Roles of Saraki, Diri, and Obaseki in Adeleke’s victory.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports.

Despite the fact that the Adelekes and their political machinery inherited the goodwill of their late father, the Asiwaju of Edeland, Second Republic Senator Ayoola Adeleke, the events of 2018 have remained a source of consternation for them. Ademola Adeleke won the first round of voting but was defeated by only 200 votes in a re-run election.

As a result, the Adelekes resolved that nothing would be taken for granted this time.

As a result of this viewpoint, the PDP appointed to the National Campaign Council some of its most experienced strategists.

Three members of the campaign council were said to have devoted more time and resources to the campaigns, particularly in the final days before the election.

Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, former Senate President, Bayelsa State Governor Senator Duoye Diri, and his Edo counterpart, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, have decided to devote more time to Adeleke’s campaign.

Obaseki, who has known Deji Adeleke, the PDP’s candidate’s elder brother, since their days in the Lagos financial sector, felt compelled to share his experience in similar elections in 2020, when he was seeking re-election and faced similar APC forces, while Diri was the chairman of the National Campaign Council.

As a result, he decided to help the party defeat the APC forces led by Adams Oshiomhole and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the same way that the party helped him defeat the APC forces led by Adams Oshiomhole and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

What made Saraki want to work for Adeleke?

For a variety of reasons, Saraki wanted the PDP and the Adelekes to win in Osun State.

To begin with, Osun State borders his own Kwara State, and he must ensure that Osun State is not used to sabotage the PDP in Kwara during the upcoming election. Second, as chairman of the PDP’s National Reconciliation and Strategic Committee, he oversaw the party’s crisis in the state and is thus familiar with the issues, personalities, and need for unity in the Osun PDP to win the election. It became a challenge for him to help Adelekes unite forces and individuals in support of the candidate in order to defeat the fractured APC.

Third, while his late father, Oloye Olusola Saraki, served alongside the Adelekes’ patriarch in the Second Republic Senate, he and the Adelekes’ late eldest brother, Isiaka Adetunji, served in the 7th and 8th Senates.

Later, Ademola, the PDP candidate who succeeded his late brother in the 8th Senate, was a staunch supporter of the Senate President at the time, Saraki.

Fourth, the Saraki and Adeleke families have three senators each, making them Nigeria’s only two nuclear families.

Saraki is friends with Deji Adeleke, the surviving eldest Adeleke brother.
Saraki and his team were said to have moved from Ilorin, where he had been since the eve of the previous Eid-El-Kabir festival, to Ede, the Adelekes’ home town, on Wednesday morning (July 13), and immediately met with all PDP polling agents.

The former Senate President’s training took place at Adeleke University in Ede.

He gave the agents some strategic lessons on how to carry out their duties on election day.

He also emphasized to them the importance of their roles to the success of the party on Election Day.

The presence of such a dignitary not only inspired and encouraged party agents, but it also demonstrated how serious and prepared the Osun PDP and the candidate’s campaign were for the election.

Following the training session with party agents, Saraki returned to Osogbo, the state capital, with Deji Adeleke, the candidate’s elder brother, to join PDP Governors preparing to meet with ex-Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola at his Osogbo GRA residence.

The meeting was called at the request of Saraki, who believed Oyinlola was upset and needed to be appeased before pledging his support for Adeleke.

The party was able to appease Oyinlola and reconcile his differences with the Adelekes.

According to Track News , Saraki returned to Ede that same night to meet with the PDP governorship candidate and his team, where the meeting reviewed election preparations and ensured that all critical areas of election preparation, security, and logistics were checked. “After the meeting with the candidate and his team, Saraki moved back to Osogbo to begin another engagement with party stakeholders in the state,” a source close to the process told Tracknews.

As the previous chairman of the PDP NRSC, he had an easy time revisiting all of the issues.

His committee had dealt with them and ensured that those that had already been dealt with did not resurface, while those that were pending were quickly addressed.

Many of the stakeholders could easily identify with him and respond to his pleas.

The engagements aided the party in presenting a strong and united front in the final 48 hours before voting began.

“By Thursday morning, Saraki and his team had arrived in Osogbo to plan the PDP mega rally.”

He spent the entire day Thursday ensuring that the party’s rally was a success, with the goal of sending a strong signal to the ruling APC that the PDP was about to take over in Osun State.

“As early as 8 a.m. on Friday, Saraki began another round of meetings with disgruntled party stakeholders from each of the three senatorial districts.”

The first group were the people of Osun East. This one took up the majority of the day.

At the end of the day, the issues appeared to be resolved, and the party appeared to be prepared for a fun outing on Saturday.

“On Friday night, Saraki moved into the party situation room inside the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke’s residence to assess the level of preparedness and to test some of the facilities to ensure that everything is in working order.”

Governors Diri and Obaseki joined him on this mission.

“On Election Day, Saraki was already in the situation room at 6 a.m. to begin coordination.”

He was joined in supervising the situation room by the two Governors.

They were practically getting reports from all over the state from party agents, field officers, and observers.

The three men and their teams didn’t sleep until the results were announced early Sunday morning.

“It was because of their critical roles that Adeleke prostrated before his elder brother, Deji, holding tightly to each of Saraki, Diri, and Obaseki for their kind, much-needed, strategic, and effective last-minute interventions that saved the day.”