Osun By-election: Three APC Aspirants Step Down, as Adeleke, Husain Slug It Out.
Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
Now that the struggle for the vacant seat in the Osun West Senatorial District rages on, three, out of the five aspirants in the race to the upper chamber, on the platform of the All Progress
Congress(APC) on Saturday intentionally stepped down.
According to a reliable source, the aspirants include: former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs Foluke Etteh, the commissioner for women affairs, Alhaja Giwa Lattefat and Hon Omolaoye Oluremi Akintola.
Our Correspondent authoritatively gathered that, decision to quit the race was reached on Saturday at the party secretariat in Osogbo during the party screening exercise.
The party Secretary, Alhaji Rasaki Salinsile, who have shown interest in the contest had earlier announced his withdrawal from the race before the commencement of the screening.
According to information from a reliable source within the party hierarchy that the state Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and some party leaders had prevailed on some aspirants to bury their ambitions purposely to pave way for the governor’s anointed candidate, Senator Mudashir Hussein, who is presently the commissioner in the state, after serving as a member of the House of Representatives for eight years, and as senator for four years.
While feelers within the government circle have it that, governor Aregbesola has thrown his weight behind the candidacy of Hussein as a compensation for his loyalty, having conceded his ticket for the second term to late Isiaka Adeleke in 2015, some have come out to say that the need to push for Hussein became necessary for Aregbesola to silent a party bigwig in the local government, who might be nurturing gubernatorial ambition.
Further investigation revealed that, although, Adeola Adeleke, the younger brother to the late senator might not enjoy the total support of the power brokers within the APC, he commands large and unexpected followership within the party, owing to the popularity of his late brother.
Controversy has continued to trail the candidacy of senator Mudashir Husein, a serving commissioner in the state, who was said to have been favoured by the governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
Feelers had it on Saturday that the governor has directed party faithful to mobilise for Hussein against the primary slated for Monday, June 12, with disbursement of N5m to each of the ten local governments that made up the Osun West senatorial district.
The development at the party Secretariat on Saturday tactically corroborated the speculations of many, as three of the aspirants stepped down, leaving the younger brother to the late Isiaka Adeleke, Ademola Adeleke, and senator Mudashir Husein in the race.
Many within the APC caucus in the senatorial district have moved against the candidacy of Husein on the ground that despite serving as a two-term member of the House of Representatives, and once represented the senatorial district, the speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, and the member of the House of Representatives in the district came from Husein’s local government in Ejigbo.
However, the rising popularity of Ademola Adeleke within a short while has been a thing of concern for the ruling party, as amalgam of his late brother’s supporters threw their weight behind his candidacy.
A drama therefore played out at the party secretariat going by the way a mammoth crowd of party supporters stormed the secretariat during screening, to pledge their support for the Adeleke’s family, and Ademola.
Already, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has since fixed the by-election for July 8 this year.
Reported by Richard Akintade, Osogbo
