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Tag: Ekiti PDP

  • 26 aspirants for Ekiti PDP primary

    26 aspirants for Ekiti PDP primary

    The list of the 26 aspirants for the March 15 governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has been released.

    The candidates are former Police Affairs Minister Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (rtd.); former Governor Ayodele Fayose; Senator Gbenga Aluko; Mr. Biodun Aluko; Mr. Femi Bamisile; Mr. Tunji Odeyemi; Prince Adedayo Adeyeye; Chief Bode Olowoporoku; Mr. Bimbo Owolabi; Chief Ropo Ogunbolude and Mr. Bisi Omoyeni.

    The rest are Mr. Peter Obafemi; Mrs. Bola Oloyede; Amb. Dare Bejide; Mr. Femi Olaosebikan; Mr. Reuben Famuyibo; Mr. Bodunde Adeyanju; Dr. Kunle Afolayan; Mr. Ayeni Biodun; Mr. Wale Aribisala; Mr. Tunde Ajayi; Mr. Mayowa Aluko; Otunba Segun Olarenwaju; Mrs. Cecilia Dada Bamisaye; Mr. Deji Ajayi and Mr. Ogunleye Israel.

    PDP State Publicity Secretary Pastor Kola Oluwawole said the sale of nomination forms begins on Monday.

    Oluwawole said: “The National Executive Committee (NEC) has not decided what the cost of the forms will be, although people have been saying it will be between N10 million and N11 million.”

    On calls for a consensus candidate, he said: “I do not think anyone should take advocates of a consensus candidate serious. The NEC has clarified its position many times that the only constitutional thing that will ensure transparency and fairness is to conduct a primary.

    “Even the national chairman has said he would do everything to ensure the sanctity of the constitution and that a well coordinated primary shall be conducted for aspirants. Aspirants should be on the field now canvassing for peoples’ votes.”

  • Ekiti PDP governorship aspirants may step down for Aluko

    Ekiti PDP governorship aspirants may step down for Aluko

    As political permutations continue in the build-up to the 2014 Ekiti governorship polls, fresh reports emerging from the state capital, Ado – Ekiti, indicate that some aspirants under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) might be considering withdrawing from the race and backing the candidature of Senator Gbenga Aluko.

    Reliable sources, close to the campaign organisations of at least two of the aspirants, one from the Ekiti South Senatorial District and another from Ekiti Central, said they were already holding discussions informally with top members of Gbenga Aluko Group (GAG), the campaign organisation of Aluko.

    This is a prelude to their principals formally stepping down from the race and declaring support publicly for Aluko.

    The aspirant from the Central Senatorial District was quoted as saying that he had seen the writing on the wall and had decided early to back an aspirant whom he believes stands a real chance of defeating the incumbent governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, in the governorship election tentatively scheduled for June this year by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    On the other hand, the aspirant from the Ekiti South Senatorial District, where Aluko comes from, was said to have based his decision on the fact that the earlier all Ekiti South Senatorial District aspirants come together and back one of their own, the better for the district.

    He was said to have pledged to collapse his campaign structure to work for the success of Aluko.

    Efforts to confirm the report from the aspirants were unsuccessful. The campaign manager to one of them, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was not something they wanted to discuss in the press for now.

    Also, the Director–General of Gbenga Aluko Campaign Group, Prince Olatunji Olatunde, while not denying the report, said that Gbenga Aluko will continue to discuss with other aspirants on a daily basis.

    While noting that the aspirant is open to alliances with other aspirants, he promised to issue a comprehensive statement when definite agreements have been reached.

  • 2014: Ekiti PDP backs Aluko

    2014: Ekiti PDP backs Aluko

    Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State have supported the candidature of former Deputy Governor Abiodun Aluko for next year’s governorship election.

    The party’s State Working Committee (SWC), Committee of Elders, Committee of Local Government Party Chairmen and Secretaries, as well as local government women and youth leaders, at a meeting, promised to support Aluko.

    Speaking yesterday on this development in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Ekiti PDP Chairman Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe said the love for the party should be paramount and considered above any sentiment.

    Also in support of Aluko are former Ekiti council chairmen, known as the G48, and the Committee of Assistant Officers in the executive body.

    The PDP said it is high time structures were put in place to ensure that a credible candidate emerges for the election.

    The party stakeholders described Aluko as an experienced politician, who is committed to the party.

    Aluko thanked them for the confidence reposed in him and promised to justify it.

    He declared his intention to contest the election on December 19, 2012, at his country home in Ikere.

  • As PDP unravels, where is Ekiti PDP?

    As PDP unravels, where is Ekiti PDP?

    If Ekiti PDP has always been fractious, its problems have now quintupled as the falcon can no longer hear the falconer.

    It the best of times, it is the tradition of the Ekiti PDP to have no idea about any matter, however serious, or pedestrian, until they have visited Ota.  Even at a time when former governor Gbenga Daniel gave Obasanjo, even as President, no quarters whatever in the affairs of  his native Ogun State PDP, our friends in Ekiti would still first visit with Baba or, at the very worst, divine his innermost cravings. Thus, at a point, it became impossible for Ekiti to nominate a candidate as federal minister on its own; and once, when they went beyond their bounds and nominated Dayo Adeyeye, it only took President Obasanjo enough time to remember that the prince was his nemesis as Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, and so, promptly collapsed the party’s temerity and Adeyeye’s earnest hopes.

    These were the thoughts running through my mind this past week as I posed the following question to the ekitipanupo web portal: Wither Ekiti PDP, as the ‘largest rally in Africa’ unravels?

    As I tried to sketch above, at no point in time had the party in Ekiti being as free as you found in Oyo, Osun, Ondo or in Gbenga Daniel’s Ogun. The few times President Obasanjo busied himself with state matters, any of Bode George, the late Baba Adedibu or Senator Omisore took charge; took as much contracts as he wanted or arranged charter flights  for the current governor, however transient. Indeed, when matters came to a head, our dear governors were not unknown to have run to a paramount ruler outside the state to help out. An instance was when an overbearing chieftain of the party was going to overawe the state governor with his  relationship with a top Abuja government official to get a seat on the National Executive Council of the party and the governor had to dash to Kabiyesi for succour.

    It must be said though, that at that time, all Southwest chapters respected the former president as it predated the current Buruji Kasamu’s suzerainty which has seen leading lights of the Obasanjo group shoved aside, even from posts to which they were elected.

    No thanks to a combination of President Jonathan and a rambunctious Chairman Tukur.

    Therefore, with the Presidency reportedly of the view that Obasanjo is behind the present crisis ravaging the party, whither Ekiti PDP?  Kasamu’s desire to add Ekiti to his Ogun conquest must have informed his boast to spend a billion naira on the Ekiti election, knowing full well that once his PDP people hear about money, all sense is lost.

    So what exactly is their permutation; which of the Tukur /Baraje groups offers the best for their chimerical hopes, for 2014 in Ekiti? This is the problem that must literally be eating them up now and I won’t be surprised if all manner of diviners, soothsayers and marabouts are already smiling to their banks. It becomes worse when one remembers that there are no less than 16 wannabe governors within their ranks.

    Writing in answer to the question was Wale Adeoye, a brilliant journalist, and Senior Special Assistant in the Fayemi administration. I shall quote him at some length. Wrote Wale: ‘The Ekiti and South West PDP are in a fix. It is unlikely they will come out unscathed. The Tukur faction, by crook and arm-twisting, will dominate the scene. The two sides are not fighting any ideological war. The Tukur faction wants the President, probably because he has paid his material price for the bidding or the pudding. The Baraje group, in turn, wants power so as to enhance the diminishing influence of the northern (Hausa-Fulani) oligarchy. Neither Tukur nor Baraje has told us that the battle is informed by the interest of Nigeria or Nigerians; neither has either disagreed with the ruinous economic policies of the PDP at the national and local frontiers. The devil is split in two: one is a rattle-snake, the other a scorpion. None is useful to mankind, not even for the eating, except to isolate and kill them before they finally pour their insidious venom on society. The Ekiti and South West PDP are split along the two divides: OBJ is an opportunist, trying to exploit the crack to full advantage. In reality, he is a vocal, devilish authority, but in praxis, he lacks any compelling political structure. Atiku, the knight of treacherous adventures, is using the PDM as a platform to destabilise the setting; to pave the way for his personal ambition or, at worst, to ensure the emergence of his crony as the next president. OBJ is not comfortable with Atiku, but for the plot against the President, he needs to surge at the hawk first, before he could chastise the rebellious, back-stabbing musketeers on his heels. This crisis has exposed the barrenness of the PDP, its lack of tact, its destructive antics, its lows, its self-seeking man-oeuvres and the imminence of its collapse as one of history’s most heinous political institutions.’ He then warns: ‘Let the progressive forces be aware: we need a movement; a movement in alliance with labour, students, workers, seafarers, haves and havenots, rich and poor, dregs and royals, to rise up and agree on the need to stop the PDP in all its deceitful shapes, come 2015.’

    If Ekiti PDP has always been fractious, its problems have now quintupled as the falcon can no longer hear the falconer. If the Oni group can be said to have been weakened by the vicissitudes Obasanjo suffered in the hands of Buruji Kasamu working as a Jonathan/Tukur hireling, the Fayose/Olubolade group, which won its rancorous convention, has uproariously atomised, with both men sparing no lurid word in publicly describing each other. While Akin Omole of the Oni group, who lost the chairmanship election, has since been in court asking it to send packing the incumbent state chairman, Makanjuola Ogundipe, on the grounds that members of the state executive committee came in through a manipulated congress election, as if rigging is not their party’s middle name, Ogundipe has, in turn, threatened to haul Omole before the enforcer, Chairman Tukur, for anti- party activities.

    Things have gotten even worse. There had been serial mutual suspensions of party chieftains, including both Fayose and Ogundipe.  Fisticuffs, cutlasses, guns and charms have also been brought into play with a former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly a major victim. Abuja has, as expected, done its usual abracadabra; rescinding Fayose’s suspension while tenaciously holding to the consensus arrangement which is the very reason Fayose is fighting to the death. In the meantime, the Oni group has been further affected by the publicised exit of Professor Lola Borisade to energise the PDM which is guaranteed to be Atiku’s next platform to confront the Obasanjo/Lamido group. And that will be the duel! Therefore, even if the Oni group, which is the single most cohesive group, joins the new PDP in the meantime, the romance will most likely be short-lived as most of the 16 aspiring to win the guber slot are likely to tilt towards the Jonathan group which, with power behind it, will most probably thump the new. But, in the meantime, fearing a mass defection into the new PDP in the state, the President will most probably go back on his erstwhile support for his Police Affairs Minister who, of course, has nowhere else to go besides the president’s group.

    That exactly is where the Ekiti PDP is today; their jigsaw puzzle, in no man’s land, marooned and, literally leaderless. Even then, in the most unlikely event that the party resolves its many problems, national and state, where is the PDP going to start from in Ekiti? Is it from its dismal failure to attract any meaningful federal project to the state in 14 years of their party’s stranglehold on the country? Is it in the federal government’s pernicious marginalisation of the Yoruba in the affairs of the country such that you cannot count a single Yoruba man in the topmost 10 jobs in the country? Is it the fact that nothing of substance stands to the memory of PDP’s seven years of locust in Ekiti? Compare that miserable record with the exploits of the Fayemi administration which, in under three years, has touched every nook and cranny of the state, having a minimum of at least one project in EVERY town, village or community; continuously impacting every segment of governance and very positively presenting the state to the world as a caring government via programmes like the monthly stipends to the elderly and the multi-birth care, to mention but a few.

    So to the question, I answer: Ekiti PDP is certainly in the doldrums.

  • Ekiti PDP: In search of elusive peace

    Ekiti PDP: In search of elusive peace

    The genesis:

    To keen observers, the crisis bedevilling the PDP in Ekiti State started when it lost the governorship seat to the Action Congress of Nigeria. From then on, the party lacked a clear leader.

    The composition of the executive

    This was the situation when the election into the state executive council was to take place. The jostling tendencies within the party saw this as an opportunity to affirm their supremacy. At this time, the major tendencies were those of former governor Segun Oni and those of former Governor Ayodele Fayose. During the election into the exco, a lot of intrigues played out. At the end of the day though, the Fayose group had the upper hand. Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe emerged the Chairman while Dr. Tope Aluko emerged the Secretary. Oni and his supporters lost out and had since then been asking that the executive council should be harmonised.

    The situation since then had been just manageable. The exco was doing its best to contain the various groups and to keep a united front. It was while this was going on that the race for 2014 entered a higher gear. Aspirants threw their hats in the ring immediately. As at the last count, there were at least 25 of such aspirants.

    As things were calming down and it seemed that there was going to be a competitive primary, tension was on the rise again as Engr. Segun Oni’s case at the Supreme Court was ripe for judgement. As May 31, 2013 beckoned, Engr. Oni’s supporters in the state had started a quiet celebration in anticipation of his ‘soon-to-be-declared victory’ by the Supreme Court.

    It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin Kwara State had on October 15 2010 ruled that Kayode Fayemi was the legitimate winner of the 2007 election and the re-run election held in the state in 2009. The Court further directed that Fayemi be sworn in immediately.

    But dissatisfied with his removal and alleging that there was inappropriate communication between the President of the Court of Appeal and ACN chieftains, Oni had filed an appeal at the Supreme Court, alleging bias against the Appeal Court Justices that delivered the ruling.

    But Fayemi argued that the apex court had no jurisdiction to hear the case because it was a governorship election matter which litigation must end at the Appeal Court as the rule then was. The governor also stated that the allegation of bias against the justices was investigated by the National Judicial Council, which found them not guilty. The case, having dragged on for some time now, was finally ready for judgement with Friday, May 31, 2013 as the judgement day. The whole state waited with bated breath. Would Oni come back? Would he not? It was Oni’s last game.

    Then came the consensus arrangement and argument. The President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who is the national leader of the PDP had suggested that because of the various bad blood that always flow after major election primaries, the party should adopt the consensus approach in picking its candidates in major elections.

    Only one or two aspirants, particularly Fayose were opposed to this presidential directive.

    The Ogundipe executive, working based on the support of the majority, was set to do the right thing. However, a visit to the secretariat of the PDP in Ikere Road by a serving minister in the state would change everything. After the visit, Ogundipe released a list of the consensus committee members.

    The list was perceived by some as containing mostly the names of supporters of the minister. Supporters of a former governor and anti-consensus aspirant were alleged to have overrun the secretariat while the chairman ran for cover.

    A faction of the exco led by Tope Aluko would later announce the suspension of Ogundipe. Ogundipe, on the other hand, would come back from Abuja where he temporarily sought refuge to also announce the suspension of Tope Aluko, Fayose and others.

    The national chairman of the PDP, Alh Bamanga Tukur, declared Fayose’s suspension null and void. The Southwest zone of the party held the same position. But rising from a hurriedly – called meeting same week, a group of 16 aspirants led by Caleb Olubolade declared support for the suspension of Fayose. They also supported the consensus arrangement.

    Some in the Group of 16 aspirants are privately regretting their action. They confided in their aides that they felt they have been used. According to them, the better thing to have done would have been to stand independently and take a stand like Sen. Gbenga Aluko and Hon. Bisi Omoyeni. Aluko was quoted recently by The Guardian of August 4, 2013, as stating that the consensus arrangement remains the better option for picking the candidate.

    He also urged the party leadership as represented by Ogundipe to wield the big stick against any aspirant whose activities undermine the authority of the President.

    The Way Forward

    Although the Seriake Dickson committee was said to have sent some people to Ado Ekiti to observe the sitting of the Executive Council in Ado, many PDP stakeholders in Ekiti believe peace is still a long way off for the Party. According to them, the serving minister is using his office to cause disharmony in the system. Although he wanted to be governor, he has refused to relinquish his seat at the FEC to give another Ekiti son or daughter the opportunity to serve. Yet he has not used his office to benefit Ekiti State in any way.

    •Atere writes from Ado Ekiti

  • 2014: Many troubles of Ekiti PDP

    2014: Many troubles of Ekiti PDP

    Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, unveils the aspirants for Ekiti State governorship race in 2014 and the issues that will come into play during the election

    Ahead of the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will have to scale quite a number of hurdles if it is to make good its promise of returning to the Government House next year.

    The party is balkanized into splinter groups loyal to various chieftains. There are, at least, three factions within its fold. Several efforts from various quarters, including the zonal and national headquarters of the PDP, to mend fences and calm frayed nerves, have failed.

    The men who enjoy the loyalties of the various PDP factions in the state, including the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Cptain Caleb Olubolade (retd); former Governors Ayo Fayose and Segun Oni, and former deputy governors Abiodun Aluko and Paul Alabi, have variously been accused of putting their gubernatorial interests ahead of party unity.

    The closest the party got to uniting the various factions was the last year stakeholders’ meeting, convened in Ipoti-Ekiti by Olubolade. At the end of the meeting, all the warring party chieftains addressed the press on their readiness to close ranks and work together to ensure victory for Ekiti PDP in 2014.

    “All the leaders of the party were present at the meeting where we all resolved to close ranks and work for the party. We agreed that in all issues, there will be no imposition; that transparency will be the order of the day and that where we have grey areas, they should be resolved in the various localities,” Olubolade told pressmen way back then.

    But the gains of the meeting survived for barely two weeks as the gladiators returned to their warring paths almost immediately after the state congress of the party that produced Makanjuola Ogundipe as the state chairman. Oni, Aluko, Alabi and other party leaders, including Senators Clement Awoyelu and Bode Olowoporoku, rejected the new leadership of the party in the state and resurrected their various factions.

    Clashes between the various factions became regular occurrences. The warring party chieftains accused one another of ‘crimes’ ranging from imposition of state executive committee members to plots to rig the party’s gubernatorial primary election ahead of the 2014 poll.

    Last Tuesday’s commotion at the state secretariat of the party in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti, was the climax of the pent-up tension within the embattled party. At the end of the free-for-all, some aggrieved members of the party announced the suspension of the chairman, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, for alleged misappropriation of funds, corruption and inability to carry along other members of the Central Working Committee (CWC) of the party.

    He was also accused of unilaterally constituting the 11-member screening committee to pick the gubernatorial candidate for the 2014 governorship election.

    In a statement by the party’s Public Relations Officer, Pastor Kola Oluwawole, the embattled chairman was suspended for one month, while his deputy, Mr. Femi Bamisile, was asked to take over from him.

    Newsmen and party faithful had to run for safety, as the hoodlums, armed with guns, cutlasses and cudgels, took over the secretariat.

    The hoodlums fired into the air, apparently to scare away Ogundipe’s supporters who had wanted to address a press conference.

    In the ensuing melee, the PDP state Legal Adviser and former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Mr. Kola Adefemi, and state Auditor, Mr. Olatunji Olanrewaju, who were said to be loyal to the chairman, sustained head injuries.

    But Ogundipe, who was not at the party’s secretariat at the time of the tussle, claimed ignorance of his removal and the planned press briefing.

    Members of the CWC, who signed the statement for the suspension of the chairman are, the Secretary of the party, Dr. Tope Aluko, Publicity Secretary, Pastor Kola Oluwawole, state Women’s Leader, Mrs. Busola Oyebode, PDP Vice Chairman, Central, Mr. Femi Ogunleye, State Organising Secretary, Alhaji Lateef Agbaje, the State Treasurer, Mr. Aluko.A.O. and the State Youth Leader, Mr. Tayelolu Olatunji.

    Meanwhile, the numerous crises occasioned by incessant politicking by party chieftains is not the only hurdle confronting the PDP in Ekiti State as a court case, aimed at sacking the Ogundipe-led State Working Committee (SWC), is still raging.

    The suit, number HAD/02/2013, filed by Mr. Akinbowale Omole, who contested the party’s chairmanship position with Chief Ogundipe, was first heard on Monday, 24 June by Justice John Adeyeye of the Ekiti State High Court, Ado-Ekiti.

    It was adjourned till 17 July for further hearing. During the congress that is now being disputed, Omole had scored 310 votes, while Ogundipe scored 318.

    Joined as defendants in the case are the party; chairman and secretary of the Transition and Congress Committee (TRCC), Tunde Odusina and Princess Iyabo Fakunle, respectively. Others are former zonal chairman of the PDP, Chief Segun Oni; state chairman, Ogundipe; secretary, Dr. T.K.O Aluko; deputy chairman, Femi Bamisile; Mrs Busola Oyebode, Taye Olatunji, Alhaji Ganiyu Bankole and Kola Adefemi.

    Omole, a legal practitioner, said in the 51-paragraph affidavit he deposed to in support of the originating summons that on the basis of zoning, “Mrs Busola Oyebode, who emerged as Women Leader, was disqualified under the party’s constitution because she was the Labour Party (LP) House of Assembly candidate for Efon Local Government in the 2011 general elections. Mrs Oyebode was, therefore, ineligible to contest because as of June 22, 2011, she was of LP, and no waiver from the PDP to hold any office in the party.

    Should Omole succeed in his legal quest to wrestle control of the party from Ogundipe, the State Working Committee will become an illegal body and may need to be reconstituted.

    Pundits are of the opinion that should that happen, the rancor that will be generated by a fresh party congress to elect new state leaders, so close to the gubernatorial contest, will leave the already battered PDP too bruised to make any meaningful impact in the race for Governor Kayode Fayemi’s job.

    There is also the worrisome issue of more than 20 governorship aspirants running on the crisis-ridden platform of the party for the 2014 governorship. As if oblivious of the division within the party, the aspirants are seemingly pursuing their ambitions without thoughts for the disunity in their homestead.

    This has heightened the fear that the Ekiti PDP will go into the 2014 elections in ruins, and will consequently be roundly defeated.

    Apart from Fayose and Olubolade, who have declared their interest in Fayemi’s job, other aspirants include Prince Dayo Adeyeye, (Ekiti South); Senator Gbenga Aluko (Ekiti South); Abiodun Aluko (Ekiti South); and Chief Adeyanju Bodunde, former aide of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (Ekiti Central).

    Others are former federal legislator Wale Aribisala (Ekiti North); Senator Ayo Arise (North); former Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Bode Olowoporoku, former Deputy Governors Abiodun Olujimi, (South) and Chief Bisi Omoyeni (South); and former chairman of Emure council, Chief Ropo Ogunbolude.

    To further compound the crises within the party, some chieftains and aspirants recently introduced the very controversial issue of zoning into the politics of the troubled party.

    The aspirants, under the auspices of Ekiti South Senatorial Gubernatorial Aspirants’ Forum, in a communique last Sunday, urged the leadership of the party to select its candidate for the 2014 election from Ekiti South Senatorial District.

    The communique was signed by Abiodun Aluko, Senator Gbenga Aluko, Bisi Omoyeni and Dayo Adeyeye. Others are Ropo Ogunbolude, Bimbo Owolabi, Senator Bode Olowoporoku, Adekunle Folayan and Mr. Femi Bamisile.

    The forum noted that the zone had yet to produce a governor in the state since the return of democracy in the country in 1999. They argued that since Ekiti Central and Ekiti North had produced two governors each, the South should be considered for the slot in 2014.

    But the move is already being viewed as a grand plot aimed at edging out both Olubolade and Fayose who are from the north and central senatorial districts respectively. Then new development, pundits say, can only worsen the crises within the troubled party.

  • Cracks over Ekiti PDP governorship ticket

    Cracks over Ekiti PDP governorship ticket

    A quiet discontent is brewing in the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), over the governorship ticket of the party in 2014, writes Remi Adelowo

     

    For the Ekiti State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), it seems a done deal that the incumbent governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, would be the party’s candidate for the next governorship election taking place in 2014.

    But not so in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as its party leaders, both in the state and at its national headquarters in Abuja, are presently mulling over who would fly the governorship ticket in the next polls.

    Among influential gladiators of PDP in Ekiti, there is a brewing discontent and dilemma on the best candidate to put forward to challenge Fayemi, who assumed the reins in 2010 after the Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, declared him the actual winner of the last governorship election in the state, as against Engr. Segun Oni, who the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), announced the winner of the 2007 general elections and the re-run election in 2009.

    Early signs that the primaries for the PDP ticket would be keenly contested emerged a few weeks ago with the entry of Senator Gbenga Aluko into the race. Weeks before he declared his intention, speculations were rife that some unnamed chieftains of the party in the state had endorsed the candidature of Aluko, who they believe, has the stature and the pedigree to match the profile of the incumbent governor.

    One of the sons of late revered economist, Professor Sam Aluko, the senator served in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2003. He was the only senator elected on the platform of the PDP in the entire South West during this period.

    A mechanical engineer by training, Aluko retired into a quiet private life after he left the senate and worked as a consultant to oil giant, Chevron, until he announced his re-entry into partisan politics recently.

    Can Aluko upset the applecart?

    One major factor working in Aluko’s favour and which his promoters are trumpeting aloud is that he is, arguably, the only non-controversial aspirant among the multitude jostling to win the PDP ticket.

    Powerful interests backing his candidature, according to sources, also readily point to his family pedigree, which they believe, needs little or no introduction to party members and the electorate.

    Other factors also working for Aluko, aside his educational background is the fact that he is no greenhorn, who needs any tutelage in politics and workings of government.

    However, opponents of Aluko allege that he has lost touch with the power base of the party in the state since 2003, a factor they stated, will work against him when real politicking for the governorship race sometime next year begins.

    They have alleged that the former senator had abstained from affairs of Ekiti PDP for almost eight years, with not a few politicians in the state even suggesting at some point that he may have quit politics for good. A source said, “24 hours is a long time in politics, what more a solid eight years. Aluko has a lot to do if he is to warm himself back into the hearts of PDP members in the state.”

    Ayo Fayose factor and the crisis within

    Much as PDP leaders in Ekiti and Abuja will dismiss any report of an internal rift in the party, The Nation gathered that there is indeed a serious crisis of confidence among leading lights of the party, as some are vehemently working against others’ interests.

    Presently, the Ekiti PDP is heavily polarized. For example, we gathered that a faction is now loyal to the Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade and other two factions are loyal to two former governors of the state, Ayo Fayose and Olusegun Oni, respectively.

    A source told The Nation that there is no-love lost between Oni and Fayose. While the former served as governor, Fayose was one of his most strident critics who did not see anything good in the Oni-led administration. It would also be recalled that during the re-run election in the state in2010, Fayose openly campaigned for Fayemi, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate. Oni, sources revealed, has not forgiven Fayose for this.

    An opportunity for both men to test their political strength came early this year during the election to elect officers of the state executive. At the end, Fayose took Oni to the cleaners with members loyal to him coasting to victory.

    For most PDP members in Ekiti, the result was shocking to say the least. Oni, they had reckoned, would use his privileged position as the National Vice Chairman (South-West) of the party to sway the result in his favour.

    Expectedly, Oni kicked against the outcome of the election, but his countless attempts to compel the national headquarters of the party to declare the Makanjuola Ogundipe-led executive illegal, were futile.

    Several peace meetings convened by stakeholders of the party, particularly Olubolade, to resolve the rift between Oni and Fayose, have also failed, our sources confirmed. Oni, according to sources, is aware that Fayose is plotting to stage a comeback to the Ekiti Government House in 2014 and has allegedly vowed to stop at nothing to scuttle this ambition.

    Has PDP endorsed Fayose?

    The announcement last week by the PDP national headquarters that Fayose, who was impeached as governor in 2006, has been formally readmitted into the party, said sources, is a tacit endorsement that he is the man to beat for the 2014 PDP governorship ticket.

    Fayose had decamped to the Labour Party early 2011, on which platform he contested for a senate seat but lost. His opponents had hoped to use this against him, alleging that he was yet to be fully reabsorbed into PDP.

    His major drawback, however, is his image as a controversial figure, which his opponents argue may further polarize the party, a development that may not augur well for the party at the polls.

    This seeming weakness notwithstanding, Fayose is forging ahead with his aspiration, said sources close to him.

    On Sunday, September 23, a reception is being held in his honour by a committee of friends at Fayose’s Afao Ekiti country home, where the former governor may formally announce his intention to contest for the 2014 governorship polls in the state.

    Is Borisade Obasanjo’s anointed candidate?

    Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, The Nation’s findings have revealed, is believed to be seriously interested in who becomes the PDP governorship standard bearer come 2014.

    Sources disclosed that the former president’s anointed candidate is Professor Babalola Borisade, who served in his administration, first as the Minister of Culture and later as the Minister of Aviation. This claim has however been denied by some top Pdp stakeholders in the state.

    Other aspirants in contention

    Other aspirants that may slug it out for the PDP ticket are Senator Ayo Arise from Oye Ekiti and Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, a former chairman of the state’s Universal Basic Education Board, who is alleged to be the preferred candidate of Segun Oni.

    Like Fayose, Arise’s major flaw is his image as a controversial figure, while Adeyeye is alleged not to flaunt any electoral value that could threaten ACN’s iron grip on the politics of the state.

    The former Ekiti SUBEB boss had contested for the senate in 1999 under the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) but was the only candidate of the party that lost in the South-West. He also contested for the governorship ticket of the Action Congress (now ACN) in 2007, but lost to Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

    Alleging that he was not fairly treated, Adeyeye decamped to PDP in 2007, where he hopes to resurrect his long time ambition of ruling Ekiti State.

    But how far can he and the other aspirants go in the battle to unseat Fayemi? The picture will become clearer before 2014.