Omisore, Adejare Bello tackle each other over zoning

Dotun OlanibiFebruary 18, 2018

0 1,588 1 minute read

Omisore, Adejare Bello tackle each other over zoning

A former Deputy Governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, and a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Adejare Bello, have sharply disagreed over which senatorial district in the state should produce the next governor of the state.

Bello was Omisore’s running mate during the 2014 governorship election in the state, but the two of them currently belong to different factions of the Peoples Democratic Party.

While Omisore is from Osun East Senatorial District, Bello is from Osun West Senatorial District.

Bello told SUNDAY PUNCH that any political party which chose its governorship candidate outside the Osun West Senatorial District would be rejected by the majority of the people of the state.

He said, “Osun West is the only senatorial district that has not produced a governor since the nation returned to democracy in 1999. Chief Bisi Akande and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, from Osun Central, spent 11 years as governors of the state. Governor Rauf Aregbesola is from Osun East and he will complete two terms of eight years by November.

“I believe it is just and fair to zone the PDP governorship ticket to Osun West which is yet to produce a governor.”

But Omisore claimed that Osun West was the first to produce a governor shortly after the state was carved out of the old Oyo State.

He cited the case of the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke, a native of Ede, where Bello hails from, as the first governor of the state.

In a statement on his behalf by Mr. Idowu Afolami, Omisore said zoning system promoted mediocrity and deprived the people of the best leaders they need.

The statement partly read, “In Osun, if necessarily there must be zoning, it has to be done in a way that no zone would feel cheated or short-changed. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands.”