor’s camp regarding the amount purportedly spent by the APC to influence voters.
In a statement issued by its Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, the APC described the allegations as false and lacking credible evidence. The party highlighted the significant disparity in the figures attributed to Dr. Deji Adeleke, brother of Governor Ademola Adeleke; singer David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido; and former Senator Dino Melaye.
According to the APC, Deji Adeleke allegedly claimed the party spent N70 billion on vote-buying, while Davido reportedly mentioned N120 billion and Melaye cited N60 billion. “The sharp disparity in the conjured figures rolled out by Dr. Deji Adeleke, the brother of the Osun State Governor; David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, a nephew of the governor; and Senator Dino Melaye, as the cost of the purported vote-buying by our party is an attestation to the fact that the affected characters are far from being coordinated and grossly guilty of spewing falsehoods to misinform the unsuspecting members of the public,” the party stated.
The APC dismissed the allegations as “beer parlour talk” and challenged the accusers to produce evidence showing that Oyebamiji or his campaign organisation bought votes during the election. In a counter-offensive, the APC turned the allegations against the state government, questioning several payments reportedly made to categories of residents shortly before the election. The party specifically challenged Deji Adeleke, Davido, and Melaye to explain the purpose of an alleged N20,000 payment made to each state worker three days before the election, describing it as “vote-buying through the back door.”
The party also questioned an alleged N50,000 payment to members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) serving in the state shortly before the poll and claimed that pensioners also received financial payments before and during the election. The allegations have sparked a wider debate over campaign spending during the election, which saw Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party secure re-election with 511,067 votes, defeating the APC candidate who polled 444,815 votes.
Davido had previously alleged that the APC spent substantial sums on vote-buying, claiming in a television interview that the party spent N110 billion and that he had been contacted by Senate President Godswill Akpabio and businessman Aliko Dangote to delete his social media posts about the election. However, former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has countered Davido’s claims, alleging that the Accord Party itself spent at least N40 billion on the election. Fayose claimed that over N7.5 billion was distributed across local governments and wards shortly before the poll.
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