By Danlami Nmodu
A war of words has broken out over ‘polls’ ahead of the August 9th gubernatorial election in Osun.Trouble started when a TNS-RMS poll gave incumbent Governor Rauf Aregebesola 75% lead in Osun race.Swiftly, the Iyiola Omisore PDP camp replied saying it was untrue because a USAID poll had earlier given Omisore 58% lead.
The latest twist in the tale is the reported denial of the poll attributed to USAID.APC had issued a statement Friday that the United States AID agency (USAID) has contradicted PDP lies that the body conducted a poll on Osun August 9 election in which the PDP was favored to win.
Aregbesola’s APC’s said in a desperate bid to create the impression that its candidate is popular, the PDP told a terrible lie, a couple of days ago that the United States agency had tipped PDP’s candidate, Iyiola Omisore, to win the election in a poll that by the country’s international agency conducted.
‘But the PDP’s lie has been refuted yesterday by the Acting Public Affairs Officer of the US Consulate General, Lagos, Rhonda Watson, who said that ‘No USAID poll was taken in Osun’,APC said in a statement.
Quoting a one paragraph response from USAID, Democracy and Governance Team, Abuja, the United States Agency categorically said, “None of USAID Peace and Democracy Governance Implementing Partners (P/DG IPs) support or plan to support any election related opinion polls in Osun.”
So from where did the PDP scoop its false story? “They are shameless liars who will implicate anybody at all costs through their lying addiction,” the APC said.
The APC had contacted the USAID to provide it with a copy of the findings of the PDP alleged poll for verification, to which the agency responded that no such poll was conducted.
The APC therefore described the PDP in Osun as a band of liars who cannot be trusted with the finances of the state.
According to the APC, the greatest weapon of a thief is an incredible ability to lie without scruples. If such people as PDP liars have access to the state treasury, they will loot it empty. “Liars and thieves cannot replace Rauf Aregbesola,” the APC said adding that “the good people of Osun know that the PDP cannot win on August 9, because liars and looters form its core leadership.
Earlier Prince Diran Odeyemi ,director of media & strategy,Omisore Campaign said “We read without surprise the TNS-RMS poll in which the embattled Governor of Osun state ,Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was awarded a whopping 73 percent rating in the August 9 poll. The poll is a careless hatchet job by a client for its benefactor and therefore lacking any basis in political reality in which over 90 percent of Osun indegenes have rejected the incumbent .
“The public should note that USAID,an international organisation operating all over the world with unrivalled technical competence and impartial perspective on Osun political landscape, had put Senator Omisore ahead with 58 percent to Aregbesola’s 30 percent.
“We are not suprised with the poll because the close relationship between Governor Rauf Aregbesola and the chairman of TNS-RMS,Alhaji Tejumola Kareem is an open secret and that the firm is a consultant to the Osun state Government is also not in doubt. We reject the poll as a product of jittery political camp holding to every straw for survival.
Omisore’s camp said” it is a global ethical practice that gallopers do not have vested interest in subjects they are dealing with to preserve integrity of their reports.A conflict of intérêst exists here. A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation occurring when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation.The RMS has done a hatchet poll in Osun gubernatorial contest attempting to conceal the relationships between the organisation and Ogbeni Aregbesola.
PDP alleged “that the RMS Chairman, Alhaji Tejumola Kareem was a benefactor of Aregbesola in his struggling days in the 90’s. The firm was where the governor then technician Aregbesola trekked to regularly for “stomach infrastructure”. RMS was Aregbesola’s client as he was given the job of repairing RMS Air conditioners and refrigerators . We also know that Alhaji Kareem contributed immensely to Aregbesola Campaigns in 2007 and now.
“The Governor had in turn been paying back by patronising the firm through multiple consultancy within the Osun state government.It is therefore clearly unprofessional for RMS not to declare its interest in the Osun election before engaging in this fictitious poll.
“It was in pursuance of that relationship that RMS kept a criminal silence when Aregbesola started lying to the public that the company office was raided because of the poll in Osun. The RMS had undermined its credibility further by not clarifying that its brush with security agencies had to do with the security breach staff of the company committed in army barracks in Enugu in the course of its Guinness census. Officials of the firm had taken pictures of security installations prompting the arrest of it officials.
Omisore alleged further “Besides the RMS poll as an hatchet job,we also want the public to note that the poll fly in the face of similar poll already released by internationally acclaimed bodies.It is on record that USAID ,United States Development Agency,had released a result of its survey which clearly put senator Omisore ahead in the August 9 poll.
“For the avoidance of doubt,USAID polls put Omisore at 58%,Aregbe at 30% and others at 12%. It is clear that a compromised RMS cannot in any Way compare with USAID either on technical or Professional ground.
“We urge the public to discountenance this last minute attempt to hoodwink the public.RMS is an APC outfit doing a propaganda for Aregbesola.Its poll lacks integrity, incredible and totally jaundiced because of vested interest.
