Category: Politics

Intrigues surrounding the quest to win the governorship slot of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State is further tearing the party apart, reports Sunday Oguntola

No one knows where the pendulum will swing. But everyone can confirm the battle for the governorship slot of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will be tough and testy. The aspirants who have risen to over 10 at the last count are expected to give themselves a good run. It is expected to be the fiercest primary in the South-West PDP.

The fading influence

This is because of the lingering battles in the Oyo State chapter of the PDP. It all started in 2007 when former governor, Rasheed Ladoja, was impeached by the machinery powered by late Ibadan strongman, Lamidi Adedibu. Ladoja’s deputy, Adebayo Alao-Akala, stepped in until the fiasco was upturned by the court.

Since then, the party in Oyo State has known no peace. When Alao-Akala returned to the Agodi Government House in 2007, the crisis escalated. Adedibu held on to the structure while Alao-Akala played the good boy. When Adedibu passed on, Alao-Akala naturally became the PDP leader in Oyo.

But the former governor’s leadership left the party further decimated. When it faced election in 2011, Alao-Akala had alienated too many people to win reelection. Once out of office, the PDP continued to suffer blows upon blows. The numerous factions cancelled out themselves. Supporters tore at one another. Party chieftains exchanged fire with fire.

This was the situation when the last congress of the party held in March 2012.

Two executive councils emerged and are laying claims to the party’s affairs in the state. But the national secretariat of the party recognises the faction led by Yinka Taiwo, which was produced at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium (former Liberty Stadium), the officially designated congress venue.

The sterling performances of Oyo State governor, Abiola Ajimobi of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has left the party with little or no sympathies. Oyo indigenes freely compared what exists with the mess that used to be under the watch of the PDP. The multiple infrastructural transformations in the state shocked many and attracted more disdain for the PDP.

But despite the PDP’s fading influence in Oyo State, the party is still attracting many aspirants. No fewer than 10 persons have indicated interest in flying the party’s ticket in 2015.

Enter the aspirants

They include former governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala; Ibadan-based businessman, Engineer Femi Babalola; former State Chairman of the Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB); Prof. Soji Adejumo; former deputy governor, Azeem Gbolarumi; Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Oloye Jumoke Akinjide and Nigeria’s ambassador to Jordan, Taofeek Arapaja;

Others are former Senate leader, Teslim Folarin; Seyi Makinde; former Minister of Sports, Taoheed Adedoja; former Minister of Power and Steel, Elder Wole Oyelese; renowned politician, Alhaji Yekini Adeojo, among others.

Of the lot, some are considered heavyweights while others are simply dismissed as appointment seekers. Sources said Arapaja is not so keen on the governorship slot as he is enjoying his ambassadorial role in Jordan. He is believed to be working hand-in-hand in Akinjide’s faction and is willing to concede the slot to her provided certain conditions are fulfilled.

Some, like Adejo and Oyelese, are seen as stalwarts who should not be vying for elections but supporting younger aspirants. This, in a way, effectively leaves the tussle to Alao-Akala, Akinjide, Folarin, Babalola, Makinde, Adejumo, Adedoja and Gbolarumi.

Alao-Akala:

The former governor is blessed with heavy financial war-chest and a large followership in Ogbomosho and some parts of Oke-Ogun axis of the state. His many road projects in Oke-Ogun have endeared him to the indigenes, who believe he was the first governor to open up the area. His Oyato political structure remains well-oiled and eager to roll out.

But many in the party have not forgiven him for slighting them as governor. His troubles with prominent traditional rulers in the state as governor also remain a big political liability. The ongoing N11.5 billion fraud case against him is another baggage that could work against him.

Whether or not Akala could seize control of the party again to win the governorship slot remains dicey. He is, however, the only aspirant outside the Ibadan axis, a development that could sway sentiments in his favour.

Akinjide:

The minister’s profile has been rising since she rose to political notice on the strength of her father, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the Second Republic.

Sources said she has succeeded in building a strong structure that has become dominant in the state chapter. This structure, it was gathered, is well-funded and expanding in scope. But she has a formidable foe in Alao-Akala with whom she is not on good terms. Besides, analysts wonder if a conservative state as Oyo is ready to have a female governor.

Outside Ibadan, PDP chieftains said she is not popular at all. Besides, she is seen as an aristocrat whose ability to relate with the grassroots is suspect. But she remains a force to reckon with, especially in view of her mending roles in the crisis ravaging the party.

Folarin:

Until he was remanded in prison over the murder of former NURTW leader, Lateef Salako, aka Eleweomo, the former Senate leader was by far the most formidable PDP aspirant in 2011. But things have taken a turn for the worse for Folarin. Though the party’s machinery is in his total control, he has been unable to win the followership of other factions. But he has Adedibu’s structure intact and behind him.

Today, many insiders believe any of these three will clinch the governorship ticket of the PDP but it is believed Ajimobi’s solid performances will make the task of PDP winning the election, a miracle.

The stage is set for a renewed battle for political supremacy in Jigawa State between the state governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, and his immediate predecessor, Senator Saminu Turaki, reports Assistant Editor, Remi Adelowo

After almost four years of absence on the political scene, former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, is back on the turf once more.

The former governor’s political profile suffered a major setback in 2011 following his failed attempt to return to the Senate, where he served for four years from 2007 to 2011.

One year before the expiration of his two terms as governor in 2007, Turaki had defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) allegedly on the promptings of the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

Contesting on the platform of the PDP, Turaki won the senatorial election to represent the Jigawa North West Constituency in 2007. But his no-love-lost relationship with his successor in the Jigawa State Government House, Sule Lamido, put paid to his ambition to retain his seat in the Senate in 2011, with Lamido throwing his weight behind Danladi Abdullahi Sankara, the former PDP National Vice Chairman (North-West).

Angered by this development, Turaki, who defected to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), was handed the senatorial ticket but eventually lost to Sankara in the general election. Up until recently when Turaki was mentioned as one of the people being allegedly considered by President Goodluck Jonathan as a ministerial nominee, the Ahmadu Bello University-trained Actuarial Scientist has been in relative political obscurity for almost four years.

The alleged intention of the presidency, it was gathered, was to position Turaki as a counter-force to challenge Governor Sule Lamido in the run-down to the 2015 general elections.

Sources revealed that the Turaki option initially appealed to the presidency following security reports that Lamido may be a stumbling block in respect of his perceived opposition to the re-election of the president in 2015.

The Nation gathered that in spite of Lamido’s refusal to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) alongside five of his former colleagues, who formed the new PDP sometime last year, not a few trusted aides of the president are still suspicious of Lamido’s game plan for the next election.

While his name made the rounds in the media as a ministerial nominee, Turaki tactically kept mum, preferring to allow the issue to run its full course in the public space.

His strategy to bounce back

At a meeting held with hundreds of his political associates in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital last week, Turaki announced the formation of his new political association christened Saminiyya Amana Hallacci (Green Cap Movement).

The new association, sources disclosed, is fashioned after the Kwankwasiya Movement founded by the Kano State Governor, Alhjai Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. But while members of Kwankwasiya are known with their red cap, Saminiyya Amana Hallacci members will have the green cap as their symbol.

The Nation gathered that the new movement has embarked on an aggressive membership recruitment drive in Jigawa State across all the major political parties, with some of the politicians who worked with Turaki during his tenure as governor, but lost out in the Lamido era, constituting its main arrowheads.

In what expectedly will sound as good music in the ears of the powers-that-be, Turaki, had during the formal inauguration of his new group, pledged his support for President Jonathan’s re-election in 2015.

During the occasion, he also announced his plan to return to the PDP, in what sources say was the aftermath of the decision reached after Turaki allegedly recently held a secret meeting with a top presidency top shot.

Lamido, Turaki renew rivalry

While on the surface, Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, seems to have reconciled with the president, particularly after the exit of the former National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, there still appears to be a tinge of distrust from the presidency on the loyalty of Lamido to the president and his party.

And against the backdrop of Turaki’s return to the PDP, Lamido’s camp, according to sources, is strongly suspecting that the presidency is wary of fully entrusting the president’s re-election operations in the hands of the governor.

With Turaki back in the PDP, the calculation is to use him to whittle down the seemingly larger-than-life image of the incumbent governor in the state as the preparations for the 2015 get under way.

Who holds the ace in Jigawa politics?

With the frosty relationship between Lamido and Turaki dating back to the latter’s tenure as governor yet unresolved, there are strong fears that the two politicians may soon resume their rivalry for the control of the soul of Jigawa politics.

In Turaki’s camp, there is a strong optimism that the former governor is fully back to reclaim his lost political glory, but that feeling of confidence is being faulted by aides and associates of the incumbent governor, whose performance in almost seven years has been applauded by stakeholders within and outside the state.

Sources told The Nation that the two camps are warming back for an epic fight, with each side poised to unearth all the ‘dirty stories’ of their principals.

Regarding the ‘dirty stories’ about Turaki, the Lamido may be making reference to the alleged case of corruption and money laundering still hanging on the former governor’s camp.

It would be recalled that shortly after he left office as governor in 2007, Turaki was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and subsequently arraigned in court on a 32-count charge of money laundering involving a whopping sum of N36billion.

Though he was later released on bail with stringent conditions, Turaki’s trial has remained in limbo like most of the cases involving many ex-governors, including Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu) and Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), to mention but a few.

Neutral observers of the unfolding scenario in Jigawa State are, however, hoping that Lamido and Turaki can work together in the overall larger interest of the PDP, but the big question is: can these two men work together in harmony and forget their past beef? It will soon be known.

Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Chapter Chairman Monday Ubani believes that the proposed national dialogue may be an exercise in futility. In this interview with Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI, he argues that the conference was designed to fail

Judging by the modalities released for the conference, do you think the outcome would satisfy the aspirations of Nigerians?

No, it would not satisfy the aspirations of Nigerians. I’m one of those who have been advocating for the national conference because I believe that Nigeria can only be reclaimed, if we really sit down to restructure this country. I had also said that we would begin to decipher the intentions of this government by the modalities it would roll out concerning the conference. The modalities just rolled out did not meet my expectations. Ethnic nationalities are supposed to be major stakeholders in this conference. But, judging by what we have seen as the possible composition of the conference, it would be peopled by politicians. When politicians gather, you know the kind of mischief they cause; they would not address the fundamental issues bedeviling this country: the country is not making because the Nigerian state requires restructuring for efficiency. We are not running a proper federalism; we are running a unitary system of government. The issue of allocation is absurd; every state goes to Abuja with a cap in hand, begging for money and anytime the federal government does not feel like giving, they would tell them there is no money and everybody would back to his state empty-handed. You would see them running helter skelter in order to meet some of their financial obligations. The system of government we are running does resemble the federal system of government; the central government comes to the federating units and takes away everything, only for the latter to go to the centre to beg for a portion of what rightly belongs to it. We can only run a proper federal system of government, if we sit down to draw up a proper constitution that would guide this nation. The one we are using now is not a proper one; it is written by the military and it has so many deficiencies and there are issues we need to tackle to make Nigeria work again.

In other words, you are saying that the issue of representation is wrong because collectively, the President and the Governors are going to nominate about half of the delegates…

Yes, it is going to be peopled by politicians and they are not going to address the issues. It is going to be a jamboree and at the end of it all, they are just buying time, keeping us busy and making us feel there is good intention, after all I’ve given you an opportunity to talk. The government would also use it to curry favour from some of us who have advocating for the conference.

Professor Ben Nwabueze is insisting that the issue of self-determination ought to be subjected to debate, rather than being classified as a no-go area. Do you agree with that viewpoint?

Yes, that is the point; it is the people that would determine whether it is non-negotiable or not. The people must talk about their staying together and agree to do so. If they don’t reach an agreement about their staying together, then on what basis are we going to amend the constitution? You give a new constitution to people who have agreed to stay together as one nation, united and indivisible under one God and pursue and agenda that is common. The agenda cannot be common when we are pursuing different agendas or goals. In fact, the issue of unity and the agreement to stay together is the most crucial aspect of the talk. When you now say that it is a no-go area, then you are not being sincere; you sweeping a serious matter under the carpet and you know when things are swept under the carpet it going to burst and the effect would be devastating. The issue is that the Nigerian state is not healthy; we don’t speak with one voice and we don’t have a single aspiration. People who go into politics in this country particularly have a different reason why they are going into politics, rather than fostering unity and moving the country forward.

So, I totally agree with Professor Nwabueze on the issue of self-determination.

A lot of things have not been made clear about the conference. Take the issue of referendum; while some spokesmen are saying this is not possible under the current circumstances, others are saying this should be left to the conference delegates to decide. What do you make of the whole scenario?

It is a booby trap; and it is intentional to create confusion. At the end, they would say, we gave you guys the opportunity to resolve this intractable Nigerian problem, but you were not able to. My position has always been that the objectives of the national conference must be properly spelt out and that spelling out must be done through an act of the National Assembly. That was my recommendation even to the Femi Okurounmu-led committee; that we must enact a law spelling out the modalities, the issues to be talked about and what to do with the outcome of the talk, so that we would know what we are dealing with.

But when you now constitute a national conference and say that it is the conferees that would determine the outcome, you have deliberately created a recipe for disaster. They are doing that because they don’t want it to succeed in the first place because the delegates would find difficult to agree. To make matters worse, they decided to set the consensus parameter at 75 per cent; that is, three quarters of the delegates must approve before they agree on any issue. This is very high; it is always two-third. This is deliberately put in place to cause confusion because they know it would be difficult to achieve such a degree of consensus. At the end, they would say, didn’t we tell you that this national conference is not our problem?

Pro-democracy crusader and former National Secretary of Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Ayo Opadokun, is among the leading Yoruba in Kwara and Kogi states agitating for the re-integration of Yoruba in the two states with their kith and kin in the Southwest. He spoke with Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU on plans by the agitators to bring the issue to the front burner at the proposed national conference.

When you are referred to as a Yoruba Northerner, how do you feel?

I feel insulted, I feel marginalised. In the Northcentral Zone, the Yoruba in Kwara and Kogi states suffer a lot. The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo campaigned vigorously for the implementation of the Henry Willinkson Report on the minority. The British colonial masters, in conspiracy with the NCNC and the NPC, blackmailed Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the Action Group. They said that, if they insisted on the implementation of the report, independence in 1960 could not be guaranteed or feasible. We have realised that we are a significant part of the Yoruba nation. The idea of balkanising us into different regions was not only de-humanising, it was achronistic, very oppressive. We have since then remained a permanently disadvantaged people. we are the people regarded as engendered specie. Offa is the traditional headquarter of the Yoruba-Ebolo people. All the people from Iwo to Offa are Ebolo people. The British, in their wickedness severed the traditional, the heart of the people. In the process, they have continuously made us minority in the country and the state where we are. We are totally ignored, sidelined and nearly dehumanised.

How are you sidelined?

As a Yoruba man placed under the northern hemisphere, if there is anything to be parceled out to any indigene of zone in Kaduna, if i show my face, I will be told that I am a Yoruba man. It has happened to me. When we formed the SDP, I knew the role God used me to play in the process of organising the SDP. But, I couldn’t get any office because my people have been lumped with the Middlebelt and I could not be chosen to represent the place. A Tiv was selected. So, we have suffered that. Again, if they are packaging anything for the Southwest, I would be told that I am from the North. It has affected me. In 1999, the government we formed after my return from the detention in the Yorubaland met and considered me for a position. I was told by a reliable source that when it was suggested that I, the General Secretary of Afenifere, ought to be given an important office, one of them said: ‘We don’t even have enough posts for our people; we are talking about somebody who is not from our zone. So, I was denied. The late Chief Sunday Awoniyi wanted to become the national chairman of the PDP, which he worked to build. Former President Obasanjo worked against him. He said: ‘I am a Yoruba man, you are a Yoruba man’. He was pretending to be a lover of equity. We are in an unfortunate setting. We are not accepted here or there. Look at the leadership of non-governmental organisations. My people are in the leadership, but cannot get anything. They work assiduously to the advantage of other people.

What is the way forward?

Our request is that is that they should take us back to where we rightly belong. As far as we are concerned, the creation of states has been militarised, compromised, un-technical, unscientific. They created those states for some measures of mischief. They created states and local governments to satisfy their fellow military surrogates, confederates, loyalists, sympathisers, wives and concubines. It was not based on technical, scientific principles that are universally acceptable. In Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Thoughts on Nigeria’s Constitution’, which he published in 1966, and the ‘peoples’ Republic’ in 1977, he clearly demonstrated the guiding principles that should be considered before state creation. The linguistic parameters are so important-people speaking the same language, cultural ties. When you don’t base state creation on these, you are calling for trouble. Awolowo warned Nigerians. His works are forcefully challenging the sensibility of the current rulers. The creation of state from the beginning dod not take into consideration the universal parameters. If you are going to create states, you must ensure that people of the same unit, who believe in the same thing, who have common traits, common culture, common tradition, common artifacts should be in the same state. The Gwari people are now in Kaduna and Niger states. Some of them are also visible in the Federal Capital Territory. The Nupe people are in Kwara and Niger states. Why? The Ibibio people have divergence. They are in cross River and Akwa Ibom. The difference between the Anang, Ibibio and Efik ought to teach the promoters of the state creation under the military these technicalities so that they won’t ruffle weathers. Yoruba constitute the minority in Kwara and Kogi states. The Igbominas are in Kwara. Their traditional headquarter is Ila-Orangun. But, they have local governments in Kwara. The Ekitis are in aKwara. The distance between Governor Fayemi’s town, Isan-Ekiti and the next Ekiti town in Kwara is not up to four kilometres. But, you have made them permanently disadvantaged. How can people like that be happy with the so-called constitution? Look at Ijaw people. They are now found in Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, and Rivers states. They are minority in several states. It is an unkind and very ungodly decision made by the military rulers.

Can this matter be brought to the front burner at the proposed national conference?

Certainly. The Yoruba in the Southwest are clamouring that the Yoruba in Kwara and Kogi should be given the human right to be with their kith and kin in the Southwest. We are perceptive enough to know that state creation will be difficult now. We are demanding for boundary adjustment. Boundary adjustment will be more appropriate and helpful when there is no different group between the people who want to return to their kindred and the people over there. We are contiguous. There is no different group between the Ekiti people in Ekiti and Ekiti people in Kwara. So, they can return to Ekiti State. Boundary adjustment is our choice. We will campaign for it. Yoruba should be in the Southwest. Our people hold a strong position on this matter. We are like second class or third class citizens in Kwara and Kogi.

Would other people in Kwara and Kogi be disposed to that boundary adjustment?

If they are people of conscience, if they believe in the dignity of humanity, if they are people who believe in equity, they have no reason to be against our position and demand. You want the best for your community. Why should we be different? Why should Yoruba in Kwara and Kogi be permanently disadvantaged? It should not be left to the whims and caprices of those who want to continue to hold us to ransom. They do a lot of funny things. They remind us of how they conquered our territory in the past and how they wanted us to be under their effective control. Any state that is packaged together by the force of arms cannot last. Countries that were forcefully coupled together in the past paid dearly for it. There is no more USSR on the world map. Stalin was in effective control in those days. look at what is happening now in Kiev. Look at Poland. Today, people have gone their different ways. Look at Yugoslavia under Tito. Sustainability of an oppressive system cannot be guaranteed. Today, Britain has conceded rights to the Irish people, Scott. The world community is gearing for self-governance. Self-determination is the anthem of this millennium. Awo wrote in 1977: ‘The demand for the merger of Yoruba tribe in Ilorin and Kabba divisions is a long standing one. Since they are Yoruba, they automatically belong to Western Nigeria, under the multi-lingual principle. But, the dominant Hausa-Fulani of the Northern Region lay claim to this area and the people therein on the strength of the alleged military conquest 146 years ago. The British, in pursuit of their selfish imperialist interests recognised this spurious claim. But, they do not think any enlightened and intelligent member of the Hausa-Fulani will insist in this propitious, insulting and false claim’. What he has said cannot be faulted. Awo added: ‘Though it sounds superfluous, yet, the point must be made that all the nations being brought together must be territorially contiguous.. Every linguistic group should be made to remain as an undivided unit in any constituent state.