Senator Iyiola Omisore on Saturday declared his interest to contest for the August 9 governorship election in Osun State, with a renewed call for the replacement of the Resident Electoral  Commissioner, Mr. Rufus Akeju.

Thousands of people from within and outside the state  gathered at the venue to witness the declaration of the former deputy governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Some of the PDP leaders, who were present at the event, were former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose;  a member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Mr. Shuaibu Oyedokun;  Buruji Kashamu, Teslim Folarin, among others.

Security was beefed up in Osogbo, especially at the venue of the  declaration, which caused traffic at the venue and in some  parts of the town.

Omisore said the incumbent Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, and his party, All Progressives Congress, would be voted out of power on August 9, because the people of the state were tired of being deceived.

He said, “ The REC in Osun State, Ambassador Akeju is a card carrying member of the APC. We have complained about him and we are sure that he can’t conduct a credible election in Osun.

“We want to ask Nigerians and Osun people to appeal to Prof. Jega (INEC chairman) to implement the court judgment, which restrained INEC from retaining Akeju as the Osun REC. Akeju must go.”

Omisore accused Aregbesola of squandering the state’s resources, saying it had become imperative for the people of the state to chase out the current administration with  their votes.

He stated that the religious disharmony allegedly caused by the Aregbesola administration and the mess, which the public education had been thrown into would come to an end.

He described the distribution of tablets to pupils by Aregbesola as a scam, which the APC government was using to defraud the people of the state. He had earlier said only 900 pieces of the device had so far been distributed.

Omisore said, “Aregbesola caused religious disharmony and that is why students started wearing choir gowns and ‘egungun’ attire to schools. All these shall stop.”

Fayose in his  goodwill message to the people urged chieftains and members of the PDP to be mindful of internal wrangling, warning that it was the only thing that could stop the party from coming to power in the state.

-Punch