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Tag: Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola

  • Aregbesola clears air on salary crisis

    Aregbesola clears air on salary crisis

    Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Governor of the State of Osun has said that ‘Poverty is our Nation’s greatest security challenge’.

    The governor made the statement on Monday during a session on #MondayTango through his social media handle – @raufaregbesola – noting that the only solution to poverty is the welfare of the people.

    He said that the state is streamlining obligations and ramping up revenue and investments, confirming that the state currently owes State workers 6 months salaries and 4 Month to Local Government Workers and Primary School Teachers.

    “We take responsibility and are working our way out of this unfortunate quagmire. At the core of this is the National problem of Big Government. These challenges weren’t caused by our social or physical infrastructure project. Osun needs these, if its ever to be independent.

    “The unforeseen crash in revenue of 2013 and 2014 led to the situation. The size of government should reduce. A situation where wages take at least 70% of revenue is worrisome. Please see details Here,” Ogbeni Aregbesola said.

    • Below are live tweets from his handle:

     

    — Rauf Aregbesola (@raufaregbesola) July 6, 2015

  • Osun to unveil tallest traditional gong

    Osun to unveil tallest traditional gong

    History will be made this season, as Osun state unveils a special highlight of its activities that will usher in the New Year.

    In line with the popular countdown ceremonies, governor of the state, Ogbeni Raufu Aregbesola, will be unveiling the tallest traditional gong, otherwise called Agogo.

    The traditional gong, it will be recalled, was commonly used in the pre-civilised Yoruba Kingdom as means of clarion call at the village square, usually leading the people to gather and listen to the king’s message bearer.

    The event which will have everyone decked in native attire to symbolise the Yoruba culture, will hold at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo.

    Governor Aregbesola is expected to unveil the colourful chinned gong at an elaborate ceremony, to be followed by scintillating fireworks display to create a unique blend of culture, tradition and to promote tourism.

    The structure was built in collaboration with Laface Entertainment and Plus One media. According to Tunde Osinibosi of Laface Entertainment, the unveiling will not only break the Guinness book of world records, but will create a unique cultural standard set by the Yoruba race.

    “Transition players will also be offered in the unique Ipinle Omoluabi style as the world welcomes 2015 in grand style,” he said.

    Osinibosi also emphasised that according to Aregbesola’s vision, “This event will ultimately become a major yearly culture and tourism show, as the state of Osun (Ipinle Omoluabi) becomes the Mecca of the Yoruba race for those who see the traditional and spiritual need to usher in the New Year in the State of Osun.”

  • Some critical post-election questions

    Some critical post-election questions

    Is there a possibility (that) the president sees the militarisation of elections as a worthy contribution to democracy?

    My the time you read this article, incumbent governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, must have seen off the challenge of Senator Iyiola Omisore, the PDP candidate in the just concluded governorship election, on whose behalf the state was unnecessarily put under a stifling security lock- down for the better part of the election week capped by a 24-hour curfew as the icing on the cake. That, of course, would be if the Election Fixing Contractors (EFC) and their rogue INEC collaborators did not have their evil way as they did in Ekiti in what is sure to turn a pyrrhic victory sooner than later. Now that the two governorship elections in the Southwest have come and gone, some questions have become of critical importance if Nigeria must remain a member of the civilised comity of nations.

    The most important of these is why, after he had been in office as president for six years, President Jonathan, and those around him, still think they must fight to the death to get him re-elected. That precisely is what Nigerians have seen in the two elections both of which turned out, uncannily, as predicted by Vice-President Namadi Sambo who said long ago that the two elections would be war.  Some of us had thought then that he was mistaking the Southwest for the Northeast where Nigeria is confronted with its stiffest war situation in over four decades.  What we have seen in Yoruba land these past two months had been nothing short of war. Not only were soldiers and police men deployed in their thousands, it has been observed, because Nigerian soldiers do not go around in hoods, that fake soldiers have equally been sent after Yorubas in whose geo-political zone the two elections took place, wearing some macabre hoods. We equally thought that the PDP lodestar, Buruji Kashamu, was merely grandstanding when , a little before the vice-president’s gaffe, but ominously in a thoroughly coordinated plot, he declared that PDP was out looking for ‘soldiers’ as its governorship candidates in the two states.

    They both must have been acting on orders from above.

    That then leads us to the next question. When on the orders of the president, elections in a democracy are turned to mini wars, shouldn’t  Nigerians safely  assume that he and his party, the PDP, actually intend to rule over a captured  people? Of course, the word capture, which used to be the monopoly of Chief Bode George, a one-time PDP poster boy in the Southwest, has since become democratised and popularised within the top echelons of the party, the latest aficionado being Chief Ishola Filani, the Acting Southwest Deputy Chairman of the party whose own ambition, as he has said severally, is to capture the Southwest for President Jonathan ahead of the 2015 presidential election.

    Is there a possibility (that) the president sees the militarisation of elections as a worthy contribution to democracy? I ask this question because without as much as initiating a single electoral reform in his six years in office, the president was recently quoted as follows while breaking fast with the diplomatic corps and some senators during the last Ramadan: “I know that one thing that is dear to your hearts is what the elections in this country will look like next year. But let me use this unique opportunity to reassure you and I’m conveying this to my brothers, your heads of government, that our elections next year will be free and fair. It will be very peaceful in nature that will even surprise the whole world.”

    Now, the above is a very weighty undertaking  and the fact that he wanted this conveyed to his brother Heads of State makes it doubly so. Given that Nigerians cannot remember anything that the president is doing fundamentally to improve our shambolic elections, unless militarisation could be so regarded, could it be there are things the president knows which Nigerians, even the legislature, haven’t the slightest idea of? It is necessary to read the president between the lines, especially where he says the election “will be very peaceful IN NATURE (caps mine), and will even SURPRISE the whole world.”  In nature, and surprise the world? Dr Reuben Abati must help us out here, and why do I say this? I am one of those who can attest to the fact that the 21 June, 2014 Ekiti governorship election was peaceful IN NATURE; the lines were peaceful, there was no ballot box snatching etc, but many will wager that it was all because the election was scientifically rigged which rendered all the usual PDP rigging tricks unnecessary. Since this columnist, and not a few Nigerians, believe that something far removed from PDP’s  romanticised ‘stomach infrastructure’ accounted for the so-called  defeat of an absolutely performing  Ekiti State  governor, it will be appreciated if the president will get one of his media aides to tell Nigerians on what basis he made that promise to the world. Not to do so is to allow present rumours take a life of their own.

    Finally, it is appropriate to ask whether the president does not think that an election as important as the presidential should be fought strictly on the basis of performance, especially by an incumbent who has, fortuitously, already spent more years than a single term in the post? Nigerians have followed the Babel  of advertisements  by several pro-Jonathan groups which decided to jump the gun even ahead of Mr President  and have observed that not a few of the claims they make for Mr President actually stand the Nigerian reality on the head. There is, for instance, the thoroughly asinine one that says the president has fought terrorism to a standstill. The Boko Haram felons must be laughing! And this is where whoever knows the president will realise that these attention seeking groups are misrepresenting President Jonathan and doing him a great disservice.

    Before the ensemble of Southwest PDP chieftains came to suffocate the president and led him on to several unfortunate routes, Nigerians knew him as neither a General nor a Pharaoh. I wouldn’t know what they think today, but President Jonathan can still prise himself free of these  do-gooders and allow genuine supporters, as distinct from these self-serving Yoruba PDP fellows who were recently appropriately described by former governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, to run an intellectually grounded campaign on his behalf.

    Without a doubt, most of the problems the president has to deal with today were inherited and many, like terrorism, do not go away easily. But there were things he could have done proactively which he, unfortunately, allowed to fester.  Ensuring, for instance, that those who killed Yusuf, the Boko Haram leader, and some of his supporters were quickly brought to book would have probably stopped this menacing terrorist sect in its tracks. The president also miscalculated in shielding members of his cabinet accused of corruption instead of promptly excusing them from their duty posts to signpost his determination to effectively fight that canker worm. Only this past week, the United States finally put a closure to the Abacha kleptomania ensuring the family lost millions of dollars whereas back home in Nigeria, the president not only ordered that the case against Abacha’s son be discontinued, the fellow is being aggressively romanced by the presidency with an eye to the 2015 elections and may, indeed, emerge the party’s governorship candidate in Kano State.  Rather than allow these  power mongers to hold him captive, especially now that February  2015 is fast approaching, the president would be better served if he, from now on, pursues genuine  electoral  reforms  in which only the police would have any role whatever, squarely, aggressively and, conscientiously confronts corruption and like Obasanjo,  makes public example of  those who currently think they are untouchable and if he goes ahead to negotiate the release of our Chibok girls since a direct military confrontation  is unthinkable  as it would put their lives in jeopardy.

    That way, President Jonathan would be honestly getting ready for an election whose transparency and peaceful nature will truly surprise the world.

  • Osun election: Artistes drum support for Aregbesola

    Osun election: Artistes drum support for Aregbesola

    As the Osun State gubernatorial election draws near, some veteran Yoruba actors and actresses, as well as their music counterparts, have thrown their weight behind the incumbent governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.

    Led by veteran actress Toyin Adegbola, whom her colleagues referred to as ‘Woman Leader’, the thespians all stormed the venue of the APC mega rally held yesterday, clad in green Ankara print with brooms in their hands.

    Adegbola, popularly called Asewo to re Mecca, sensitised the mammoth crowd who stormed the campaign ground to support the party in the election, slated for Saturday, August 9. She urged the electorate to vote for no other person but Aregbesola so that, according to her, he could complete the transformation programmes started four years ago.

    “On the day of election, do not expect to see Aregbesola’s poster. What you will see is the symbol of APC, the broom. So, before you cast your vote, be sure to identify the party, APC, then cast your vote,” she urged. She further urged the electorate to stay behind after casting their votes to avoid any form of electoral malpractice. “Don’t just cast your votes and go home. After you have finished casting your votes, please do wait to see that the votes are collated right there,” she told the crowd.

    While she addressed the crowd, her other colleagues cheered. Among them were Fadeyi Oloro, Lasu Ray, Muyiwa Afolabi and Olofa Ina. From the music industry, Fuji maestro, Wasiu Ayinda Marshal and 9ice were on ground to entertain the crowd at intervals.

  • Osun governorship election: Aregbesola’s big challenge

    Osun governorship election: Aregbesola’s big challenge

    If elections are won or lost on character and performance, as they should, Osun State’s governorship election coming up on August 9 should be a shoo-in for the incumbent, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. But then, as we saw in the June 21 Ekiti State governorship election, the almost universally hailed character and performance of the incumbent, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, seemed to have counted for practically nothing when he suffered heavy defeat at the hands of Mr Ayo Fayose, the candidate of the country’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    In Ekiti at least, what seemed to matter most was instant gratification for the people through the so-called “infrastructure of the stomach” and, even more importantly, the use of Federal Might (with capital F and capital M) to cow any opposition (It’s only a foolhardy man who would challenge the well-armed 30,000 security agents drafted into the state for the election who, as the governor said based on intelligence at his disposal as the state’s chief security officer, had instructions to “mow down” anyone who dared raise his figure in protest at their open  partisanship).

    As it was in Ekiti so would the PDP like it to be in Osun. One big difference, however, is that, unlike in Ekiti, a not-so-subtle religious propaganda weapon against the governor is being added to the other two.

    No less a person than the PDP governorship candidate himself, Senator Iyore Omisore, gave this game away. Asked in an interview in PUNCH (July 18) if he was sure he would win the election, he said: “Of course, yes. I mean the indices are there for all to see; the decaying infrastructure, the disrupted education system, THE RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY, infrastructural inconvenience, social malaise, impoverishment of our people.” (emphasis mine).

    Omisore went further to accuse the governor of wrongly “lumping students from Islam-based faith schools with students of Christianity-based faith schools together AND EXPECTING ONE RELIGION TO SUPERCEDE THE OTHER…” (Again emphasis mine). As a Christian, it is obvious Omisore is accusing the Muslim governor of favouring Islam.

    Since Aregbesola dared to declare a public holiday to celebrate an Islamic New Year in the state two years ago, many of his critics have worked overtime to cast him in the image of a Muslim extremist. For many of such critics, the absurdity of the logic that what is good for one religion is necessarily bad for the other has clearly escaped them.

    Not surprisingly, beneath Omisore’s apparently inadvertent betrayal of his religious animosity towards the governor, an even more insidious crude religious campaign is being waged where Christians in the state are being told that a vote for Omisore is 10 votes for Christ!

    In this manipulation of religion to gain power, Omisore is only in the excellent company of our president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for whom the Church had for a long time become his platform for issuing policy statements and indirectly denigrating Islam. Even then for anyone to equate Omisore with Christ is really the height of blasphemy. But then this is Nigeria where politicians think nothing of invoking the Good Lord’s name in vain.

    For someone who, at the least, is not averse to being compared to Christ, it was truly amazing how he could lie through his teeth about his relationship with the late Chief Bola Ige, whose murder several years ago he was implicated in and tried for and eventually acquitted.

    In the PUNCH interview I’ve referred to, the newspaper asked him point blank if he did not kill Ige. “I did not,” he replied, “kill Chief Bola Ige at all. I can’t kill anybody, anyway, not to talk of Chief Bola Ige. Chief Bola Ige was my leader. He was like an uncle in-law to me.” He did not, he also said, instigate the removal of Ige’s cap and glasses in the palace of the Ooni of Ife, a humiliation which presaged Ige’s brutal murder in his own residence in Ibadan.

    An amicable relationship between the two was definitely not what it looked like nearly 13 years ago when Omisore denigrated the chief in an interview in the rested TEMPO weekly newspaper (December 27, 2001). In that interview, he called Chief Bisi Akande, who he was deputy governor to and from whom he was estranged at the time, some of the foulest names imaginable and added Ige to the target of his diatribe.

    “Recently too,” he said in the interview, “Bola Ige came on radio here to insult me and my family. THAT IS THE LAST ONE. He was beaten yesterday, the people of Ife beat him up and he was crying like a baby as they removed his cap and his glasses…He was disgraced out of Ife, he had to be dressed like a woman to get out of town.”(Again, emphasis mine).

    Asked in effect if he approved Ige’s humiliation, he said yes in effect. “He has offended Ife people. If he insults me, he has insulted my people and they have the right to react.”

    Omisore concluded the interview by describing Ige as a Yoruba traitor. “Bola Ige,” he said, “is a traitor to Afenifere… He is the Akintola of our time. What Akintola did to Awolowo is what Bola Ige is doing to Adesanya and to the Yoruba people.”

    It is truly amazing how the man can now turn around to say he never held anything against Ige but, instead, had always regarded the chief as his leader and an “uncle in-law”, whatever that means.

    Omisore would not only tell a lie about his relationships to curry favour with Osun voters to the extent that his implication in the murder of Ige is an issue in the elections, it is also obvious he is afraid to engage Aregbesola in any debate over what each of them can offer the good people of their state. Challenged to a debate by the governor, first he said Aregbesola was mentally unfit. When that did not seem to wash with the public he changed his tune and said in effect that the governor is a thug-in-chief. “Going to participate in a debate with violent people with array of thugs will be too much of a risk to take for us,” he said in another interview in PUNCH (July 20).

    In an interview in The Guardian (July 10), Aregbesola said he was confident he would win any election in his state that was “credible, transparent, free and fair.” Therein lies the catch; an election can look credible, transparent, free and fair but the reality may be totally the opposite. An election in which a central government squeezes the opposition by slashing revenue allocation to states under the guise of falling revenue due to massive oil thefts and delays the release of even the little that is left in order to cause disaffection between opposition states and their civil servants, an election in which huge numbers of security agents are deployed to intimidate the opposition, etc, such election can hardly be described as credible, transparent, free and fair.

    Actually the rigging of elections can be even more cynical than financially squeezing opposition states and deploying massive force to intimidate. The other day, I received an email about the election which, on the surface, seemed too farfetched.

    “Do u ever thk along this line…” it said in the arcane language of texts. “200,000 ballot papers thumb printed in Abj, CBN abj convey to CBN Ado ekiti, CBN Ado to some selected commercial banks, some selected commercial banks to some party leaders in Ekiti land, party leaders to some ward leaders, ward leaders to 10 women per polling unit…Each woman with 10 already in their body, they pick one each and drop 11 in the box where they v bought agent.”

    My instinct was to dismiss this as an outlandish conspiracy theory. But then when I remembered the memorable words of Major-General IBM Haruna, a former minister of information, in one of the most interesting interviews published by the rested Citizen, which I headed, I said to myself this may not be as outrageous as it sounds. As the general said, any time anyone tells you something is impossible in Nigeria, consider it done.

    In spite of all these great odds against Aregbesola, I believe Ekiti is unlikely to be repeated in Osun on August 9. But then so many impossible things have happened in the country since 1999 that it will not surprise me if, in spite of Aregbesola’s character and performance, he loses the election.

    TWO OMISSIONS…

    In response to my column of last week, two readers, Chief Femi Alafe-Aluko and Olu Sangotikun, drew my attention to my omission of Aremo Segun Osoba among the country’s journalism icons who celebrated their birthdays this month. Segun, probably the country’s best reporter ever, celebrated his 75th birthday on July 15.

    Another journalism icon, Nduka Obaigbena, Chairman of Thisday and President of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) celebrated his 55th birthday on July 14.

    Here’s wishing both Happy Birthdays and many more returns in arrears.

     

  • Aregbesola: we’re in politics to serve

    Aregbesola: we’re in politics to serve

    Osun State Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola said yesterday that service to the people motivated him to go into politics.

    Aregbesola noted that while others have no ideas of what to do with power, he thinks about policies and programmes that would improve the people’s live.

    The governor spoke at the palace of the Timi of Ede, Oba Munirudeen Adesola Lawal, during a political campaign in Ede yesterday.

    He said an analysis of his administration’s programme would show that his government had treated the people and various political districts equally.

    He recalled that Ede Constituency supported his governorship ambition in 2007 by voting en masse.

    According to the governor, the Cocoa Industries in Ede would soon be rejuvenated as a government delegation had gone to China new machines.

    “Our administration has treated the various political districts equally, without favour of sentiment.

    “Ede has been supportive of our ambition and government. Without the votes of Ede North and Ede South Local Government Areas, I would not be governor.

    “Without these two local governments, we would not have the two members of House of Representatives and one member of House of Assembly.

    “Don’t let the opposition tell you lies because that is their stock in trade. Ask them to tell you the programmes they have for the people. But we know they have none.

    “What we have done in less than 40 months, surpassed what they did in seven years both in quantity and quality.

    “As we speak, the Chairman of Ede Cocoa Industries is in China on how to get brand new cocoa processing machines.

    “I assure you that this is just the beginning of good things in Osun,” Aregbesola said.

    He listed some achievements of his government in the federal constituency as including the rehabilitation of 21.3km Ede township roads, construction of 7.3 kilometres (km) local government roads in Ejigbo, 7.7km local government roads in Ede South, 10km local government roads in Ede North and 8.5 local government roads in Egbedore.

    Others were rehabilitation of 8.9km Abere-Ojoro-Yidi Road, total overlay of Royal Hotel Road, Ejigbo, completion of a Government High School in Ejigbo – AUD Government Middle School, Ejigbo, Seventh Day Adventist Government High School, Ede, L.A Government Middle School, Agbongbe, Ede and L.A Government Elementary Schoo, Obada, Ede.

    According to him, his administration also distributed 1,941 tablets in the Federal Constituency: 561 tablets in Ede South Local Government Area, 324 tablets in Egbedore, 669 tablets in Ejigbo and 393 tablets in Ede North.

    The Timi of Ede, who gave his royal blessings, praised Aregbesola for the massive work he has done.

    The monarch stated that the governor, having given a good account of his administration in the first term, deserves to be re-elected to continue the good work.

    “You have performed very well in your first term. The people of this state will make sure you come back to continue the developmental stride. With the people supporting you, your second term is definitely assured,” Oba Lawal said.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Kunle Afolayan celebrates Aregbesola

    Kunle Afolayan celebrates Aregbesola

    AWARD-WINNING filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan, is currently working on a documentary to celebrate the giant strides of the Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.

    The boss of Golden Effect made this disclosure on his Instagram page.

    The filmmaker, however, stressed that though he’s shooting the documentary, which features Sadiq Daba and several others, he’s not doing it to serve any political purpose.

    “We are still in Osun working on a series of documentary (not a propaganda) that features the veteran Sadiq Daba and so many other people of repute. There has never been anything like it. I am not a politician, but when you see a visionary government that works, it is normal to acknowledge. Aregbesola nsise walahi,” the October 1 producer and director said.

  • Modakeke wants more dividends of democracy

    Modakeke wants more dividends of democracy

    I MUST commend Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for his efforts to transform Osun State. He is a great governor and a man of the people.

    Everybody in my town, Modakeke, knows that you are working. We can now see and feel development in our state.

    But the dividends of democracy we are enjoying in Modakeke are not enough. I am not saying that you are not giving us dividends of democracy, but we need more, considering our support for your government and the neglect of the town by previous governments.

    Modakeke people are your supporters. They are in support of all your political activities and governance style.

    Therefore, to make us happier, give us more dividends of democracy.

     

    Thomas Naths Ogunmakinde,

    Modakeke, Osun State.

  • Fix Igbaye Ladegbaye- Ogunmokun Road

    Fix Igbaye Ladegbaye- Ogunmokun Road

    Since the creation of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is no doubt the best governor. And I believe you will be the governor to beat after your second term in office.

    You have done a lot for the people of your state, and this is why they love you and your government. They can never be tired of giving you support.

    But there is one thing I want from him. This is the reconstruction of the Igbaye Ladegbaye-Ogunmokun Road. The road is very important to the people of the Ilesa East Local Government Area of the state.

    Governor Aregbesola is well known for his dynamism. He will soon swing into action on this road.

    Please, my good governor, give us this dividend of democracy. We shall forever remember you for it.

     

    Pastor Gureje,

    Igbaye Street, Ilesa, Osun State.

  • 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.