Candidates of the various political parties are facing a tough National Assembly election in Oyo State. Governor Abiola Ajimobi, the three serving senators and other political titans are in the race, giving no room for any of them to relax, writes Southwest Bureau Chief BISI OLADELE.
THE race for National Assembly seats in Oyo State is congested and cloudy. Well-known names are on the stage to wrest power from the three serving senators and 14 members of the House of Representatives.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi leads the pack of flagbearers. A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ajimobi is contesting for the Oyo South senatorial seat against the incumbent Sen. Adesoji Akanbi of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). A former commissioner for Trade, Investments and Cooperatives, Dr Kola Balogun, is also jostling for the seat on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), though his ticket is still being contested in court by a former deputy governor, Hazeem Gbolarumi. In the Action Democratic Party (ADP), which has been made popular by former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, Dr Fola Akinosun is in the race against Ajimobi and others. The Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), which is currently under the leadership of Sen. Rashidi Ladoja, is fielding Nureni Adisa for the Oyo South race.
The Oyo Central race is equally a tough one. The incumbent lawmaker, Monsurat Sunmonu of ADC is slugging it out with former Senate Leader Teslim Folarin of the APC, Temitope Sugar of the ADP, Chief Bisi Ilaka of the PDP and the ZLP’s Mumuni Olaniyan.
In Oyo North, a former House Leader, Mulikat Akande-Adeola of the PDP is up against the incumbent, Dr Fatai Buhari of the APC, Adeleke Adebayo of the ADC, Bashiru Lawal of the ZLP and Ahmed Salawudeen of the ADP.
The candidates have been having sleepless nights, traversing the length and breadth of their constituencies to persuade voters to support them. It is particularly tough, because some of them are either incumbents or former legislators from whom many constituents have benefitted. While the former ones are going round with confidence over what they achieved for the constituency in the past, the incumbents are riding on the crest of their ongoing and recent empowerment projects. Yet, new entrants are also relying on the impacts their political leaders have made on the constituencies in the past, ethnic factor or party popularity.
However, the influence of money seems to tower above all the other factors, as the electorate still distrust politicians, believing that whatever they can extort from them during electioneering campaign is their major profit for supporting them. This fact stares the candidates in the face and gives them no room for complacency as the rescheduled election draws near.
By implication, the voters are embracing all the candidates with open arms, to exploit them before voting for the candidate of their choice. So, determining who earns whose vote remains the greatest headache of the politicians. They seem to be at loss about whom to trust, but are carrying on with the campaign in good faith.
In all of these, however, Ajimobi in Oyo South and Sen. Buhari in Oyo North appear to be more sure-footed in their quest, compared to the other candidates, because they remained in their original parties. Since Ajimobi contested and won on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011 along with Sen. Buhari and others, both of them have remained in the party, which later transformed to the APC. Both of them are incumbents contesting in their original party. The machinery of the governing party both at the state and federal level is sure to work for them. The power of incumbency will also help Sen. Sunmonu and Akanbi and many other ADC House of Representatives candidates in certain ways.
When contacted, however, Sen. Buhari shrugged off permutations. He said he was carrying on with his campaign with a strong hope of victory, because he has never been far from his constituents. He said: “Election is just an exercise. It comes and goes. But I am always with my people, listening to them and representing their interest. So, whether it is election or any other exercise, my people know who I am, and I know who they are. Our bond is tight. So, there is no room for suggestions of failure.”
As for Sen, Sunmonu and Akanbi, both are involved more in direct campaign than through the mass media. They also insisted that names and character of candidates will be a stronger factor in the rescheduled February 23 election. They are also upbeat of trouncing their co-contestants.
But, as the PDP train moves round the state, its governorship candidate, Seyi Makinde, has been standing surety for all PDP candidates in the four elections. He wants people to vote for them based on his own credibility.
Judging by the result of the 2015 elections, the party has a chance to do well in Oyo State. The choice of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate may also work in the party’s favour in the state. This is because the presidential and National Assembly elections are lumped together, voters who prefer one presidential candidate will most likely vote for the same party
