Tag: Ajimobi

The choice of the members of the new Executive Council in Oyo State is Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s grand plot to rout opposition parties in 2015 elections, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State and his political party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) is not leaving anything to chance in their resolve to ensure the routing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Accord Party (AP) in the 2015 governorship election in the state.

PDP and the AP, the two leading opposition parties in the state, have been unrelenting in their bid to oust Ajimobi and the APC from the Agodi Government House come 2015.

At every forum, leaders of the two parties like former Governors Rasheed Ladoja and Adebayo Alao-Akala, are wont to tell their supporters of how they are plotting to stop Ajimobi from securing a second term in office the same way they were both stopped from earning re-election.

Recently, Ladoja and Alao-Akala entered into an agreement that will see the two of them collaborating ahead of the 2015 governorship election all in a bid to ensure the failure of the re-election bid of Ajimobi.

But watchers of the politics of the state say the governor and his party may have moved ahead of the opposition in strategising how to remain in office beyond May 2015.

Duro Adesanya of the Coalition for Democracy and Rule of Law (CDRL) said with the new cabinet for the state, the ruling APC has shown that it is desirous of remaining in office beyond 2015.

According to the public commentator, the cabinet is a mix of people who can help the governor continue his quest to serve the people of the state better as well as people who can help him get the votes of the people come 2015.

“With the recent dissolution and reconstitution of the state’s executive council, Ajimobi may have put paid to the hope of the opposition to stop his re-election bid. The new cabinet is a political masterstroke by all ramifications. The APC must have had winning the 2015 election in mind when they drew up the list of the new team. It shows the party is serious with shutting up Ladoja and Akala forever,” he said.

Gov. Ajimobi of Oyo State had, in what came to many as a surprise move, on September 23, dissolved the State Executive Council (SEC). Party sources, however, said the plan to dissolve the cabinet was conceived long before then.

A statement issued by the Director, Cabinet, Mr Dotun Omokemi, said the dissolution was informed by the need to inject fresh blood into the administration in the quest to serve the state better.

And on Monday, Ajimobi forwarded a list of commissioner-nominees to the Oyo State House of Assembly. The House started the screening of the 12 commissioner-nominees the next day.

A cursory look at the names on the list, analysts say, revealed how far the APC has gone to ensure that opposition parties will find it difficult wooing the people of the state to vote for them in 2015.

Duro Adesanya observed: “This is politics. You don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that what the APC has done is to appoint people with electoral value into positions. With this list, the party has successfully married competence with electoral weight in chosing the new cabinet members.

“I see one of the sons of the Olubadan, Prince Gbade Lana, on the list. His position as a prince is a plus for APC during election. And he is a capable hand too. As the chairman of the Oyo State Library Board, he made his mark.

“Take a good look at the five former commissioners who made the new list – Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin, Mr. Adebayo Ojo, Mr. Dapo Lam Adesina, Princess Adetutu Adeyemi-Akhigbe and Mr. Zaccheus Adelabu , these are political heavyweights in their various constituencies.

“Dapo Adesina is the son of the late former governor of the state, Lam Adesina. Adeyemi-Akhigbe is the daughter of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi. Gbadegesin, Adelabu and Ojo are respected chieftains of the party.

“Mr. Faruk Arisekola-Alao, is the son of frontline businessman, Alhaji Azeez Arisekola- Alao. No one can ignore the importance of the Arisekola-Alao family to the politics of the state.

“No doubt, this is a brilliant way to show the opposition that the people of the state, across social strata, are still very much pleased with the government of the ruling party,”

Speaking on the 2015 election, Honourable Kamil Akinlabi, representing Oyo in the House of Representatives, said it will be practically impossible for the opposition, especially the PDP to defeat APC in the next governorship election in the state.

“There is no other party in Oyo State.”he said, “We have no opposition. Where is the opposition against APC? We don’t have any opposition against us. Which PDP? Is it the PDP of Teslim Folarin, PDP of Alao-Akala or the PDP of Jumoke Akinjide, which of the PDP?

“So, a fractionalised party cannot confront us, we don’t have any opposition. Already, we are taking maximum advantage of their crisis. Our camp is growing in leaps and bounds every day. By the time they wake up to mend fences among themselves, they won’t see their supporters again,.”

The lawmaker said with the level of performance of the Ajimobi-led APC government in the state, the people of the state will surely prefer the party to any other one in 2015.

In his wards, “When somebody plans a lasting legacy, it is something worth-while. Other governors before him have contributed their quotas by their various achievements. After all, they were not sleeping while there. But what he has added is rooted in his approach, how are they doing it, let me do my own differently. Of course, other administrations constructed roads, but in his own wisdom, he said let me dualise those road”.

“So, when you talk of all those roads dualised, it will be recorded for Ajimobi’s administration. He has constructed an overhead bridge at Mokola. Even, if you don’t agree with him, it will outlive him as governor. No one can take that credit away from him. We are not condemning those before him, but he has done things differently in a way that will make life meaningful for the general citizens of Oyo State,” Akinlabi said.

The State Acting Chairman of the APC, Chief Akin Oke, shares Akinlabi’s opinion.

“On which platform is PDP going to defeat Ajimobi in 2015? Is it the old or new PDP? Is it on the platform of Senator Lekan Balogun, Elder Wole Oyelese, or that of the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ms Jumoke Akinjide,” Oke asked ?

Oke said while the APC is busy restrategising and winning more people into its fold ahead of the 2015 election, the opposition, especially the PDP is busy fighting within itself. According to the party boss, the crisis in Oyo PDP is worse than that of any other state across the country.

He stated“With the kind of problem in Oyo PDP, it will be a pipe dream for the PDP to win 20 per cent votes in the state in 2015.

“When they boasted that the PDP will win Oyo in 2015, did they forget that the PDP governed the state for eight years with nothing to show for it, other than bloodshed, violence and retrogression.

“Ajimobi’s two years in office is far better than the PDP’s eight years’ reign of terror. Let Folarin tell the world which PDP he is boasting of. Is it the new or old PDP that will defeat Ajimobi in 2015?”

“In spite of all these, as serious politicians, we are not resting on our oars. We are daily reaching out to the people and asking them to come and join us. The people of the state are daily praising the party for bringing to them a government that really cares,” he added.

Expectations over the impending appointments into the Oyo State Executive Council and the constitution of new local government caretaker committees have heightened just as the state governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has kept everyone guessing, reports Remi Adelowo

The decision by Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, to dissolve the State Executive Council (SEC) caught almost all his commissioners and other aides napping.

Besides the commissioners, others who were relieved of their appointments included the governor’s Chief of Staff, Dr. Adeolu Akande, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Special Advisers (SAs), Senior Special Assistants (SSAs) and Special Assistants (SAs).

The governor, sources told The Nation, kept the decision so closely guarded that even his wife, Florence Ajimobi, who is unarguably his closest confidant, was allegedly unaware of the plan.

On the Monday the governor personally announced the dissolution of the cabinet, he had waited patiently till the end of the weekly executive ouncil meeting before informing the commissioners and others present of his resolve to inject new blood into the administration in order to, in his words, “reinvigorate and reengineer” his team for the challenges ahead.

While some of the appointees were shocked at the announcement, others simply took it in their strides. For this category of people, sources revealed that they were aware that the dissolution of the cabinet had long been in the offing and that the governor was waiting for an auspicious time before making the move.

About two years ago, shortly before the burial of the governor’s mother, Alhaja Sikirat Ajimobi in Ibadan, the state capital, rumours were rife that the governor had concluded plans to dissolve the cabinet.

However, that did not come to be. The Nation gathered that though the rumour was indeed not altogether unfounded, the governor shelved the plan for some strategic reasons.

According to a source, “The governor was being careful not to do anything that will rupture the alliance deal he had with ex-Governor Rashidi Ladoja and the Accord Party (AP) in the state. Though the governor was under pressure from his party leaders not to work with Ladoja, he stuck to his guns, because he needed the support of every stakeholder in the state across party divides.”

But no sooner had Ladoja embarked on strident criticisms of his administration that he began to see the urgent imperative of sacking the entire cabinet. He, however, delayed the decision following appeals from some influential stakeholders in the state.

The former governor’s ceaseless antagonism towards the governor’s policies and actions finally forced the latter’s hand to relieve all the commissioners and other appointees nominated by Ladoja of their appointments some months ago.

With AP members who were suspected of leaking sensitive and confidential information to their leader out of his government, the governor thought all was now well. He was wrong. A source told The Nation that rather than abate, the governor kept receiving more disturbing reports of some government officials engaging in acts capable of putting his administration into disrepute.

As a source puts it, “Some of the commissioners were alleged to have been telling their friends and associates that the governor was not giving them enough independence to run the show in their respective ministries. They were also quoted to have accused the governor of treating their suggestions on government policies with contempt and that he (Ajimobi) acts like he knows it all.”

The source added that it was at this point that the governor decided to send all his aides packing. He was also said to have deliberately kept his plan close to his chest to avoid any external pressure to rescind the decision.

LG caretaker executives bite the dust

That the governor has become very adept in springing surprises when least expected was further proven when a few days ago, he dissolved the caretaker committees running the 33 local government councils in the state.

This move, just like the dissolution of the state executive council, caught many of the affected officials by surprise.

Though there is the official explanation that the LG caretaker executives were removed due to the expiration of their six-months tenure, we gathered that accusations leveled against some of the caretaker chairmen include, among others, their failure to carry out the governor’s brief in their respective councils; alleged disloyalty, mismanagement of resources and frosty relationship with certain influential stakeholders in their councils.

LG election still put on hold

Despite calls by opposition parties in the state that local government elections should be conducted without delay, The Nation reliably gathered that the third tier of government will continue to be administered by unelected officials.

Sometime ago, the AP leader in the state, Rashidi Ladoja, had cited the fear of defeat of the ruling defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) now All Progressives Congress as the reason the governor had refused to conduct the polls, while boasting that his party will record a landslide victory at the election.

In its explanation for not conducting the polls, the state government had on several occasions cited legal encumbrances challenging the constitution of the State Independent Electoral Commission which preceded the advent of the administration as the major reason responsible for the decision to put the election in abeyance of sorts.

New cabinet ready in few days

About two weeks ago, the state governor disclosed that he will announce the composition of a new cabinet, which sources say may be announced any moment from now.

In the last few weeks, the residences of influential Islamic leader and businessman, Alhaji Abdulazeez Arisekola Alao, and the Interim Chairman of the APC in the state, Chief Akin Oke, have been turned into a Mecca of sorts by politicians and other lobbyists who are desirous of making the list of the new cabinet.

While the APC leadership has allegedly forwarded some names to the governor as the party’s list, Ajimobi has reportedly set a benchmark for his ‘dream cabinet’.

The major considerations for the nominees include absolute loyalty to the governor; loyalty to the APC; experience and record of achievements, to mention but a few.

It is not clear if the governor would reconsider reappointing some close relatives of opposition politicians, one of whom include Kafayat Adeojo, the erstwhile Commissioner for the Environment, who is the daughter of a PDP chieftain, Chief Yekini Adeojo.

There are, however, strong feelers that the former Commissioner for Finance, Zaccheus Adelabu and his counterpart in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Princess Folasade Adeyemi, who is the daughter of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, may make the new cabinet.

But as politicians and people in the state await with bated breath, the announcement of new commissioners and special advisers, what is certain, according to a source, is that the governor will fill his new cabinet with individuals who can perform and also be assets rather than a liabilities to his much speculated second term ambition.