The exit of a former governorship aspirant, Olusola Oke, from the All Progressives Congress, an expected consequence of the September 3controversial governorship primary election, has
further opened a cavity in the fault lines of the party in Ondo State.
Mr. Oke dumped the APC on October 1 for the Alliance for Democracy where
he picked, practically unchallenged, its ticket to contest the November
governorship poll in the state.
He had been the national legal adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party
and later its governorship candidate in the 2012 governorship election
but defected to the APC shortly after last year’s presidential election.
Up against the state governor, Olusegun Mimiko, considered a master of
intrigues in Ondo local politics, the APC’s faltering in the build up to
next month’s election should be worrisome to supporters of the party.
Harvest of Aspirants
The main opposition party needed a consistent and well-articulated
formation within its ranks to wrest power from Mr. Mimiko’s PDP
administration. But as events unfold, there are reasons to believe that
the dream to drive the PDP out of the Alagbaka Government House, is
gradually falling apart.
The APC first demonstrated this weakness when over 24 of its members
indicated interest to contest for the party’s ticket to become the next
governor of the state.
Understanding the desperation of Nigerian politicians, not a few feared a
doomsday for the party. Efforts to get the aspirants to realign and
forge a united arrowhead against the ruling party failed as all wanted
to test their popularity
By default, or so it seems, the aspirants, notably the four prominent
ones, represented primordial sentiments of traditional politics.
Each aspirant drew inspiration from his political zone, which laid
claims to the right to produce the next governor of Ondo State. This
became a major drawback in the bid to align the forces and get a
candidate of compromise among all the different sections.
For instance, those from the southern senatorial district went for Mr.
Oke, who, although new in the party, enjoyed the support of majority of
party members in the district.
Rotimi Akeredolu, who comes from Owo in the northern senatorial
district, drew strength from there aside from his previous political
structure, which he used as the candidate of the defunct Action Congress
of Nigeria in the 2012 governorship poll in the state.
It was the same for Ajayi Boroffice, the senator representing Ondo North
senatorial district and Olusegun Abraham, both of who are from the
Akoko axis of the district. Both of them did not reconcile their
ambitions despite claiming to represent the interest of their people.
The notion that whoever wins the party’s ticket to run for governor
would automatically be victorious in the main election further drove
hard the machinery of campaigns among all the aspirants.
Things went smoothly as far as the leadership of the party kept faith
with their promise to create a level playing field for all the
aspirants.
PDP’s Albatross/APC’s Gains
To be sure, the party had enjoyed an improved image and goodwill among
Ondo people. This is arguably attributable to the failure of the state
government to meet the yearnings of the people.
Unpaid salaries, perceived maltreatment of citizens, increased taxation
and alleged insensitivity of the PDP government to the sufferings of the
people, all worked to form a new opinion in favour of the APC.
But the Chairman of the party in the state, Isaacs Kekemeke, defended
the huge number of aspirants. While analysts say the unwieldy number of
aspirants that joined the race could work against the party, the
chairman said it would make it more interesting as the delegates would
simply vote for their choices. He ruled out the imposition of any
aspirant on the party.
The leadership also met with all the aspirants and they were certain
that provided no candidate was favoured in any way by the process of the
primary election, they were willing to accept their fate at the end of
voting.
One of the aspirants, Tunji Ariyomo, said the assurances given by the
leadership would suffice in keeping all the aspirants together even
after one of them had emerged victorious.
In a way, that was not to be. Despite the assurances, there was disquiet
in the party for one week when news filtered in that Mr. Abraham, a
business man and politician, had been endorsed by a national leader of
the party, Bola Tinubu.
Rancorous Primaries
The ensuing bickering pointed to a rancorous primary. There were postponements and finally the election held belatedly on September 3.
Dust was however raised over the conduct of the primary election at the
Akure International Event Centre, also known as the Dome.
The facade of a peaceful primary conducted by the Jigawa State Governor,
Mohammed Abubakar, belied the undercurrents of manipulation and
financial inducement, which contradicted the anti-corruption slogan of
the APC.
Mr. Akeredolu was returned as winner of the primary election at the end
of counting, defeating Mr. Abraham, the anointed candidate of Mr.
Tinubu; Mr. Oke and Mr. Boroffice in that order. But before the winner
could roll out the drums, the losers filed appeals with the appeal
committee.
The cracks began to show. It was evident that vested interests emanating
from members of the national working committee would have their way
even at the cost of ruining the party’s ambition in coming election.
Disagreement over the recommendations of the appeal committee was all
that was needed to confirm that the centre could no longer hold. The
committee recommended the cancellation of the primary and a repeat of
the process. Power wielders within the NWC threw out the entire report,
and upheld the election of Mr. Akeredolu. Aggrieved parties raised their
hands in frustration, crying “to thy tent O Israel.”
Messrs. Oke, Boroffice and Abraham, fierce contenders for the ticket,
found a common battle ground and jointly at a press conference rejected
the decision of the NWC, threatening to take action not excluding moving
out of the party.
Speaking on behalf of the aspirants, Mr. Boroffice said majority of the
members of the NWC supported the recommendations of the appeal
committee, but the National Chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun
overruled the decision of majority of the party leadership.
“He (Oyegun) rejected the path of truth and upheld the primary election
that its process was characterized with corruption,” he alleged.
The senator said they were not deterred by the action of the NWC and the
“undemocratic behaviour” of the national chairman of the party, but
were encouraged by the genuine desire of their supporters and Ondo
people to have a change and end the reign of mis-governance in the
state. continue
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