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Tag: Iyiola Omisore

  • Sinister signs

    Sinister signs

    Underhand tactics in Ekiti and Osun PDP primaries, and Obanikoro’s bullying campaign in Lagos send alarming signals in the run-up to 2015   

    Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti), Iyiola Omisore (Osun), Jelili Adesiyan (Osun) and Musiliu Obanikoro (Lagos) — what does this quad have in common? They are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South West battling rams for the 2015 general elections.

    It might be early days yet. But if the morning truly shows the day, there is ample cause to worry.

    The pair of Mr. Fayose and Senator Omisore do nothing wrong to aspire and win the gubernatorial tickets of their party, PDP. The elections are fixed for June 21 (Ekiti) and August 9 (Osun). It is a constitutional injunction that they face up to the incumbents of their respective states, no matter how brilliant or parlous their performances have been.

    Still, the mode of their emergence simply confound many. Mr. Fayose emerged from a primary election that all his opponents boycotted, alleging a sleight of hand from “Abuja”, a euphemism for PDP national and the Jonathan Presidency’s alleged collusion.

    Mr. Fayose is a politically damaged product. For starters, he was impeached during his first stint as Ekiti governor, and the jury is still out there whether he is indeed legally qualified to run, so short after his 2006 impeachment debacle. Aside, he is currently docked for alleged sleaze; aside from murder charges, all throwbacks from his 2003 to 2006 governorship days. Indeed, his legal defence team even told the court to defer his trial until the election, to allow him concentrate on his electioneering. But the court demurred.

    Yet, in spite of the albatross on his neck, the PDP wasted no time in endorsing his candidacy and dismissing the protest of his opponents. What might the PDP motive be, in its alacrity to push such a damaged good? A manic effort to self-destroy or frenzied mischief not to play by the rules?

    In Osun, Senator Omisore’s emergence was even more sinister. Isiaka Adeleke, a former governor of Osun, made a hasty withdrawal from the Osun PDP primaries. This came after he was allegedly assaulted and physically manhandled to apparently scare him out of the race.

    Newspaper reports quote Alhaji Adeleke as alleging that the pair of Omisore and Jelili Adesiyan, Minister of Police Affairs, beat him up, using an ensemble of policemen Mr. Adesiyan allegedly cobbled together from Abuja; and perhaps some allied thugs. Before his own alleged assault and battery, Alhaji Adeleke also claimed he saw policemen point guns to the heads of some men laying face down, alleging the men were thugs. But they later turned out to be Adeleke supporters, who the former governor prevailed on the police to free, before meeting his waterloo.

    Despite all of this alleged arms-twisting, the PDP has endorsed the process that produced Senator Omisore. Again, this seeming uncritical acceptance beggars belief, despite the grave allegations and the baggage Omisore carries to the fray, despite his non-conviction in the Bola Ige assassination case. That much seemed to be getting to the former senator, when he declared his intention was not to shed blood but to serve the people.

    By embracing Mr. Fayose and Senator Omisore (controversial at best, damaged at worst), the PDP appears to have given up on reason and settled for sheer brawn. With its disastrous record when the party ruled the roost in the two states, and its enduring parlous record in the past 15 years as the federal ruling party, such vote for brawn sits pat in his seeming determination to take the two South West states by force, in the run-up to 2015. But even as battering rams, the two candidates enter the race with heavy baggage. The electorate should do the needful.

    But it is in the area of free and plausible elections that the spectre of Messrs Adesiyan and Obanikoro looms. Both, by the way, have lost no time in making news for all the wrong reasons.

    Mr. Adesiyan, an Omisore ally and minister of the federal republic, stands rightly accused of grievously abusing his office, if the allegation is true that he amassed policemen to harass the supporters of Alhaji Adeleke and beat up the prime rival to Senator Omisore, in the bid for the PDP Osun gubernatorial ticket.

    How a man who became minister virtually yesterday could pull off such alleged recklessness is a sad reminder of how frail our institutions of state are. It is even more shocking that there is no reported presidential outrage at this alleged criminalisation of the police for partisan purposes. From our experience in the past, such were the roads that led to Golgotha in the First and Second Republics.

    The Obanikoro campaign is even more sinister, for it involves corralling the military for partisan wars. Mr. Obanikoro, a Lagosian and Minister of State for Defence, has been reported by newspapers to draft soldiers to seize lands on which there are ongoing construction works by the Lagos State government, claiming such parcels of land belong to the Federal Government.

    From history, this is a very dangerous manoeuvre. The First Republic faltered partly because the powers-that-be back then unleashed soldiers on the dissenting Tiv, in what was known as the Tiv riots but which some insisted was some genocide. Now, Mr. Obanikoro has been reported, aside from his escapade in Lagos, to have carted soldiers to the bye-election in Ondo State to fill a vacant House of Representative seat. The gloomy road to 2015 is all too clear, except if checked and both Obanikoro and Adesiyan called to order.

    President Goodluck Jonathan must rein in his misbehaving ministers. The president too must resist those who might be instigating him to clear disaster. Brazen abuse of state security organs, especially the military, for partisan purposes, is an ill wind that blows no one any good. It should never be tolerated under whatever guise.

    Taking the South West by force has been the political grave of many. Jonathan must be wary of such a fatal mistake.

  • Battle for Southwest’s soul

    Battle for Southwest’s soul

    The stage is set for the governorship polls in Ekiti and Osun states. Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi and his Osun State counterpart, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, are seeking second term on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Their challengers are Mr Ayo Fayose and Senator Iyiola Omisore, who are running on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI and Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examine their chances at the polls.

    EKITI and Osun states are warm-ing up for governorship elec-tions.

    On June 21, voters would troop out in Ekiti for the exercise. On August 9, the people of Osun would have another opportunity to elect a governor.

    The two elections are a prelude to the next year’s general elections.

    In the Southwest geo-political zone, three parties are on the track. They are the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP).

    Going by contemporary political history of Ekiti State, Governor Kayode Fayemi faces a herculean task in the electoral contest. For one reason or the other, successive governors in the state were not able to secure a second term. So, the question on the lips of many observers is: Can Dr. Fayemi break the second term jinx?

    The PDP wants to regain control of the two states, where it was dislodged four years ago. The drafting of Mr Ayo Fayose into the race in Ekiti, eight years after he was impeached under controversial circumstances, to face Fayemi has been greeted with mixed feelings. For some observers, it suggests that the PDP is desperate to stage a comeback. This is based on Fayose’s antecedents in Ekiti politics.

    For others, it indicates that Fayose is in the race to serve as a spoiler for Fayemi by collaborating with the candidate of the Labour Party, Opeyemi Bamidele. If this happens, analysts reckone the governor must put in extra effort to retain his seat.

    Fayose’s tenure in office as governor was largely bedeviled by controversies, which ultimately culminated in his ouster through impeachment. The former governor, however, maintains that it was former President Olusegun Obasanjo who masterminded his removal. Analysts say youthful exuberance and arrogance were his greatest undoing. Fayose saw himself above others and talked down on power brokers, including the Ado-Ekiti monarch, it was said. As a result, he stepped on toes and cared less about what the victims felt about it.

    Those conversant with Ekiti politics say Fayose is a cat with nine lives. “He is a man who is used to pulling surprises; he has the ability to survive under the most severe and adverse conditions,” one of such observers noted. For instance, in 2003, when he entered the race to unseat Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), no one gave him a chance. He was widely regarded as a greenhorn, who was pitched against a party that literarily had the entire Southwest under its firm grip. But, Fayose surprised everyone, when he successfully unseated Adebayo.

    But, how far Fayose can go in securing another four-year mandate is another matter. He was declared winner of the primary election, amidst protests from other aspirants, who boycotted the poll, based on the allegation that the leadership of the party had skewed the process to favour Fayose. Such aggrieved PDP members have vowed to stop him.

    A member of the PDP said: “I’m a card carrying member of PDP and I can tell you with all sense of responsibility that with Fayose, we would not even come third in Ekiti election. This is a state that is well enlightened and would never tolerate a Fayose because of his antecedents during his first term.”

    He added: “All my friends working for Fayemi popped Champagne when they received the announcement of Fayose’s candidacy,” the source who pleaded for anonymity said.

    The permutation of close watchers of Southwest politics is that there may be more to the emergence of Fayose in Ekiti and Omisore in Osun than meets the eye. Against the backdrop of what played out in Ondo and Anambra states, where the PDP candidates played the spoiler roles, they say a similar game plan may be in the offing in Ekiti and Osun. During the Anambra governorship election, for instance, Tony Nwoye, who was the PDP candidate, did not get adequate support to guarantee his electoral success from his party. The same fate befell Olushola Oke in Ondo State. Funds needed to prosecute the election did not come to them on time. In the two states, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the LP won the elections with alleged tacit support from the PDP and the Federal Government.

    Ahead of 2015 general elections, indications are that the PDP is strategising to reclaim the Southwest from the APC. It was learnt that President Goodluck Jonathan had commissioned the LP to dislodge the APC in the region. LP, according to sources, is to infiltrate the APC and win some of its disenchanted members to the LP, particularly after primaries. Governor Olusegun Mimiko, the only LP governor, it was said, was to join the ruling PDP early this year, but has changed his mind. There are strong indications that under the new plan, he is to stay put in the LP and extend the party’s tentacles to other states in the Southwest.

    In Ekiti, a member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, has dumped the APC for the LP, where he has picked the governorship ticket to run against Fayemi . In Osun State, Omisore was reportedly favoured by the LP to run for the governorship on its platform. Though Omisore is running on the platform of the PDP, he was said to be in alliance Dr Olusegun Mimiko, with the Ondo State governor, who has been a long term friend of the former since their university days.

    Indeed, it is believed that what is happening in Ekiti and Osun is part of the party’s build up towards the 2015 general elections.

    In Ogun, the President has picked former governor Gbenga Daniel, who has already defected to the LP with his supporters as the arrow head to present a formidable candidate against the APC Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, in 2015 general elections. In Oyo State, the LP has been working with the opposition Accord Party (AP) led by Senator Rasheed Ladoja to stop the re-election of Governor Abiola Ajimobi in 2015.

    A source disclosed that the alternative plan put in place by the President’s strategists is that, where a consensus candidate cannot be agreed upon within the PDP, the platform of the LP would come in as a back-up. In this wise, the PDP and the LP have a working agreement for the LP to declare their support for the PDP when election comes. The source added that, in return for the working relationship, the Presidency would bank roll LP activities in the zone to ensure that the party gives the APC a run for its money.

    But, a social critic, Bernard Briggs, described the PDP’s plan to regain power in the Southwest as wishful thinking. According to him, no amount of money PDP would make the it gain power. Briggs said the PDP has never had any stronghold in the Southwest. “What happened in 2003 was that Obasanjo as President used the federal might to rig the election, so that, he, as the President, could have a political base,” he added.

    Against this background, what really is the PDP up to in the Southwest, particularly in Ekiti and Osun states? The party is believed to be facing a crisis of credibility in the Southwest for two reasons. One: its performance while it was at the helm of affairs in the region is being called to question by the ruling party in the region. Secondly, the region appears to be marginalised, in terms of the distribution of elective offices and federal appointments. Besides, former President Olusegun Obasasnjo and his followers in the region do not belong to the mainstream of the party.

    Briggs said the performance of the APC governors has made the region a no-go area for any other party. In Lagos, Ogun, Oyo to Osun and Ekiti, the governors have raised the bar of governance in this country. “You need to visit these states for you to appreciate the superlative performances of these progressive governors,” he said, adding: “What has PDP governors done in their state that would attract the Yoruba, the most enlightened set of people in the country to dump APC? What has the Jonathan administration achieved in the last six years to sell the PDP in the Southwest? He said the outcome of the 2015 general elections would be decided by the performance of the political parties and not the amount of money doled out to bribe people. “Nigerians are wiser now. If you give them money or bags of rice, they will take and vote according to their conscience,” he added.

    However, former Southwest PDP Caretaker Committee Chairman Chief Ishola Filani said the party can win elections in the zone in 2015, provided it takes advantage of the situation on ground. He said: “we are greater in population than the opposition parties put together. Our problem has been our inability to harness our strength and counter the propaganda of the opposition.” Filani said that, with the leadership restructuring, proper mobilisation and propaganda machinery that would match that of the APC, the party would capture the Southwest.

    “The President’s performance is a plus for us in the Southwest. He is doing well. He is a humble and determined person, who does not believe in flamboyance. That is why some people are under assessing him. But, when you look at what he has been able to achieve and his developmental programmes in education, agriculture, aviation and creation of job opportunities, you would realise that President Jonathan is a very good leader.

    A student activist, Mr. Lanre Adisa, disagreed with Filani’s postulation. He said:” PDP’s plan to reclaim the Southwest in 2015 is a mirage. What did the party achieve in the zone when it was in power for eight years? It was an era of retrogression. No sensible person in the Southwest would pray for a return of the dark era.

    “PDP never had a foothold in the Southwest. The elections it claimed to have won in 2003 and 2007 were shamelessly rigged in connivance with the electoral commission under the supervision of Professor Maurice Iwu. That was why the PDP’s victory didn’t last. The party stole the peoples mandate, which it relinquished when it’s time was up.

    Fayemi kicked-off his re-election campaign before a mammoth crowd in Ado Ekiti two weeks ago. At the rally, he canvassed for the support of the people based on his achievements in the infrastructural development, education, healthcare and youth empowerment. In terms of performance, the governor said he towers above his rivals in other parties. Alluding to the antecedents of his major opponent, Fayemi noted that he has brought transparency and accountability to governance adding, that no official of his administration has been summoned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC).

    He said: “The advantage I am having is that I am running on record and there are people who will promise heaven and earth but I can tell you what I have done in education and how I have banished poverty among our elderly people.” The governor added: “I can tell you what I have done in infrastructure, how we have transformed Ikogosi Warm Spring to an international tourist centre, how we have empowered our women, how we have revived our industries.” Fayemi called on the people of Ekiti to be mindful of where they were coming from, adding: “We don’t want to return to the dark days of one week, one trouble.”

    But, the PDP is not impressed by Fayemi’s track record. The party insists that, contrary to the impression being created in the media, the administration has not really impacted positively on the lives of Ekiti people. “The government of Kayode Fayemi has incurred a huge debt that the state may not be able to repay in the nearest future because the funds were used for very wasteful and unnecessary projects like building a new Government House. They are not revenue-yielding projects that would help to repay the debts and ultimately impact on the lives of the people,” said PDP supporter.

    However, the PDP is in crisis in Ekiti and Osun. Their governorship primaries were rancorous.

    The internal wrangling in the party may mar its chances at the polls. The 13 aggrieved governorship aspirants in Ekiti, have told the party’s national leadership to forget about reclaiming the state, since it has decided to ratify the election of Fayose as its candidate. Tunji Olatunde, the campaign manager of one of the aspirants, Senator Gbenga Aluko, said categorically that “the PDP cannot win Ekiti State with Fayose and I am sure they know it”.

    Many believe that the LP candidate and member of the House of Representatives, Bamidele, is also a factor.

    But one thing that will work in Fayemi’s favour is the incumbency factor. A stakeholder, Jegede Akano, said: “The devil you know is better than the angel you do not know. The governor has the opportunity to say this is what I have done in the state, which others do not have. This goes to say that Fayemi has better chances.” At the last APC membership registration in Ekiti State, over 200,000 members were said to have been registered. Meanwhile, the total number of registered voters in Ekiti is 649,000. The result of the last election in the state put the total numbers of votes polled by the two leading candidates in excess of 200,000. If the APC membership registration figure is anything to go by, it would not be arithmetically wrong, to place the chances of the governor high.

    Traditionally, the Southwest is the base of the progressives. Right from the First Republic the politics of the region was dominated by the Action Group (AG) founded by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a party that prided itself of good welfare pro-grammes, including free education and free medical service. Analysts contend that it was the welfare programme of the AG, which transformed the region. It also made the people of the Southwest to embrace the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) led by Chief Awolowo in the Second Republic. UPN won election in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo and even Bendel states. The four cardinal programmes of UPN – free education at all levels, free medical service, gainful employment and rural integration development – became household words in the region while its implementation endeared the people to the part leadership.

    In the aborted Third Republic, the Yoruba pitched their tent with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), whose manifesto was identical with Awolowo’s philosophy. It was not surprising therefore, that, in 1999, when the military lifted ban on politics, the Yoruba embraced the Alliance for Democracy (AD) because its ideology was similar to ideology of the AG, the UPN and the SDP. Thus, in 1999, the AD swept the polls in the Southwest.

    But, in 2003, the PDP hijacked power in the zone, using the federal might. Only Lagos State survived the onlaught. The AD chieftains claimed that the polls were rigged in Ogun, Oyo. Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states.

    In 2007, the Action Congress (AC), which later became the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), won elections in Lagos, Osun and Ekiti states. But, victory was alloted to the PDP. In 2010, the stolen mandates were retrieved from the interlopers.

    Also, in 2011, the ACN, which has now transformed into the APC, won the governorship pols in Oyo and Ogun states.

     

  • Present your blueprint, Osun commissioner tells PDP

    Present your blueprint, Osun commissioner tells PDP

    Osun State Commissioner for Special Duties and Regional Integration Ajibola Bashiru has challenged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to come out with its blueprint for the state. Speaking to The Nation yesterday in Lagos, he said Osun State people will not be dragged aback by the “visionless” PDP, “which did not impact positively on the people when it ruled the state”. Bashiru said: “The opposition should present its plan, if it has any better plan than what we are implementing. It is not enough to tell lies about what was done and not done. If it has genuine plans, let it present it that, instead of merely saying it wants to run a government of integrity.”

    He said for the PDP to come up with Senator Iyiola Omisore as its flag bearer in the August 9 governorship election shows that “it is not serious and is trying to take the state off track”.

    Bashiru said Omisore’s campaign that he wants to embark on a rescue mission was a misuse of words, adding: “It is absurd for somebody who was part of an administration that ran the state aground for seven-and-a-half years to say he is embarking on a rescue mission, unless we do not know the meaning of ‘rescue mission’.

    “The only way he can talk of rescue mission is to reverse to the conditions of unemployment, poverty, insecurity and bad governance that characterised the past PDP administration.”

    Bashiru said since Governor Rauf Aregbesola assumed office, peace has returned to the state.

    He said: “A thousand of our supporters were detained. Some ran out of their communities when the PDP was in power. Today, there is an atmosphere of peace and tolerance in the state. We urge our people to be wary of the people of yester-years, who depleted our state. We now have good governance and cannot allow ourselves to be taken back to the bad old days.”

    Describing Omisore’s emergence as the PDP’s candidate as “unfortunate”, Bashiru said: “He could not even influence the tarring of the road leading to his house, not to talk of his senatorial district.”

    He said Osun people deserve the best and would not be dragged back to the “dark days when the PDP was in charge, even though the administration was illegally constituted”.

     

  • Omisore emerges PDP governorship candidate

    Omisore emerges PDP governorship candidate

    Former chairman, Senate Appropriation Committee, Christopher Iyiola Omisore, yesterday emerged the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 1,128 votes.

    The two other contestants, former Minister of Youth Development, Olasunkanmi Akinlabi and former chairman, Defence Committee in the House of Representatives, Hon. Busayo Oluwole Oke, scored 45 and 5 votes respectively.

    Former Osun State governor, Isiaka Adeleke, withdrew from the primary twenty four hours to the exercise, alleging that the process had been manipulated in favour of Omisore by the state party executives led by Gani Ola-Oluwa.

    The chairman of the Electoral Committee, Senator Mohammed Adamu Aliero, announced that 1,280 delegates had been accredited for the primary.

    In his acceptance speech, Omisore said the victory was for all PDP members, commending his co-contestants for their maturity.

    He said the peaceful and successful conclusion of the primary showed that the PDP was set to chase Governor Rauf Aregbesola and the All Progressives Congress (APC) out of power.

    Akinlabi and Oke said the process of the primary should be reviewed because the party leadership had allowed all contestants to use all the resources they would have used for wrestling power from the APC to fight one another.

    They promised to work with whoever emerged as winner of the exercise.

  • Osun: Omisore emerges PDP governorship candidate

    Former Senate Appropriation Committee Chairman, Senator Iyiola Omisore has emerged the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party

    He won with 1,128 votes in the party’s primary election defeating former Minister of Youth Development, Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, and former chairman, Defence Committee in the House of Representatives, Hon. Busayo Oluwole Oke, who scored 45 and 5 votes respectively.

    Former Osun State governor, Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke withdrew from the race twenty four hours to the primary alleging that the process of the primary had been manipulated in favour of Omisore by the state party exco led by Alhaji Gani Ola-Oluwa.

    The chairman of the Electoral Committee, the former governor of Kebbi State, Senator Mohammed Adamu Aliero, earlier in his speech, announced that 1,280 delegates had been accredited for the primary.

    In his acceptance speech, Omisore said the victory was for all PDP members, commending his co-contestants for their maturity.

    He said the peaceful and successful conclusion of the primary showed that the PDP was set to chase the incumbent governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and the All Progressives Congress out of power.

    Akinlabi and Oke before the commencement of the primary, said the process of the primary should be reviewed because the party leadership had allowed all contestants to use all the resources they would have used for wrestling power from the APC to fight one another.

    They both promised to work with whoever emerged as winner of the the primary election.

  • Adeleke, Omisore, Olasunkanmi jostle for Osun PDP’s ticket

    Adeleke, Omisore, Olasunkanmi jostle for Osun PDP’s ticket

    Three former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators – Isiaka Adeleke, Iyiola Omisore and Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, are jostling for the party’s governorship ticket in Osun State.

    The Osun State governorship election will hold on August 9.

    Adeleke and Omisore, who were yesterday at the PDP’s National Secretariat in Abuja to submit their nomination forms, spoke to reporters on why they joined the race.

    Adeleke said he earlier assured Olasunkanmi of his support, but changed his mind when stakeholders and PDP leaders “dragged” him into the race.

    When Olasunkanmi came to purchase his nomination form last week, he told reporters that he would be surprised to see Adeleke join the race, after the latter had assured him of his support.

    He said: “The question of Adeleke joining the race should not arise because I consulted him before I joined the race. He did not only give me his full support, but also directed his supporters to back me.

    “So as far as I am concerned, Adeleke’s purported interest in the race is mere speculation. We are both from Osun West Senatorial District and I have no reason to doubt his sincerity.”

    Adeleke admitted giving Olasunkanmi his support but said events had overtaken that commitment.

    He said: “It is true that I gave him my support but after that, major stakeholders and the party leadership said they needed my services and that I should contest the election.

    “I have no choice under the circumstance. If the party says it needs my services, I do not see any reason why I should decline. I am sorry about that but there is nothing I can do about it.”

    Omisore, who described himself as the main financier of the party in Osun State, said he is the candidate to beat. He said he was confident that he would win the party’s primary election and the governorship poll.

  • ‘Omisore can’t win ward election’

    ‘Omisore can’t win ward election’

    Osun State Commissioner for Special Duties and Regional Integration Ajibola Bashir has described Senator Iyiola Omisore’s statement that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will win the governorship election as “an empty boast.”

    Bashir said Omisore cannot win election in his ward and local government, adding: “It amazes me when someone like Omisore, who lost in his ward and local government in 2007 and 2011, boasts that the PDP would capture Osun State.”

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fixed August 9 for Osun State governorship election. Omisore assured his supporters while submitting his nomination paper for the PDP governorship ticket that if he was picked as the party’s flag bearer, he would dislodge All Progressives Congress (APC) from power.

    Bashir, who spoke to our correspondent, wondered why a person like Omisore who can’t win ward election now want to rule the state. “Someone who was rejected by his people at the ward and local government hoping to rule the state is a comedian”, he said.

    According to him, Omisore‘s first election as a senator in 2007 was declared null and void by the Appeal Court. In 2011, he was defeated by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate Senator Babajide Omoworare. Rather than challenge his victory at the tribunal, he said Omisore keep saying the election was rigged.

    “The one that went to the tribunal, I mean Wole Oke lost at election petition tribunal level and the Court of Appeal.” PDP can’t win any election in Osun State.

    “As a party, we are the party in control. We know they would engage in thuggery, unleash security operatives to harass and intimidate and to steal peoples mandate, our people are prepared to thwart their evil machinations. We don’t have any doubt that the government of Aregbe sola will continue beyond 2014.

    “We are prepared for the August 9 governorship election. We have delivered on our promises. In 2011, our people in Osun voted for APC. It is only in Osun that PDP lost presidential election in the Southwest”, he said.

    Reflecting on the success of APC membership registration exercise, Bashir said within 24 hours, 100 forms sent to each unit were exhausted. We have 3,010 registration units in the state. That is to say over 300,000 people were registered on the first day of the exercise.

    He said: “From the registration exercise, Osun State is a pace setter. The State of Osun has decided to go the way of APC.”

    According to him Governor Aregbesola has made the people to be the centre of development and stressed that in a democracy when people is the source of your strength, you don’t need any other strength again.

    “Human being is the focus of our development programme. The gamut of our development programme is about elevating the people. All our programmes are about the people”, he added.

     

  • Osun poll: How far can Omisore go?

    Osun poll: How far can Omisore go?

    Senator Iyiola Omisore is one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirants in Osun State. If he gets the PDP ticket, can he defeat Governor Rauf Aregbesola at the poll? Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines his chances.

    In Osun State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship ticket is most likely to be Senator Iyiola Omisore’s. But does he have any chance against Governor Rauf Aregbesola in this year’s governorship election?

    In the PDP, other aspirants are Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, Chief Peter Akinbade, Hon. Niyi Owolade, and Hon. Wole Oke. However, Omisore is the first aspirant to unfold his ambition.

    In Osogbo, the state capital, the former deputy governor fired salvos at the ruling APC when he declared his ambition to rule the state. It was not a torrent of un-replied missiles. The APC Chairman, Lowo Adebiyi, chided Omisore for peddling rumour and falsehood. He said the governor has justified the confidence reposed in him by implementing people-oriented projects across the three senatorial districts. “The people know that the governor is working for the progress of the state and he will not relent. He deserves a second term because of his achievements. The slogan in Osun is continuity. No room for marauders,” he added.

    Between 1999 and 2002, Aregbesola and Omisore had one thing in common. They were chieftains of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). Omisore was the Osun State deputy governor in the Bisi Akande Administration. Aregbesola was Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in Lagos State under former Governor Bola Tinubu.

    However, there was a deep ideological gulf between the two politicians. A source said that that difference became more evident when Omisore, who he described as a typical political investor, started demanding returns on his investment. Instead of grabbing the meaningful opportunity for political tutelage under the more experienced Akande, he was impatient. He claimed that his structure was instrumental to the emergence of his boss as the governor,” added the source. But Akande, who believed that the resources of the state should be used for people-oriented developmental projects, was said to be taken aback. The House of Assembly was instigated to impeach the governor. But, Akande was unperturbed. Ironically, the legislators later turned the heat on the deputy governor. At the peak of the crisis between him and Akande, he was impeached.

    Omisore’s greatest ambition is to become the governor of the State of the Living Springs. He has been nursing the aspiration since be entered politics in the days of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, the former head of tate who ruled with an iron fist. Even, when Brig-Gen. Olagunsoye Oyinlola was selected as the flag bearer in 2007 by the PDP, Omisore believed that he was the right person for the job. Twice, the opportunity had eluded him. But, like an optimist that he is, hope, for him, has become the elixir of life.

    As the state prepares for the poll, the PDP chieftain has adorned the cap of the opposition leader. He has reviewed the political situation in the state and chided the governor for “behaving as if he is still in Lagos”. Although he did not tender proofs, Omisore alleged that the resources of the state are not judiciously allocated. In his view, the previous PDP administration, which was declared illegal by the court, was many poles apart from the present administration, in terms of performance. .

    To the ruling APC, Omisore has only attempted to equate statesmanship with showmanship. “It is the ranting of an ant. We have hesitated to join issues with him because we can only react to the comments of credible men”, said a party elder, Chief Felix Awofisayo. “He is not in the reckoning. Our joy is that Aregbesola is working for Osun. If he says that he cannot see what the governor has done, he is blind’, he added. Another party chieftain, Sola Lawal, warned PDP leaders against heating up the polity. He said their plans to divert the governor’s attention by instigating religious leaders against him based on unfounded allegations have failed.

    Omisore has two hurdles to cross to get to Bola Ige House – the seat of government. He has to fight for the PDP ticket with other contestants. They include Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, Wole Oke, and Fatai Akinbade. If being controversial is the main deciding factor, then, Omisore will beat them at the primaries. Besides, he has a popularity test awaiting him on poll day. If he defeats them at the primaries, can he convince the people to reject Aregbesola at the poll? A PDP source said that the party may opt for a consensus candidate. He doubted, if the former senator would be the beneficiary of this option. “The thinking is that, to confront this governor, we need a candidate that will be acceptable to the generality of the people. We also want to go for the election as a united house. People are thinking about a consensus candidate. This has worked for the ACN. If we go this way, I doubt, if it will be Omisore. We need a candidate who can match the governor,” added the source.

    But, another sources said that the Presidency has its eye on the politician from Ile-Ife. “The only problem is perception. But, top PDP leaders are behind Omisore,” he added.

    Omisore is not an underdog, but controversy has always dodged his steps. When he defected from the AD, he became a factor in the PDP. Instantly, he became a senatorial aspirant, despite being a ‘rejectee’ from another party.

    A cloud of uncertainty hung over his political career in 2002 when he was arrested in connection with the murder of the former Attorney-General and Minister of justice, Chief Bola Ige. For months, the flamboyant politician was in detention, his fate hanging in the balance. Many party members deserted him. The feeling was that he could not be an asset, but a liability to any party.

    As a detainee, Omisore did not bury his ambition for a seat in the Senate. There were protests within and outside his party. The former national chairman of the party, Mr Audu Ogbeh, advised that Omisore should not be given the ticket on moral ground. He felt that, as a suspect, he would be a moral burden to the party at that critical period. Ogbeh felt that, if the PDP was actually committed to the emergence of rational leadership, Omisore was more of a liability than an asset. The advice was not sufficient to deter the state leadership of the PDP from issuing a nomination form to him.

    Observers have described Omisore as a curious survivalist. For him, history merely repeated itself in 2002/2003. In 1998, he had honed up his machinery in preparation for the governorship election. He had relied on his financial clout and the political structure he built when serious politicians were on holiday in the state. In the days of Abacha, when principled politicians of the old order could not participate, the rascally new breeds who lacked ideological compass invaded the slippery political field.

    That year, some old politicians expressed reservations about Omisore’s romance with Afenifere/AD. In particular, the Chairman of Afenifere/AD in Ekiti State, the late Chief Nathaniel Falaye Aina, cautioned the Osun State chapter of the party against fielding Omisore as the running mate to Akande, the governorship candidate. It was during a crucial meeting of the group in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. Aina, an Awoist, rejected the explanation by Ige that Omisore had made a significant input into the establishment of the Osun State AD and that there were enough people on ground to control him, if he wanted to go off the line. The old politician may have been infuriated by the activities of the unprincipled young politicians dancing around the military.

    The former deputy governor of the old Ondo State carried his protest further by telling Ige and other party leaders that he would not share the same high table with Omisore. His grouse was that the impatient new breed politicians who were alien to the progressive agitations in the Southwest were political enemies within.

    He said there was no convincing proof of any political and moral rectitude on the part of the Abacha politicians, the arrowheads of the “leprous” parties in OsunState. Aina predicted that the Southwest AD would regret the hand of fellowship extended to the Abacha politicians.

    When that future came, the prediction of the Ekiti politician came into fulfillment. It jolted Ige and other leaders who deluded themselves into thinking that a leopard could change its skin. The AD won the poll in Osun State, but there was division after victory. A wide pole separated Akande, the visionary leader and his deputy, the businessman. The cohabitation created a nightmare, until Omisore was shoved aside.

    Predictably, the former deputy governor went to his natural political habitat. He was a big catch to the conservative rivals of the progressive bloc. His defection coincided with the time former President Olusegun Obasanjo was planning to have a political base after four years in office. The Southwest PDP was in want of candidates that would be acceptable to the people who had already embraced AD, which was largely perceived as an off-shoot of the old parties, the Action Group (AG) and the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), that cared for the society, When the task proved difficult, the ruling party at the centre turned to the option of pre-determined rigging.

    The design was that PDP should look for ‘capable men’, not on account of sound pedigree, subscription to the familiar ideology that attracted the zone to the men of the old order, or past diligent service to the people, but on account of deep purse and capacity for the strange behaviours condoned by a political bloc bent on imposing itself on the reluctant voters. In 2003, PDP delighted in raising thugs for destructive activities than mobilising voters for party endorsement.

    Omisore was handicapped. Nevertheless, he bared his fangs from the prison. Many wrote him off, because he was not visible. He did not feature in any campaign. The people of Ife-Ijesa District had no hint of his manifesto. His agenda was not known. He was not even privileged to vote during the election. According to the AD chieftains, the electoral body allocated victory to him.

    In 2003, Omisore defeated Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, a former Commissioner for Education in the defunct Ige Administration who joined the Action Group in the fifties. The PDP senator was one of the beneficiaries of the political earthquake that swept the Southwest. Those who made him senator said that more of his type were needed in the region to attract the dividends of mainstream politics to Osun and the other sister states. The hope of the few who swallowed the deceit were dashed.

    In the Senate, the Ife/Ijesa senator was the Chairman of the Finance and Appropriation Committee. What mattered was not performance in 2007 when Omisore sought re-nomination. With the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not being truly independent, electoral victory was certain for the undeserved. Victory must be won by all means and at all costs. Omisore’s challenger, Hon. Babajide Omoworare, the grandson of Ooni Adesoji Tadeniewo Aderemi, was agitated. The people were enraged. History was re-enacted. Ife, Ilesa and environs were battle grounds again. The contest between Omisore and Omoworare reminded the people of Ife about that day of rage when Chief Remi Fani-Kayode and Chief Michael Omisade clashed at the House of Representatives election, with the power that be swinging the pendulum of victory towards ‘Fani-Power’.

    But Omoworare, a lawyer, went to the court. A new election was ordered, but when the new senatorial poll was conducted, it paled into another festival of rigging.

    However, 2011 was the turning point. On the soap box was Omisore, the two-time senator. The campaigns were issue-oriented. But he lost. His bravado and over-confidence evaporated. The election reflected the restoration of the sanctity of the ballot box.

    After the poll, the senator was left in the cold. Federal appointments eluded him and it was clear that, for some time, Omisore would be politically jobless. But the PDP chieftain remained a force in his party, according to his supporters. He went back to the drawing board and the scheming for the governorship ticket commenced.

    Party sources said that Omisore, who has just bagged a doctorate degree from abroad, has the backing of a leading political actor in Ondo State. Curiously, a section of the factionalised Afenifere has been closely associated with his aspiration. In fact, Omisore was said to be present at the Afenifere reunion meeting in Akure. But Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) took exception to this, saying that it was an unfortunate miscalculation. “If Omisore was in the Afenifere meeting, the bodies of Awo, Ajasin, Adesanya and Ige would turn in their graves”, said ARG leader, Hon. Olawale Oshun.

    The PDP will soon hold its governorship primaries. Will Omisore get the ticket? If he gets it, can he beat Aregbesola at the poll?

  • Bola Ige: Court rules Friday in Omisore’s N20b suit

    Bola Ige: Court rules Friday in Omisore’s N20b suit

    The Federal High Court, Ibadan, has adjourned till Friday the adoption of the substitution of the reply of Senator Iyiola Omisore’s counsel, Chief Albert Adeogun, in a N20 billion suit he filed against the Oyo State government.

    Omisore, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Osun State, sued the Oyo government last year for his trial over the assassination of former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Chief Bola Ige.

    He is seeking N20 billion as damages for “wrong and unjust prosecution”.

    Oyo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) are joined as respondents.

    Ige was assassinated in his Bodija home in Ibadan on December 23, 2001.

    Yesterday, Justice Abimbola Adejumo-Obaseki adjourned the adoption of leave of substitution to Friday.

    Adeogun prayed the court to substitute his earlier reply to the objection of defendants’ counsel with the one he filed on February 7.

    Counsel to the first and second defendants (Funke Fawole for the police and I.O. Tijani for the state government) raised a preliminary objection. Their objections were filed on July 29, 2013, while Omisore’s counsel filed a reply on January 6, 2014.

    The counsel to the defendants withdrew the objections on January 31 and re-filed them on the same date.

    Yesterday, Fawole pleaded for time to study the reply, which she said was yet to be served on her.

    Omisore’s reply to the withdrawal of objection filed by the counsel to the first and second defendants was filed on February 7.

     

     

     

  • ‘Omisore is desperate for attention’

    ‘Omisore is desperate for attention’

    The Osun State government has described criticisms of its education reforms by a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyiola Omisore, as “a desperate call for attention.”

    It said Omisore was suffering from Attention Deficiency Syndrome (ADS).

    The party was reacting to Omisore’s claims that only 900 pieces of the Opon Imo (Tablet of Knowledge) were distributed to pupils.

    In a statement by the Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, the government said it was surprising that Omisore did not know that, at least, 1,473 tablets were distributed to pupils in Ile Ife, his country home.

    Okanlawon said this showed that the aspirant lacked basic information about what affects the people in his constituency.

    He said: “If 1,473 pupils have received the Opon Imo in Ile-Ife alone, that explains how many tablets have been distributed in the state, which has 30 local government areas and an area office. We advise Omisore to visit the Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife; Community High School, Olugbode; Moremi High School, Ile-Ife; Aderemi Memorial College, Aye-Oba; Ifesowapo Community Grammar School, Egbejoda; Olode Grammar School; Irepodun Grammar School, Aye-Arode; Community Sec. Grammar School, Ajebandele Fadehan; Community High School, Alabameta; St. David’s Grammar School, Ile-Ife and others to see how many tablets are in those schools and how far removed he is from his constituents.”

    The statement reminded the people that only 50,000 units of the 150,000 tablets required by pupils was brought into the country, adding that the remaining 100,000 units would be assembled at a plant being built in the state.

    The government faulted Omisore’s attempt to discredit the education reforms of the Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration, when he said only 11 of the schools that were demolished had been rebuilt.

    It said: “If, at least, four of such schools have been completed in Ile-Ife alone, how can Omisore’s claim that only 11 schools have been completed throughout the state be taken serious by right-thinking individuals?

    “How ridiculous can the campaigns of calumny get? If Omisore chooses to be blind to the ubiquitous spread of these new, massive and colourful schools across the state and the population of pupils who go about with their Opon Imo tablets, Osun people are neither gullible nor blind.

    “We are used to Omisore’s inveterate capacity to muddle up facts, concoct lies and deceive the people. We remind him that Osun people’s eyes are wide open and they are not as gullible, uneducated, unenlightened and hopeless as the like of him would prefer they remain for ever.”