The President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, has visited the Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, to plead with him to support the Peoples Democratic Party in the rerun election holding on Thursday.

Some of the polling units where the rerun election will be held fall within Ife where Omisore is popular.

Speaking with journalists after the visit, Saraki said he was confident that Senator Ademola Adeleke would win the rerun poll and become the governor of the state.

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Dr Doyin Okupe, Senator Abiodun Olujinmi and other PDP leaders were in the entourage of the Senate President during the visit to Omisore.

WuzupNaija recalls that Omisore left the PDP following a protracted crisis over his governorship ambition.

Omisore, a former deputy governor of the state, is from Ile-Ife and has a formidable stronghold there, making him a prized partner for the PDP ahead of Thursday’s re-run. He was the PDP’s flag bearer in the 2014 governorship election, but he lost to the incumbent, Rauf Aregbesola, of the APC who won a second term.

After the party showed reluctance to back him for another run as the flag bearer in the 2018 election, Omisore dumped the party earlier this year and moved to the SDP.

WuzupNaija also recalls that the rerun election became necessary after the  Independent National Electoral Commissions Returning Officer and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Prof Joseph Fuwape, announced the election results. The results showed that  Adeleke polled 254,698 votes to defeat that of the All Progressives Congress, Gboyega Oyetola, who polled 254, 345 votes.

However, due to irregularities which marred the election at some polling units in Ife North, Ife South and Orolu local government areas, including cases of card reader malfunctioning, ballot box snatching, among others, this led to the cancellation of 3,498 votes recorded in the affected polling units.

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Fuwape deemed the election inconclusive, noting that the number of cancelled votes is larger than the margin between in votes polled by Adeleke and Oyetola.