The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has scheduled the next governorship election in Ekiti State for July 2018. Over 50 aspirants have indicated interest to vie for their parties’ tickets. The two major political parties-the APC and the PDP, have started to attempt to outdo each other through accusations and counter accusations. But the party that has attracted so much publicity and attention is the PDP where over 25 aspirants are jostling for the ticket since the incumbent governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has completed his two terms in office.
His present tenure will terminate on October 14, 2019. Fayose served his first tenure between 2003 and 2006, though impeached under controversial circumstances by the then state House of Assembly, the Supreme Court has since dismissed the impeachment as strange in law.
The governor has anointed his deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola Eleka, as his preferred governorship candidate, an action that is generating serious crisis within the party and among notable aspirants.
Notable among those who indicated interest in the PDP are the senator representing Ekiti South and a former deputy governor to Fayose during his first tenure Mrs Biodun Olujimi, a former Minister of State for Works and Publicity Secretary of the PDP Prince Adedayo Adeyeye, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Canada Amb. Dare Bejide, the immediate past Commissioner for Justice Mr Owoseeni Ajayi, and the deputy governor of the state, Prof Kolapo Olusola, among others.
In the APC fold are former governor Segun Oni, a former speaker of the House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Bamisile and a former member of the House of Representatives Hon Michael Opeyemi Bamidele popularly called MOB. It is also being rumoured that the immediate past governor of the state and present Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, is nursing the ambition to stage a comeback, but he is yet to declare publicly.
After marking the second anniversary on October 16, 2017, Fayose started extending interactions to various groups including teachers, market women, youths , civil servants and drivers where he openly canvassed support. In one of the meetings, he said: “You know that I am now in the opposition. I don’t have access to the police, DSS or other security agencies, but I have access to you. You are my backbone and that is why I am starting my campaign now”.
Also during a meeting with the Suppliers Association of Nigeria, Ikere chapter last November, Fayose boasted that he couldn’t be caught napping the way a former governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, was humbled during in last year’s election when the APC dethroned the PDP.
Before now, Fayose, the leader of the party in the state, knew he was out to face a serious battle because of the interests of some political heavyweights in the race, particularly within his party.
Before the governor announced Olusola as his preferred candidate, rumours were rife at a time that he preferred Olujimi and at a time, some people speculated that the governor’s body language suggested that he had his former works’ commissioner, Mr Kayode Oso, as the anointed candidate.
But on Wednesday, September 8, 2017, the governor damned the consequences by cleverly propping the critical stakeholders within the PDP to adopt Olusola, from Ekiti South Senatorial District, as the preferred candidate of the party. The meeting was attended by the state PDP chairman, Gboyega Oguntuase, the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Modupe Alade, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon Kola Oluwawole, 16 council chairmen, PDP local governments and ward leaders, among others.
Olusola, who hails from Ikere Ekiti , is a professor of Building Technology from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State.
A communiqué issued after the meeting said after due consultation, without prejudice to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), they formally endorsed Prof Kolapo Olusola, the deputy governor, from Ekiti South Senatorial District, as their preferred aspirant/candidate.
Sensing danger that such action had foreclosed their ambitions, notable aspirants such as Adeyeye, Olujimi, Bejide and Ajayi described the action as a flagrant violation of Section 50 sub sections A and B of the party’s constitution, which made it imperative for the conduct of a primary when consensus can’t be reached for any elective positions.
Adeyeye hurriedly resigned as the chairman and Pro-Chancellor of the Governing Council of the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, and Fayose immediately replaced him with a Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN), Deacon Dele Adesina, signaling that the battle line had been drawn.
The aggrieved aspirants led by Adeyeye have been grappling hard to rubbish the process leading to Olusola’s emergence. A statement by Prince Adedayo Adeyeye Movement(PAAM) dismissed the development as not posing any threat to his emergence as the party’s flag bearer during its primaries in March 2018.
However, Olusola was not silent to all the vituperation being hurled by the aggrieved aspirants. He declared at a special prayer organized by the Ikere Community to seek the face of God for his victory, saying his endorsement by the party for the 2018 poll didn’t flout the party’s constitution. The deputy governor posited that the NWC would conduct a primary for all aspirants, expressing confidence that he would trounce other contenders with the support of Fayose and other critical stakeholders.
Faparusi, who is also eyeing the governorship seat, has advised Adeyeye and other aggrieved critical stakeholders in the PDP to stop Fayose from becoming an emperor in the party. He said for the survival of democracy, those whose rights were allegedly abridged by Fayose’s ‘despotic’ action must go all hogs to ensure that internal democracy thrives in the PDP.
He said it was so disturbing that the governor, who had been the one crying loud and consistently criticizing President Muhammadu Buhari’s government as being ‘despotic’ for effecting the arrest of those who allegedly looted the treasury, had been the one flagrantly muzzling his party’s constitution just for his candidate to emerge.
The people are now having divergent views on what would become of the PDP in the election with Olusola’s candidacy. While some perceive it as a plus to Fayose’s political survival, others say fielding a greenhorn like him is a dangerous game.
As the election draws closer, the aspirants are appealing to the National Chairman of the party, Chief Uche Secondus, to conduct a free and fair primary election in the state. They warned that the party stands the risk of losing Ekiti if Fayose is allowed to subvert the party’s constitution and impose his anointed candidate.
The aggrieved aspirants called for the dissolution of the State’s Working Committee (SWC) led by Gboyega Oguntuase and set up a caretaker committee to conduct the primary.
The speech read by Adeyeye called on the National Chairman of the party to exclude Fayose and the state chairman of the party, Gboyega Oguntuase, from partaking in the conduct of the primary,
saying the “duo have already compromised, they have taken positions and cannot be fair to all the aspirants”.
Within the APC, Dr. Fayemi, though yet to declare his intent, has posters on major roads in Ado-Ekiti and some other towns in the 16 council areas of the state.
Fayemi ruled the state between October 2010 and October 2014, but could not secure a second term having lost to Governor Ayo Fayose.
Similarly, former governor, Segun Oni, whose administration was sacked by an Appeal Court tribunal, has stated that he was ready to resume as governor of the state.
Oni while addressing a press conference to herald his comeback, promised to defeat Governor Ayodele Fayose or any of his cronies if he wins the ticket of the APC for the governorship election.
Oni said he would use his return to power to instill a new social and economic order in the state as well as correct certain mistakes and errors he made during his tenure which was terminated by the Appeal Court in favour of Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the then Action Congress of Nigeria.
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