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APC, PDP at Crossroads as 2022 Ekiti Guber Approaches

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Barely a year to the gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, the two leading political parties in the state; the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party are still entangled in a political quagmire. Raheem Akingbolu who has been following the political trends in the state reckons that issues like zoning, godfatherism and internal rumbling within the two parties are giving stakeholders great concern

Who succeeds Fayemi among scores of his aides? Will the Fayose/Olujimi factions agree to work together? Have people from Ekiti South Senatorial district jettisoned their agitation for power shift?
These and other questions are the puzzles before watchers of Ekiti politics. Unfortunately, the more the people try, the tougher the exercise appears because of the history of political rivalry, suspicion and distrust among the gladiators.

The signal that it would not be an easy ride to Oke Ayoba Government House in 2022 had come to limelight early but nobody expected it to go this far before it would be resolved. Ironically, the seeds of discord were sown in the two parties during the primary elections that produced the incumbent Governor Kayode Fayemi and former Deputy Governor, Prof. Olusola Eleka as candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) respectively in 2018.

In what looked like the highest number of contestants offered by a party in Ekiti, the APC had paraded over 30 promising men and women to slug it out at the primary. Among those paraded were heavyweight politicians like former governor, Segun Oni, who was then the Deputy National Chairman South of the APC; Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu; Senator, Gbenga Aluko; former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly,, Olufemi Bamisile and Senator Opeyemi Bamidele. Before he finally joined the race at the last minute, the rumour was rife in Ekiti that many of the contestants were only there in names, preparing ground for the current governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who was then the Minister of Mines and Steel. At the end, he declared that he would be taking another shot at the high office. His coming changed the game.

Meanwhile, an Australia-based medical practitioner, Wole Oluyede, led another set of upcoming politicians like Dr. (Mrs). Yahaya Kolade, Engr. Kayode Ojo and Muyiwa Olumilua and others to also slug it out with the already established politicians with well-defined structures and clout.

Like in every political contest, the build-up to the APC primaries was rancorous. A date was eventually fixed for the primary but it was fraught with violence and was subsequently canceled. The primary which was supervised by a former Nasarawa State governor, now a Senator, Tanko Almakura, was described as a show of shame as aspirants and their supporters openly chanted, ‘ole, ole’ (thief, thief) on Fayemi.

Expectedly before May 12, 2018, the date for another election, a lot of political alignments had taken place and eventually, Dr. Fayemi won, defeating 31 other contestants. However, a leading contestant, Babafemi Ojudu, had pulled out a few days before the election.

Though slightly different from what happened in the APC, contenders for the exalted post in the PDP family also had the then outgoing governor, Ayodele Fayose to battle. Few months before the primary, Fayose had publicly declared that he was throwing his weight behind Eleka, his deputy of four years. Perhaps because of the unwritten agreement he entered into with the likes of Senator Abiodun Olujimi and the erstwhile Minister of State for Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the outgoing governor was considered stretching his luck too far. At the last minute, Olujimi pulled out of the race to join forces with Adeyeye. Leaders of the party waded in but Adeyeye stuck to his gun. The election was held and Professor Eleka won the ticket.

Out of the 1,968 votes, Eleka scored 1,191, while Prince Adedayo Adeyeye got 770 votes and seven votes were voided. Few days after the winner emerged, Adeyeye pulled a string and defected to APC, where he joined hands with other APC stalwarts to campaign for Fayemi. Many aggrieved PDP members, including the Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Mrs Fatimoh Raji-Rasaki, also defected from the PDP but Olujimi stayed put in the party.
On July 14, 2014, the gubernatorial election was held and Fayemi of APC won.

After the election was won and lost, the battle shifted to the tribunal. The Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal unanimously struck out the suit filed by Eleka challenging the victory of Fayemi. But in another development, former Governor Oni dragged the governor to court on the basis that he didn’t resign from his position as minister 30 days before APC primary.
The case dragged on, but Oni lost the case at the Supreme Court for lack of merit.

Ekiti APC Remains a Divided House
To prevent defection of members who frowned at the of emergence of Dr. Fayemi as APC candidate, the national leaders of the party led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu calmed the nerves of aggrieved members and the stage was set for the election. The members stood by the party’s candidate and won the July 14, 2018 governorship poll against negative predictions and against all odds and landmines in their way.

The new governor had hardly been sworn in when trouble reared its ugly head. First, he was accused of sidelining party members who were not in his camp prior to the election. The state executive body of the ruling party was also declared illegal and an appeal was made for a well-defined congress. Leaders of the new faction, led by Senator Tony Adeniyi, who previously represented Ekiti South Senatorial District, said Mr Fayemi and his loyalists within the party have continued illegalities in the name of the party.

The gathering coalition of individuals like Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Senator Adedayo Adedayo, Dr. Wole Oluyede, Senator Tony Adeniyi, Hon Adewale Omirin and other known friends and pillars behind Governor Fayemi in the past, were quick to reverse and become opposition within the party. At the peak of the exchange of verbal tirades between the two feuding groups, Ojudu and 10 others were suspended. That was when it occurred to political watchers that the clash of interests ahead of the 2022 governorship election and the 2023 Presidential race fueled the internal crisis. Meanwhile, more than a year before the suspension of Adeniyi and his followers, Engr. Oni had been suspended indefinitely from the party for alleged anti-party activities.

In a jiffy and days after Ojudu and co were shown the way out, a counter suspension was to follow as Anthony Adeniyi’s faction of the party also suspended Dr. Fayemi.
They claimed that the State Executive Committee which suspended them was unknown since no Ward Congress had taken place in Ekiti State APC since 2018. Since then things appear to have fallen apart for the APC in Ekiti.

A Search for the Soul of PDP

In February 2019, Senator Biodun Olujimi flew the banner of her party and contested against her erstwhile political bedmate, Prince Adeyeye, who had since been rewarded with the APC ticket for the Ekiti South Senatorial district. Unexpectedly, Fayose, a PDP leader chose to campaign publicly for Adeyeye who eventually won the election.
The contest then moved to the election petition tribunal where Olujimi won and also got it affirmed at the Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna in November 2019, where Justice Uzor Anyanwu sacked Senator Dayo Adeyeye of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

As the highest political office holder from the state, Olujimi saw the time of her emergence as Senator as the right time to fight back and she immediately declared herself the leader of the PDP in the state. Of course, Fayose and his supporters fought back and there was stalemate until the party went to congress which produced two factional chairmen; Hon. Bisi Kolawole, a former commissioner in Fayose’s administration emerged from the ex-governor’s camp while a former House of Representative member, who had also in the past served as commissioner during Fayose’s first term in office emerged from Olujimi and Senator Duro Faseyi’s PDP Repositioning Group’s camp. The matter was again dragged to court for legal interpretation.

Meanwhile, against the prediction that former Governor Segun Oni, who had earlier joined the PDP, might find it difficult to work with Fayose, the Ifaki Ekiti born technocrat pitched his tent with Mr. Fayose during the congress. With the development, many assumed that Oni took the decision to ride on Fayose’s popularity and grip on the party to become the party’s flag bearer.

But in an exclusive interview with this reporter, Oni said he left APC because he was unfairly treated and embarrassed with an indefinite suspension. The former governor said he discovered that internal democracy is much better in PDP than the APC. He also dismissed the insinuation that he might have gone to PDP to ride on Fayose’s popularity to clinch the exacted seat.

He said: “PDP has been my party from inception but there was a time we left through a collective decision of many of us. Coincidentally, many of us who left then –at least 50, 60 percent of those of us who left then are back in PDP. For instance, former Governor Bukola Saraki, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and other bigwigs are back. We discovered there is a big ideological difference between where we were coming from and where we found ourselves. You never know how well or bad you are sitting until you try another chair.”

PDP’s Governorship Hopeful and the Undercurrents

They are resolute in their determination to wrestle power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti, come 2022. They started the journey in earnest but they keep meeting self-constructed barriers on their way. The more they struggle to get out of the political cobwebs they found themselves, the tougher the chances. This has been the challenge of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti since 2018.

Due to the fact that no party has enjoyed uninterrupted two-term in office in the state since 1999, some political pundits have almost taken it for granted that power will shift from APC to PDP next year. The first hurdle that stood like the Rock of Gibraltar when it started gathering its storms together was a supremacy contest between Senator Abiodun Olujimi, then Deputy Minority Whip of the Senate and former Governor Ayodele Fayose. As the highest political office holder in PDP post 2018 election, Olujimi had assumed the leadership of the party to the chagrin of Fayose and his supporters. The two opposing sides were still bickering in 2019 when Olujimi stood for re-election into the Senate. Fayose and his followers saw that as an opportunity to whittle down Olujimi’s influence and therefore worked against her and the party. At the end, Olujimi lost and Fayose celebrated. The honeymoon didn’t last as Olujimi was returned by both the election petition tribunal and the appeal court.

Fast forward to January 1, 2021 when Ekiti indigenes were welcomed with posters of Engr. Oni, felicitating and welcoming the people of the state into the New Year. Though no mention of his interest to vie for the governorship the terse words used to convey the greeting said it all. By the second day of the year, the posters had set tongues wagging with politicians and analysts drawing conclusions.

Meanwhile before the former governor flooded the streets with the posters, many PDP bigwigs who were equally interested in the governorship had signified intention, with many of them stationing billboards in strategic areas. Those who didn’t paste posters had gotten their followers spreading their intentions through word of mouth.

In this categories are; Prof. Eleka, Fayose’s former deputy who flew the party’s flag in 2018, Kayode Oso, a former Commissioner for Works under Fayose, Segun Adekola, former Member of the House of Representatives and Ayotunde Oladimeji, also a former Member of the House of Representatives. Others are; Deji Ogunsakin, a former Chairman of Ado Ekiti Local Governent who was paired with Prof. Olusola Eleka in the 2018 governorship election in the state, Hon. Wale Aribisala, a member of PDP National Working Committee, Dr Sikiru Tae Lawal and Kayode Adaramodu.

At the peak of the struggle, Fayose, under his Osoko Political Association was said to have met about 10 of the contestants and tasked them to pay a sum of N2 million each for expression of interest to an account designated by him. In desperation and with the believe that Fayose owned both the yam and the knife as far as PDP was concerned, six out of the contestants –Oso, Adekola, Oladimeji, Ogunsakin, Aribisala and Adaramodu, paid the money with enthusiasm.

But in what looked like a set back to the party’s peace mission, Mr. Fayose had on Sunday, February 21, in solidarity, stormed the Efon-Alaaye home of Kolawole, and expressed his (Fayose)’s wish for the party chairman to cap it up with governorship contest under the party’s umbrella next year.
Expectedly, the pronouncement unsettled the party, with many people wondering how a party chairman could also emerge as an aspirant.

For Kolawole and his household, it was good news but to a larger part of PDP family, the action was predictably injurious to the unity the party was urgently looking for.
In an interview with THISDAY, a former chairman of the party in the state, Barr. Gboyega Oguntuase, admitted that though Fayose had the right to anoint and endorse whoever he wants, he faulted the timing of the endorsement because of the pending case at the Supreme Court.

“Hon. Bisi Kolawole’s endorsement is a personal decision of former Governor Fayose and I think he has the constitutional right to back whoever he wishes. If Mr Fayose wishes, he can move from Nigeria to Liberia or from Lesotho to Gambia. If he likes he can anoint his son or brother or even go as far as Sokoto to bring a candidate to govern Ekiti. Except that the timing is wrong, Hon Kolawole is equally qualified to become governor. But to me, the time is wrong because the anointed candidate still has a case dangling on his head at the Supreme Court,’
Oguntuase, who described Fayose as an unpredictable individual, however, stated that he had vowed never to allow any action taken by the former governor to worry him.

“Some people were worried about the endorsement, I didn’t because I have vowed long ago never to allow Fayose’s action to bother me because he often embarks on things that offend sensibilities, against common sense and run contrary to logic.”
A former House of Representatives member and one of the arrowheads of Engr. Segun Oni’s governorship bid, Dr. Ife Arowosoge also corroborated the fact that former Governor Fayose’s decision to endorse Kolawole was still within the scope of the constitution but politely advised Kolawole to first step down as the party’s chairman in the state and formally join the contest.

But to another leader of the party and one of the promoters of the PDP Repositioning Group, Otunba Yinka Akerele, the endorsement of Kolawole by Mr. Fayose has drawn back the party’s effort to reconcile the two warring groups. Akerele who is believed to also have governorship ambition based his condemnation of Mr. Fayose’s actions on the fact that it was the same Fayose that initiated a peace move.

“I almost didn’t believe it happened because of the move made days before that pronouncement by the same former Governor Fayose for the two groups to settle out of court. Everybody was excited when Fayose called and said as one family we could solve our problem without going to court. But his endorsement of a factional leader while we are yet to resolve the issue has negated that move.”
But within Fayose’s political family, where it was rumoured that about six aspirants had earlier paid N2 million each for expression of interest to an account designated by Fayose, nobody has been able to come out forcefully to condemn the action.

The question is; were they offended by the move and ready for a showdown with Fayose? Except Eleka, who tactically said he would continue with the aspiration, others appear to be fine with Fayose’s decision. Even though pundits had earlier predicted that the purported endorsement would put the political family of the former governor in disarray, findings by THISDAY have proved such prediction wrong.

Speaking with our correspondent on the issue, Hon. Deji Ogunsakin dismissed the insinuation in some quarters that some members of Osoko Political Association are up in arms against Fayose for adopting the state party’s Chairman, Bisi Kolawole against alleged agreement reached to throw the contest wide open.

“Let me first clear the air about whether the issue has divided our group or not. It has not and it will not in any way divide us. Osoko Political Association stands firm behind our leader and benefactor, Peter Ayodele Fayose. What happened that Sunday is a welcome development because we have in Fayose, a foresighted leader and whatever he does is okay by us.

Speaking on his endorsement, Hon Kolawole appreciated the former Governor for considering him worthy of such benevolence but said he’s currently preoccupied with the process on building the party
When asked if he could be an aspirant and at the same time the chairman of the party, Kolawole answered in the affirmative and that the constitution has nothing against such.

“I’m currently the chairman and former Governor Fayose has the right to support me perhaps because of my pedigree and antecedent. If you know the former Governor very well, he is an extrovert and a straight forward individual; he always wants people to know where he belongs so that they don’t put unnecessary pressure on him. If anybody says I don’t have the right because I’m the party chairman then the person should go and acquaint himself with the workings of the political party. The current governor of Ebonyi State was a chairman of PDP when he contested and he won. So what are we saying?” Kolawole asked.

But in what looked like fallout from the development, Fayose group suffered a setback on Sunday, June 13 when major stakeholders from his group, including his former Chief-of-Staff and later Commissioner for Works, Kayode Oso, his former Personal Assistant, Goke Olatunji and others dumped the two-term governor for Segun Oni. At a well-attended event in Ado Ekiti, Oso, also handed over a campaign building to Oni and pledged his support.

Debate over zoning
Since 2003 when the then Governor Niyi Adebayo lost to Fayose in a keenly contested governorship election between the Alliance for Democracy and PDP, the people of Ekiti South Senatorial District has been clamoring for power shift. Both Adebayo and Fayose are from Ekiti Central. But in 2007, Oni, from Ekiti north emerged governor and that frustrated the ambition of the people of Ekiti South. Fayemi, also from North took over from Oni in 2010 through a court verdict but lost his second term bid to Fayose in 2014. In 2018, despite the heated campaign mounted by people of Ekiti South, Eleka from the zone lost to Fayemi.

With 2022 around the corner, the debate has started again and is already attracting the attention of stakeholders, but will it fly? The question is difficult to answer.
In a recent article, written by a former deputy speaker in the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Oladapo Karounwi, he dismissed the agitation and argued that it didn’t carry water.

According to the APC chieftain, there hasn’t been any historical evidence of when gubernatorial candidates from the Ekiti South Senatorial District were not on the ballot since the commencement of the civilian administration in Ekiti State in1999.

“It is on records that the South Senatorial District candidates have not been prevented by any political party or constituted authority from contesting with other candidates from the two other Senatorial districts for Ekiti State gubernatorial seat from inception to date.
The choice of who wins and governs has always been determined by the electorates during the general election. It has always been an open field for all the senatorial districts,” Oladapo pointed out.

If Karounwi’s position should be respected, then the likes of Olujimi, Eleka, Muyiwa Olomilua, Funminiyi Afuye, Oluyede and the Alukos –Gbenga and Bolaji, whose campaigns and ambitions are hinged on power rotation, still hang in the balance.

Fayemi’s Political Family and the Differences

To say Governor Fayemi is currently confused is like stating the obvious. Though he has tried as much as possible to disabuse the mind of political watchers that he has not anointed any of his aides for the 2022 contest, there is no gainsaying the fact that his political family is divided. Earlier this year, some of his aides flew different kites in support of three of his trusted aides –Abiodun Oyebanji, the Secretary to the State Government, Wale Fapounda, his Attoney General and Abiodun Omoleye, his Chief of Staff.

While it’s rumoured that his trusted followers are divided between Omoleye and Fapounda, Oyebanji enjoys the support of Adebayo ‘boys’ in his government. In fact, unconfirmed source has it that a feud is already brewing between the governor and former Governor Adebayo, who is known to be his political godfather.

In the meantime, the governor is said to be considering two options; settling for any of the three aides or pitching his tent with Prof. Bolaji Aluko from the South. Aluko is being wooed in case the Ekiti South agenda gains momentum at the end.

Those who are close to the governor have also hinted that Fayemi may end up mending walls with Babafemi Ojudu, his erstwhile political bedmate because of Ojudu’s national influence and clout within the national echelon of the party. Those who hold this opinion have supported their stand with recent peace moves being made by stakeholders within the party to reconcile Fayemi and other aggrieved party members before next year’s election.

QUICK FACTS

* The Independent National Electoral Commission has fixed the Ekiti State Governorship Election for June 18, 2022

*In the bid to succeed incumbent Governor Kayode Fayemi, the camps of the two major political parties-All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party are sharply polarised

*The seeds of discord were sown in the two parties during the primary elections that produced the incumbent Governor Kayode Fayemi and former Deputy Governor, Prof. Olusola Eleka as candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) respectively in 2018

*The fight for supremacy in the APC is between those who are lined up behind Governor Fayemi and opponents in the camp of Senator Adeyeye who is leading a campaign for the presidential ambition of the APC National Laeader, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu

*In the PDP, there are three fronts-that led by former Governor Ayodele Fayose, former Governor Segun Oni and Senator Biodun Olujinmi

*The PDP is resolute to wrestle power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti, come 2022. They started the journey in earnest but they keep meeting self-constructed barriers on their way. The more they struggle to get out of the political cobwebs they found themselves, the tougher the chances. This has been the challenge of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti since 2018

*There is a supremacy contest between Senator Abiodun Olujimi, then Deputy Minority Whip of the Senate and former Governor Ayodele Fayose. As the highest political office holder in PDP post 2018 election, Olujimi had assumed the leadership of the party to the chagrin of Fayose and his supporters. The two opposing sides were still bickering in 2019 when Olujimi stood for re-election into the Senate. Fayose and his followers saw that as an opportunity to whittle down Olujimi’s influence and therefore worked against her and the party. At the end, Olujimi lost and Fayose celebrated. The honeymoon didn’t last as Olujimi was returned by both the election petition tribunal and the appeal court

*Since 2003 when the then Governor Niyi Adebayo lost to Fayose in a keenly contested governorship election between the Alliance for Democracy and PDP, the people of Ekiti South Senatorial District has been clamoring for power shift. Both Adebayo and Fayose are from Ekiti Central. But in 2007, Oni, from Ekiti north emerged governor and that frustrated the ambition of the people of Ekiti South. Fayemi, also from North took over from Oni in 2010 through a court verdict but lost his second term bid to Fayose in 2014. In 2018, despite the heated campaign mounted by people of Ekiti South, Eleka from the zone lost to Fayemi

*With 2022 around the corner, the debate has started again and is already attracting the attention of stakeholders, but will it fly?

*Governor Fayemi’s political family is divided. Some of his aides fly different kites in support of three of his trusted aides –Abiodun Oyebanji, the Secretary to the State Government, Wale Fapounda, his Attoney General and Abiodun Omoleye, his Chief of Staff. The governor is said to be considering two options; settling for any of the three aides or pitching his tent with Prof. Bolaji Aluko from the South. Aluko is being wooed in case the Ekiti South agenda gains momentum at the end. Fayemi may end up mending walls with Babafemi Ojudu, his erstwhile political bedmate because of Ojudu’s national influence and clout within the national echelon of the party

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