Ekiti State prepares for Governorship Showdown

Mon, Apr 16, 2018 | By publisher


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More than 40 gubernatorial aspirants are jostling for their respective party tickets to contest election in Ekiti State slated for July 14, but whoever is going to succeed Governor Ayodele Fayose from either the Peoples Democratic Party or All Progressives Congress will have a lot of work to do convince their respective parties  they are best candidates for the job

By Olu Ojewale

ALL the political gladiators that want to succeed Governor Ayodele Fayose in office and contest governorship election on July 14, in Ekiti State are already taking position in the trenches, waiting for the lifting of the ban on campaign before launching themselves fully into the battlefield. As at the last count, more than 40 aspirants from the two major parties have declared their interest to slug it out with other candidates in their respective party primaries.

In the All Progressives Congress, APC, there are 35 aspirants, while the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has five candidates including Kolapo Olusola, deputy governor, whom Fayose had picked as the heir apparent. Campaign posters and billboards of candidates of the two major parties are prominently displayed in various parts of the state, dwarfing candidates of lesser prominent parties in the state. Indeed, an unconfirmed report said that party chieftains of the Accord Party; All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA and Labour Party have adopted a candidate for the election, while the Social Democratic Party, SDP, has Bisi Omoyeni, a former deputy governor to Fayose, as an aspirant. Omoyeni was until recently, an aspirant on the PDP platform.

That notwithstanding, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is expected to formally blow the whistle for the candidates to start campaigning for their ambition on Sunday, April 15.

On Sunday, April 1, John Kayode Fayemi, minister of Mineral Resources and former governor of the state, formally served a notice to those concerned when he announced his intention to run for the office again.

The former governor who spoke at a news conference at his Isan-Ekiti country home in Oye Local Government Area of the state, where he hosted leaders and scores of members of the party from all the 16 Local Government Areas and the 177 wards of the state, said he was driven to re-contest by his past records of positive achievements, especially for workers, retirees and pensioners while in office in the state.

Beyond that, Fayemi said that his decision to seek re-election was to deliver the state from incompetent and dubious hands and take it to where it supposed to be.

Interestingly, the minister was the 35th person to have formally indicated interest in the governorship poll on the platform of the APC. He promised to formally submit his letter of intent to the state secretariat of the APC as soon as the INEC lifts the ban on campaigns on April 15.

Fayemi
Fayemi

Prominent among the aspirants include Segun Oni, a former governor, who is also the vice chairman, South West of the APC; Babafemi Ojudu, special adviser to the president on Political Matters; Gbenga Aluko, a former senator on the platform of the PDP; Olufemi Bamisile, a former House speaker; Opeyemi Bamidele, a former governorship candidate of Labour Party, and Bamidele Faparusi, a former chairman of the Ekiti State Hospitals Management Board.

Taiwo Olatunbosun, the APC spokesman in the state, said most of the aspirants were yet to publicly declare their intentions, but had either written or paid a visit to the party’s secretariat to inform the party of their interest.

Kemi Olaleye, the deputy chairman of the party in the state, while confirming that 35 persons had indicated to seek the party’s ticket, said not all of them would be allowed to buy nomination forms.

Olaleye, who spoke in Ado Ekiti recently, said: “We are very sure that we will win that election, Ekiti people are ready to vote for us, so not all our aspirants will be allowed to get the nomination form.

“We want to present our best for the position and when he wins, he won’t be messing around like we are experiencing now,” she said.

Nevertheless, there are, apprehensions in the party that the number of aspirants may pose a serious challenge to its cohesion as it seeks to wrest power from the PDP.

Oni, a contestant in the gubernatorial race, has warned that electing a popular candidate at the primaries would be the only way to wrest power from the PDP, which is currently in control of the state.

At a forum for the APC members in Ifaki- Ekiti, Oni urged the delegates not to mortgage their future by voting for the highest bidder at the primaries. “They shouldn’t turn profiteers because they have two options, which is either take money from politicians and get temporary relief or vote for the right candidate to win the general elections, so that the APC can control both the state and the federal for more dividends of democracy to come to our state,” he said.

Besides, Oni advised those he described as weak aspirants to weigh the options and step down for a more formidable aspirant to streamline the number of those vying for the position to a manageable number. He stated that contrary to speculations, the election would not create enmity between him and Fayemi, who has also declared interest in the race.

“What I expect from APC is a free, fair and credible primary. The primary to any party is to pick a candidate who can win election. That is why it is important for us to listen to what the people want. This should be our objective and not the profit the delegates will make,” he said.

Interestingly, Oni did not try to market himself, but rather enjoined the party members to vote wisely for a candidate that could win election in the state. “Ekiti election is very critical to APC. It is critical to our election in Osun State and the two elections are critical to 2019, because we have to win again. I want to say that I won’t leave the party even if I am not picked as a loyal party man,” he said.

Oni is believed to be a very strong candidate in Ekiti State politics. Until he defected to the APC in 2014, he was a member of the PDP. He was elected governor of Ekiti State in April 2007 on the PDP platform. But he was removed from office on October 15, 2010, following the judgement of an Appeal Court which ruled against his election.

Oni had contested the election as governor with Fayemi as his main opponent in the 2007 general election. Although Oni’s election was narrowly validated by the Election Petition Tribunal, which sat in Ado-Ekiti, Fayemi successfully challenged his victory at the appellate court in 2010.

Oni will face his old foe at the party primary. The two bigwigs are to fight for the party ticket. Mercifully, there is nothing like zoning system to work against any of them. But Fayemi has a hangman in Fayose who is working assiduously to bar him from contesting election in the state.

Babafemi Ojudu
Babafemi Ojudu

In fact, a white paper released by the government of Fayose on the probe of the Fayemi administration in the state, said that the former governor should not hold any political office for another 10 years in the state or any other parts of the country.

Barred alongside Fayemi was Dapo Kolawole, his former commissioner for Finance, for the same number of years.

The two were barred based on the report of the Justice Silas Oyewole Judicial Commission of Inquiry which indicted them over an alleged mismanagement of the state’s finances between October 2010 and 2014 when Fayemi was the state governor.

The white paper declared them “as unfit to hold any public office in the state because of their refusal to appear before this Commission of Inquiry, even, after the determination of the case challenging the inauguration of the Commission of Inquiry before the Ekiti State High Court.

“Their disrespect to the constituted authority and the undignified roles they played in the whole contracts saga were obviously against the interest of the state they were supposed to protect.  They are banned from holding public office in Ekiti and any part of Nigeria,” it added.

The white paper mandated Fayemi and Kolawole to refund N2.7 billion which was allegedly allocated for the execution of the contract for an ultra-modern market that was allegedly never executed.

Similarly, it asked them to also account for the whereabouts of the N468.6million earmarked for the Ero Water Works from the Bond Prospectus which was not utilised.

The government directed the ministry of justice to take appropriate legal actions to recover the money.

Consequently, the state on Friday, January 26, filed a criminal charge against Fayemi and Kolawole.

The 19 counts filed before the state High Court, Ado Ekiti, border on allegation of corruption, abuse of office and criminal contempt, among others.

But Fayemi said he was not bothered by either the white paper or the court action. He declared that the said white paper could not stop his ambition, describing the document as a final result of several months of political witch-hunt launched against him by the Fayose-led administration.

“Regardless of whatever anybody may think, I know I am eminently qualified to contest the election, if I am not qualified, I would never have come to tell you I want to contest.

“Most of the negative things Fayose and his government said or alleged of me were deliberately concocted out of malice to either malign my character or score cheap political goal; but the truth will always prevail,” the minister said.

But going by what Femi Falana, SAN, said on the indictment, Fayemi will have a lot of explanation for the people of the state to be sure of getting their confidence. The human rights lawyer said: “As a serving Minister in an administration that is fighting corruption, Dr. Fayemi has a duty to respond to his indictment by the judicial commission of enquiry which probed the finances of Ekiti State under his watch. He cannot afford to ignore the findings of the panel. Since Dr. Fayemi chose not to appear before the judicial panel, he has to explain his own side of the story to Ekiti people. This is in line with the principle of public accountability enshrined in the Freedom of Information Law and Fiscal Responsibility Law enacted by the Fayemi Administration.”

Mercifully, by the time he is going for the party primary, Fayemi is expected to have resigned from his position as minister and then he can tell his own side of the story.

Also expected to contest for the gubernatorial ticket is Ojudu. The special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Political Matters while declaring his political ambition said that his election as the party candidate would fast-track the defeat of the PDP in the state.

Segun Oni
Oni

Ojudu, who disclosed this on Friday, March 9, at Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, at his declaration ceremony, said that his decision to run for the gubernatorial race was not by accident but a result of wide consultations with respectable men and women, including opinion leaders in the state.

A former senator, the governorship aspirant, who described himself as having penchant for winning elections, said he had defeated Fayose to become a senator and promised to repeat same feat if given another chance.

Nevertheless, he enjoined leaders of the party in the state to provide a level-playing ground for all the aspirants so as to enable the best candidate emerge.

He said it was his plan to use the position of a governor, if elected, to take Ekiti to where it was supposed to be. “My mission is simple but critical to the growth and development of Ekiti, and that is to make Ekiti work for all as well as taking back its pride.

“It is my plan to take the jobless off the streets, re-focus the civil servants who are the engine room of government.”

Besides, Ojudu promised to also use his wide influence to attract investors, aside from establishing cottage industries and industrialise the state so that it would be less dependent on allocation from the Federation Account.

He promised to use his experience as a media manager to run an efficient government in which workers would be well taken care of.

To attain such a laudable position, the APC aspirants would have to slug it out with anyone the PDP may pick at its yet to be announced primary date.

Unlike the APC, the PDP on its part has fewer candidates. Perhaps, this could be attributed to Fayose, who in an unprecedented manner, had gotten the party to adopt Olusola, his deputy, as a consensus candidate last year. But that did not go down well with some of those who also want to contest for the party ticket. Thus, four of the governorship aspirants from the party in Ekiti State, revolted against the imposition and vowed to contest the party primary.

Early in January, the four governorship aspirants called on the national leadership of the party to stop Fayose from playing any role in the primary election scheduled for April. The four aspirants are Dayo Adeyeye, a former minister of state for Works and immediate past PDP national spokesman; Biodun Olujimi, Senate Minority whip and former deputy governor under Fayose; Dare Bejide, a former secretary to the state government and former high commissioner to Canada, and Owoseni Ajayi, a former attorney general and commissioner for Justice.

In any case, they asked the National Working Committee, NWC, led by Uche Secondus to disqualify Fayose having adopted his deputy, saying it would amount to the imposition on party leaders and members.

The aspirants at a news conference they addressed on Tuesday, January 9, claimed that there was no time Olusola showed interest in governing the state, adding that: “Fayose saw him as a weakling that can be manipulated against the interest of Ekiti people.”

biodun-olujimiThey also called for the dissolution of the state PDP executive committee led by Gboyega Oguntuase for allegedly betraying its expected neutrality, calling for the constitution of a caretaker committee in its stead.

Adeyeye accuse Fayose of carrying out persecution of other aspirants to “a ridiculous level” by ordering party members in all parts of the state to reject Christmas gifts they sent to them.

The former PDP spokesman said: “The candidate he (Fayose) has chosen for himself is not a person that can win the election in this state. When you display billboards and you are writing “Meet Your Next Governor” on them, you are putting yourself in the position of God and that is very annoying.

“We will not leave the party for him because he sees himself as all-in-all but we know he is not all-in-all. The governor being an interested party must be put in his place and no advantage should be accorded (Olusola) Eleka.”

In her own speech, Olujimi said the idea of crying out against Fayose’s plan was not to tear the party apart, but a demand for a free and fair process that would lead to the emergence of an acceptable candidate.

“Can anybody who wants to win the election for PDP wish us away? If anybody wants to wish us away in the party, the consequences will be grave,” she said.

Bejide said the party constitution is clear about how a candidate could emerge and it would be a violation for a candidate to be imposed on the party. “Imposition, impunity and arbitrary action of a sitting governor is definitely ruled out and we will surely enforce the provision of the law.”

In his contribution, Ajayi said the governor might say that he had the right to support any aspirant of his choice, but that Olusola had not come out to say he would want to be governor.

“What the deputy governor has said was that he wants to go back to the university to continue lecturing. The governor is forcing the Deputy Governor on us,” Ajayi said.

The foursome said the action of the governor had betrayed his earlier stance that his deputy would walk away with him at the expiration of his tenure.

The agitation paid off. Consequent upon expressing their grievance, Secondus set up a reconciliation committee led by David Mark, a former Senate president and the senator representing Benue South Senatorial District. Other members of the committee include Enyinaya Abaribe, a senator; Ibrahim Kazaure, a former ambassador; Yusuf Ayitogo; Fidelia Njeze, a former ambassador and Eddy Olafeso, South West vice chairman of the PDP.

After a stormy session with the parties involved in Abuja, on March 8, Olafeso told journalists that Fayose and all the aspirants who attended the meeting agreed to conduct of a credible primary election. He said the governor had agreed to work with any of the contestants that would emerge even if not the person he preferred.

Indeed, Mark had cautioned the gladiators that only peace, justice and free and fair primary would guarantee success at the poll. He, however, commended the warring parties for their display of maturity and understanding towards the resolution of the dispute.

But what remains to be seen is whether all the parties involved would abide by the spirit and letter of the accord.

Ajayi, therefore, enjoined Fayose not to flout the verbal agreement he had with the aspirants in the presence of some eminent Nigerians, saying the consequences would be grave. He said the agreement was verbal, adding they expect the governor to put all interests, both perceived and real aside and abide by the agreement.

According to the agreement, the national secretariat of the party would be responsible for the election of three delegates per ward in the 177 wards of the state, and the elected delegates would, in turn, elect the party’s candidate at the primary.

Although the controversy which rocked the party over the choice of aspirant has prevented some of the aspirants to take to the soapbox, but judging from the antecedents of all of them, it is obvious that the race would be keenly contested. The PDP aspirants all have good credentials that also speak volumes about their records of service to the nation.

Secondus
Secondus

This, some political observers said would now make the race tilt to either the biggest spender or the most popular.

In any case, Olusola has been making a case for a PDP candidate to be elected at the July 14 poll. According to a press statement signed by Kamil Ishola, the director of Press and Strategy, Kolapo Olusola Campaign Organisation, KOCO, said in the history of the state, PDP governments were more beneficial to the people than the APC.

“We are all witnesses to what happened in the state from 1999 to 2003 and how the tenure of the APC elected officials plunged our state into debts.

“It was the administration of Governor Ayodele Fayose, which took over in 2003 to 2006 that cleared the debts. The incumbent governor also left office with over N10 billion in the state’s treasury. The PDP administration that followed did not also borrow a dime until the APC’s government of Dr. Kayode Fayemi came and plunged the state into huge debts.”

Olusola said it was Fayemi’s debts that Fayose was currently contending with. He added that despite the initial setback, the governor had been able to execute several legacy projects that have changed the landscape of the state.

Olusola boasted that Fayose, by overwhelming performance, set an unmatched record in the governance of Ekiti, and therefore deserves good support from the people by returning PDP in the July 14, poll.  He argued: “Continuity is very germane to Ekiti this time around. And I am urging our people to vote for me to continue and improve on the Fayose’s and the PDP legacies.”

So, the party faithful are going to start their primaries as from April 15, when the INEC is expected to give the green light for aspirants to start their campaigns, but the power to elect is firmly with the party. Who emerges as their candidates are the ones Ekiti people will have to pick from.

But with or without the INEC saying so, the race has begun.

– Apr. 7, 2018 @ 4:25 GMT

AE

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