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APC, PDP, LP battle for Ekiti

Political parties are warming up for the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State. Their candidates are campaigning vigorously across the 16 local governments. Sulaiman Salawudeen highlights the issues that will shape the poll in the Fountain of Knowledge.

The die is cast in Ekiti State. On June 21, the governorship election will hold in 16 local government areas. The candidates are boasting that they are going to win with a wide margin. But, it is only when the results are announced that the boys would be separated from the men.

Three weeks to the election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) counterparts; Mr. Ayo Fayose and Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele; are campaigning vigorously to gain an upperhand. Out of 18 parties, only the APC, the PDP and the LP passed the certification test by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The assessment was based on many factors including, financial muscle, the spread and popularity of the parties and their campaign strategies.

The open air campaigns, which started about two months ago, may not necessarily determine who emerges as the governor at the end of the day. According to observers, more fundamental is the strength of the parties. This observers say, would be complemented by the campaigns.

The parties appear to be leveraging on the partisan campaigns to beat the INEC directive, which stipulates that open air campaigns must end by 6p.m. This is because there is no limit to the period that any of the candidates or their accredited representatives could call at the residence of anyone for consultations and ralllies.

In spite of the violence that has characterised the campaigns, the major contenders are banking on the promise that votes would count. Therefore, the campaigns have gradually into the door-to-door and person-on-person mode to woo voters.

Many rallies and campains have been held in the past weeks. There have been numerous ‘cross-carpeting’, as splinter groups across the parties switch loyalty.

It was the LP that set the pace by admitting members of the APC into its fold. The PDP, on the other hand, has been reconciling members, following its rancorous primaries. As the campaign progressed, the focus shifted to the ruling APC. Everyone was eager to see the party’s joker. Four weeks ago, former Governor Segun Oni disclosed that he would team up with the APC candidate to sustain the development pace in Ekiti State. Alhough the three contenders had promised to restrict their campaigns to issues, the fear that violence may mar the poll has continued to disturb major stakeholders. This has compelled the police and traditional rulers to broker peace among the parties. Now, the situation may have been brought under control as the candidates have vowed to deal with overzealous supporters crying more than the bereaved.

There is a sensational adulation of Fayose by some spectators at campaigns more circumspect segment queue behind Fayemi, based on a number of factors. Pundits rank Bamidele third, behind Fayemi and Fayose. Though the PDP and the LP candidates have assured their supporters that they would win the election, many are of the view that it was a show of bravado. The critical success factors include the public rating of the incumbent, party structures, membership drive and established voting patterns.

Incumbency factor

So far, the public assessment of Fayemi has been favourable. Today, Ekiti people cutting across the academia and other professions have rated the governor high on performance. They are openly supporting him based, on excellent performance.

To them, Fayemi’s Eight Point Agenda has revealed the test of leadership. The governor has performed in critical sectors, including infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, empowerment/employment, tourism.

Professor Ladipo Adamolekun, explained that “Fayemi’s performance in governance has ranked him well in the class of achievers in the mould of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.”

Afenifere leaders, after visting the project sites, described Fayemi’s performance in superlative terms. They were among the 50 different groups and individuals, who have endorsed the governor for another term and volunteered to campaign for him. On the contrary, it is believed that, if Fayemi had done poorly in governance, the assessment would also have reflected such and have affected his public rating.

According to observers, no town or community in the 17-year-old state is shortchanged in the distribution physical projects and political appointments. Monarchs are carried along through their involvement in the state-sponsored Community Self Help Project.

Party organisation

According to observers, the APC is the best organised party in Ekiti State. The party has also promoted internal democracy. This is evident in the selection of its candidate for the June 21 poll and its membership drive. To such observers, this attribute has contributed to the coherence and unity of purpose in the fold.

The APC has updated its membership records and mobilised it members to obtain permanent voter cards. According to one of the observers: “What the APC has done is more than enough, but they are not taking any chances. It is the only party, which has no faction in whatever guise and therefore, no ‘disgruntled elements’. It is also the only party that promoted an open drive for members, at the end of which it netted 326,000 members.

“It took the lead in the commencement of open air campaigns. It has gone round the state two times and still not relenting. The party has also conducted two successful mega rallies, bringing together members across the 16 councils.

“But, the PDP can be regarded only to the contrary, having shown far less seriousness and brothely love among themselves. No observable membership drive and no intra-party coherence. Although it claims its membership base is over 300,000, it was just one haphazard fixture backed neither by moves nor evidence.” While the APC held its primaries without any rancour and chose its candidate’s running mate in an atmosphere of peace, the PDP, is perceived as moving from one confusion to another.

The PDP primaries was a failure.

It was marred by irregularities, which further exacerbated the already strained intra-party relations. Fayose is seen essentially as an unfaithful interloper in the PDP brought to satisfy the party leadership, a leadership which does not connect with certain realities in the organisation of the party. Owing to the way Fayose emerged, many PDP members have dumped the party for other parties, especially the APC while some “have decided to remain and work against Fayose”.

Also, instead of using the opportunity of choosing the running mate to assuage feelings and launder the party’s image, Fayose’s choice of Dr. Olubunmi Olusola from Ikere Ekiti, instead of Dr. Dare Bejide, one of those aggrieved by the outcome of the primaries, has not helped matters. The aggrieved aspirants are now spoiling for war, not only with Fayose, but the national leadsership of the party for breaching the agreement with them. They have consequently threatened to call it quits with the party. The collapse of a podium in Ifaki-Ekiti while Fayose and whole legion others were campaigning has been described as a bad omen.

According to observers, the creation by Fayemi of a separate campaign outfit to take care of strategies and operations is further affirmation that the APC operates on ‘hard reason and logic’, rather than on “emotions”. This, according to analysts, is unlike the PDP and the LP, where campaign organisations exist only in name, while all arrangements and strategies, including the branding of vests and other outfits and printing of posters and pamphlets, revolve around the candidates.

Membership drive

The APC and the PDP have roots in all the 177 wards and 2,195 polling units in the state and recent campaign efforts have further complemented the fortunes of the parties.

The PDP, which was been disorderly initially, has had a better showing lately, especially after the emergence of Fayose who, in a way, has been able to oil the party machinery. Even, the LP candidate, using his position as a member of the National Assembly, has reached out to most wards, especially those in Ekiti Central.

But, the APC seems to be ahead, in terms of the communities networking effort, using the projects Fayemi has executed across the 132 towns. The success of the social security scheme in which 25,000 elderly citizens get N5,000 monthly, has bolstered the governor’s campaign efforts in many ways. Further, the fact that all three senators representing Ekiti, five out of six House of Representatives members and 25 out of 26 state assembly members belong to the APC is equally a boost for Governor Fayemi’s re-election campaign effort.

Also in the party’s favour is the established voting patterns across zones. The swing communities of Ado-Ekiti, Ikere-Ekiti and Ido/Osi seem to be tilted towards the incumbent governor.

Ekiti South

Ekiti South has been the stronghold of the APC, since Fayemi came on board. In the last presidential election, Southwest states voted for President Goodluck Jonathan.

President Jonathan in 2011 won only in Ekiti North and Central, but not in the South, suggesting that the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) now APC has a massive support in that zone. Senator Lawrence Agunbiade, and former Ondo State governor, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua, the federal lawmaker, Ife Arowosoge, Bamidele Faparusi, are few of the formidable political players from the zone.

But, the highest vote from the zone is always from Ikere, being the second most populated town in Ekiti. However, the town has always been voting for opposition. For instance, in the 2003 governorship election, Ikere voted for former Governor Fayose against Adebayo. In 2007, when Fayemi contested againt Segun Oni, Fayemi won in the town. However, given the fact that the town has enjoyed a lot of developmental projects and political appointments from the current administration, Fayemi has a big following in the town.

Ekiti North

Ekiti North, the base of the governor, also parades high-ranking politicians and government officials that can swing the votes in favcour of Fayemi. Among them are Segun Oni from Ido-Osi; Babatunde Odetola, another strong party member from Ido-Osi; the Head of Servive (HOS), Mr. Olubunmi Famosaya, from Oye; Secretary to Government, Alhaji Ganiyu Owolabi, from Oye; Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation’s Director General, Bimbo Daramola from Oye; and a PDP stalwart, Mr. Ben Ogun-tunase, from Ikole.

Chief Paul Alabi, another PDP chieftain and former deputy governor are believed to be supporting Fayemi. The PDP is particularly disadvantaged in this regard, as no high-ranking government official at the federal level is from the zone.

The Ido/Osi local government has been the enclave of the PDP since 1999. former Governor Oni, former ambassador and education minister, Prof. Tunde Adeniran and former Aviation Minister, Prof. Babalola Abori-shade are from the area.

After Fayemi had assumed office, the PDP still proved its dominance by winning a seat in the House of Assembly. Hon. Bunmi Oriniowo, who recently decamped into the APC alongside his political father, Oni, emerged despite the incumbency power of the defunct ACN.

Now, Oni is a chieftain of the APC. His foot soldiers; Taiwo Olatunbosun, Kayode Babade and Ben Oguntunase, have not been playing any critical role in the PDP. It was even gathered that they were among the lot who opposed the emergence of Fayose as the party’s flag bearer.

When former Vice President Atiku Abubaka was about to defect to the APC, Borishade played very significant role in the deal, which means that he would work for Fayemi. Analysts have predicted a resounding victory for the APC in Ido-Osi and the Northern axis.

Ekiti Central

Ekiti Central is the most difficult zone. It is the home of Bamidele, Fayose and Fayemi’s running mate, Prof. Modupe Adelabu. In 2003 and 2007, Ado, like Ikere, voted for the opposition party. But, this had resulted from the irreconcilable differences between the incumbent and the people of the town. In 2003, they accused Adebayo of not developing the town to a befitting status 2007, they accused Fayose of opposing the town’s monarch.

The Ewi of Ado, has openly supported Fayemi for a second term in office. He is pushing for his success. Ewi’s support not unconnected with Fayemi’s urban renewal programmes which is believed to have elevated the capital into a modern city.

The swing communities of Ado-Ekiti, Ikere-Ekiti and Ido/Osi, the APC maintains a clear lead. Ido Osi, from the analysis, is a clear axis of strategy and possible tragedy. Fayemi’s is backed by Oni who is popular in this area. Although the PDP has dismissed Oni as “a mere paper tiger,” towns people hold him in high esteem.

Rigging

There are challenges for the APC.

While the party’s performance has been responsible for its popularity and acceptability among the enlightened segments, including teachers, lecturers, lawyers, civil/public servants, doctors, nurses, the market men and women, it has also been strangely responsible for its alienation from other segments, including commercial motorcycle riders and others whose understanding of responsible governance is nill.

The PDP, has launched attacks from the rear, bolstered by opportunistic recourse to the initial strained relationship the administration and teachers, following upon the insistence on the Teachers’ Development Needs Assessment (TDNA) test, the promotion examination and staff audit, which led to the sack of some senior workers across the 16 councils.

But, Fayemi may have doused the tension through recent meetings with both groups which, according to sources, “have started yielding results. Some officials of the teachers’ and council workers’ unions even clarified in a meeting: “They often say a known devil is better than an unknown saint. But given this ‘fight’ (the June 21 election) between Fayemi and Fayose, it is just a case of a difficult saint against a well known devil. We have made decisions, based on what we know about the two candidates and our members will act wisely.”

To further nullify the effects of the strained relationships with teachers, Fayemi recently announced the cancellation of the TDNA and approved the payment of 27.5 per cent Teachers’ Pecuniary Allowance, for teachers since his administration came on board.

Fear of rigging

Although, the APC leadership has continued to allay fears about so-called federal might for the PDP candidate, analysts maintain that the possibility of rigging ‘is high. The Anambra State poll was bungled.

While the INEC has allayed fears about rigging the decision of President Goodluck Jonathan to foist a candidate believed to be unpopular on the Ekiti PDP has not doused the anxiety. There are two issues, will the police protect the votes.Will INEC prevent rigging? June 21 will tell.

June 4, 2014
Adeyeye: June 21 election, a must win for PDP

Former governorship aspirant of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Prince Dayo Adeyeye has described the June 21 governorship election as “a must win for the PDP.”

Hence, he has promised not to waiver in his support for the party’s candidate, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.

Adeyeye, who is a chieftain of Afenifere, urged his supporters to continue to work for the victory of the PDP and its candidate.

“My support for Fayose is total and we must all join hands with him to win the election,” he said.

Adeyeye, in a statement yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, said there was nothing to benefit in failure, adding that he remained steadfast and committed to Fayose’s governorship ambition. He disclosed that all his supporters have been mandated to return to their various wards to mobilise support for the PDP.

He said: “I am happy at the commitment of the Prince Adedayo Adeyeye Movement’s (PAAM) family to this election and I want to urge them to double their efforts to ensure total victory for our party.

“I, therefore, call on all members and supporters of our party, the PDP not to allow anyone to hoodwink them with unfounded rumour.”

He urged the party faithful to remain focused and concentrate their efforts on winning the governorship election to rescue Ekiti State from the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) administration.

June 4, 2014
Ekiti PDP, APC trade words over planned murder setup

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State again went to the trenches yesterday over alleged plan to frame him up a governorship candidate in the June 21 election in Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose Ayodele in a murder scandal.

Director-General of Ayodele Fayose Campaign Organisation (AFCO), Chief Dipo Anisulowo disclosed the alleged plot to reporters in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, yesterday.

Anisulowo alleged that the party has discovered “a sinister scheme to kill an innocent individual and announce Fayose as the killer.”

He noted that the plan would be to kill the victim, soak a vest carrying the portrait of Fayose and the PDP in the victim’s blood and dump the corpse either at Afao-Ekiti or Ise-Ekiti road, adding: “This is all to create the impression that the PDP is responsible”.

But the Director of Media, Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation, Dimeji

Daniels, who refuted the allegation, described it as “a foul cry aimed at diverting attention and shifting the blame for his planned chaos and other heinous crimes he plans to assign.”

Dimeji said: “Mr. Fayose plans to shift the campaign from the realm of ideas to the ring of violence, killings and murder. The PDP and its candidate have lost out in the culture of debate and tradition of decent politics that are the hallmark of the APC.

“Fayose has been visiting brothels and red lights across the state where he hopes to recruit the dregs of the society for his planned attacks on the people of the state.”

He said Ekiti State had remained one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria, but added that the culture of violence was only reintroduced with the emergence of Fayose as the PDP candidate.

He said Fayose would be held responsible for any violence or killings that might take place in the state.

June 4, 2014
The chicken has come home to roost

When Nigerians spoke up about insecurity in the North, they were labelled as detractors, when the opposition party and concerned leaders spoke up, they characterized them as power hungry, Islamists fundamentalists and exponents of janjaweed ideology.When the international media did, they were termed APC opposition collaborators, apologists or even pawns. When Hilary Clinton did, she was ridiculed as incompetent, and infact the cause of the problem and the reason why the girls were abducted, when the American Government did they were called busy bodies who have their own unresolved problems, when former PDP governors and other politicians did, they were immediately described as disgruntled.

Whatever the case maybe, those who complain, object, criticize, observe or even perceive that PDP or Jonathan administration should have, could have, or could be doing more, or should be, or could be doing more are simply labelled enemies of the Jonathan administration . They are considered “sick”, senseless conspirators and saboteurs, and they are described in many other unprintable words that should never be used in the kind of discourse that is the subject of the matter. The kind of language that must never be bequeathed to any coming generation, language that is uniformly condemned and rejected all over the world, yet used freely and repeatedly by key operatives of Nigerian government, and Nigeria’s ruling party, PDP.

But now, a past president, leader of PDP, and former chair of PDP BOT, and more importantly, a benefactor of the current President, one to whom the President has in the past owed his allegiance, and repeatedly credited as the instrument of God in his meteoric rise in politics and leadership, and one who is the catalyst of his name and luck, Goodluck , has spoken. He said the President did not believe the Chibok girls were missing initially. According to him, Jonathan considered it a political gimmick, and chose not to err on the side of caution when the lives of some of the most vulnerable Nigerians were at stake.

The former president from his military and presidential experience expressed the thought that this unfortunate approach adopted by the President wasted the most vital window of opportunity in rescuing the girls, and taking them out of harm’s way, the vital initial twelve hours. In the words of former President Obasanjo, President Jonathan finally, slowly and reluctantly answered the call to act only when the international community put pressure on him and the matter overshadowed the World Economic Forum being hosted in the nation’s capital.

The former president described the current president as slow, and failing to meet Nigerians expectations! This is historic and unprecedented! There is no record of a former democratically elected president describing a successor in this manner.

Over the weekend, on account of the wondrous technology of communication, broadcast and cable television, we were treated to the “American Wonder” of the value of citizens, and to what lengths nations should go to secure them. The news as monitored demonstrated the real role of the President of a nation with the deployment of the best of America’s special forces to secure a non-contentious release of a soldier who though in captivity for five years, remained unforgotten by his country. America, of the “AmericaWillKnow# fame, swapped five dangerous terrorists just to secure the life of one non-commissioned officer – a Sergeant. The president got personally involved and spoke directly to the King of Qatar who took custody of five dangerous prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, who America gave for just one of its own.

What was most touching and telling was that Mr. Obama personally took charge of securing the release of “just” one low level American soldier. One whose existence in many ways should not mean much to him, going by Nigerian warped standard, one whose capture and detention did not stop him from winning elections. He called the parents, brought them to the White House and shared his podium and moment of glory with them. They hugged, backslapped, and walked away together holding each other fondly, endearingly and so ordinarily, perhaps to eat brunch together in the White House.

Days before this happened, no security report of danger to his life could stop President Barrack Obama from flying across the world to celebrate Memorial Day in the heart of the war, and where he was most likely to be in harms way. He chose the epicenter over the attention-center. He chose Bagram, Afghanistan, over the White House in Washington DC. Nothing could stop him.

Contrast this with what is happening at home. When recently we had Children’s day, our own President Jonathan didn’t go to visit the children who are in despair, children who have been unable to attend school on account of the Boko Haram insurgency, children whose lives have been changed forever by fear, tragedy and loss, children who have lost parents or siblings, some of whom want to be like him in the future. Our only connection with them is the technological wonder of cable TV, with CNN meeting with them, touring their school, meeting their teachers, listening to them and transmitting their pain, their hopes, their aspirations to the world. CNN could go, but our own President could not.

We are today a people traumatized more by our leaders than our attackers. Our attackers have banked on the failure of our leaders to traumatize us even more. We are a people in despair, in pain and sorrow, not just for the lost souls or missing girls, but for the soul of our nation and the missing leadership. Traumatized by terrorists, traumatized by an incompetent government, traumatized by poor infrastructure, traumatized by darkness, traumatized by impunity, traumatized by our helplessness when those who steal go unpunished, traumatized when children are missing and the president is dancing, traumatized when he, and the leadership of his party deny the obvious, when they belittle the lives of our children by disputing their abduction, when they insult the pain of parents, the fear and grief of communities, traumatized when we realize we can’t depend on our government to protect us, or come to our aid. Traumatized when the government spokesperson labels us who are victims of this government as opposition controlled states, traumatized when to them, those who are concerned enough about the safety and destiny of our girls, are reduced to mere “campaigners” who are 90% opposition. Traumatized to discover that our president only sees electoral capital, not human capital, not Nigerian capital, not citizens of Nigeria, traumatized at the reality of our exclusion by the president and the PDP.

At a point, trauma leads to delusion and irrationalbehaviour. How much more trauma can we take? As a nation, we are unraveling, things are falling apart, the center is not holding, anarchy is upon the land, but the reason is simple. There is a failure at the center. There is rot, incompetence, callousness, ineptitude, a scale of corruption and stealing,a level of impunity that is emanating from the center. The stench is so bad, you can smell it far north, far east, far south, and far west. That is why things are falling apart, that is why the center isn’t holding, that is why anarchy is upon the land, that, I submit is the reason for, and our greatest trauma.

•Mohammed is Interim National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC)

June 4, 2014
Fayose decries Ekiti over doctors’ strike

• Govt: claims false, baseless

Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has decried the governor and his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi over the strike action embarked upon by doctors working in government hospitals.

Fayose said the governor’s refusal to pay doctors the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) was a show of insensitivity to the plights of the people.

Reacting to the doctors’ strike through the Director-General of the Ayo Fayose Campaign Organisation (AFCO), Chief Dipo Anisulowo, the PDP candidate said it was wrong for the governor to have stopped the payment of CONMESS that was being paid before he became governor.

The doctors embarked on an indefinite strike action last week Friday, to demand for the payment of CONMESS, while their colleagues in the State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti joined the strike yesterday.

Fayose said: “With the strike action, the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ido-Ekiti is the only public hospital functioning in Ekiti State.”

According to him, “what sick people and their relations will be undergoing now is better imagined than experienced.

Reacting to the allegations, the Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mr. Tayo Ekundayo, said the current strike by doctors was a national one in which a lot of issues were said to be involved.

Ekundayo, who noted that the doctors’ action was a warning strike, maintained that the leadership of the Association of Resident Doctors in the state joined the action “as it is a national directive in which all state chapters must particicipate as a matter of course”.

According to him, the state government had approved the payment of Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for medical doctors in the state, noting: “I don’t think our own medical doctors across hospitals in Ekiti will institute any state based strike because of that.”

Ekundayo said: “Let me state categorically that there is no iota of truth in the claoims by Fayose regarding the strike action by doctors. His claims had several times been exposed as false and baseless. Fayose also said our administration is owing civil servants and council workers arrears of leave bonuses. Let him get a civil servant to confirm this. This administration will not owe any worker his due in whatever regard. Let Fayose continue to cook his lies but let our people continue to maintain their vigilance”, the Commissioner said.

June 3, 2014
Ilaje/Ese-Odo poll: Court grants PDP candidate’s prayer

The Federal High Court, sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, yesterday granted the request of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the April 5 by-election in Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency, Chief Adewale Kukute, to be joined in the suit filed by the Labour Party (LP).

LP is challenging the declaration of the election as inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Kukute’s counsel Mr. Yinka Orokoto, who appeared with five other lawyers, urged the court to join his client in the suit.

PDP’s counsel Chief Olusola Oke and that of INEC did not oppose the move.

LP’s counsel Mr. Ibukun Fasanmi dropped his objection to the application.

Oke told the court that the PDP was ready for quick hearing of the suit, adding that nothing should be done to prolong it.

Justice Isiaka Sanni joined Kukute as the ninth respondent.

He fixed June 16 for the hearing of the suit seeking the declaration of the LP’s candidate, Mr. Kolade Akinjo, as the winner of the by-election. A preliminary objection filed by PDP and INEC seeking to oust the court’s jurisdiction in the matter will also be heard that day.

June 3, 2014
Why Jonathan may not visit Ekiti, by sources

AGAIN, apprehension heightened yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan may not attend the official presentation of the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate in June 21 election, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, to the electorate in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

This came to light as Jonathan’s scheduled visit to Ekiti State was allegedly postponed again for the third times, giving rise to fears that though he was expected in Ekiti on May 22 and 29, but neither the President nor the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, came.

The PDP has again postponed the visit to Saturday, June 7.

But sources in Abuja described the new date as “unrealistic,” saying that the Presidency is alarmed by alleged “very damaging petitions levelled against Fayose by respected PDP leaders in the state, including top indigenes in the Diaspora.”

“There are indications that President Goodluck Jonathan may have shifted his support to another candidate in the election. This accounted for the refusal of the President to officially present the party’s flag to the party candidate on two occasions scheduled for that event, a situation which has forced the party to postpone the ceremony thrice last month,” a reliable source in Abuja said on Sunday.”

Already, the party is enmeshed in internal crisis as the state chairman, Mr. Makanjuola Ogundipe, has allegedly refused to identify with Fayose in all his electioneering campaigns in the state.

Besides, former aspirants who were forced to support Fayose have in the recent times been cold towards the candidate.

Already, there are indications that some of them are thinking of dumping the party for another candidate in the election.

“When the President did not come for the rally on May 22nd , as scheduled, some top party leaders from Abuja came for fence-mending and especially to beg aggrieved PDP leaders to support Fayose, but many of them deliberately travelled out of the state to avoid meeting the delegation.

The refusal of the aspirants to openly identify with Fayose may not be unconnected with the way and manner the PDP standard-bearer has been handling his campaign, treating former aspirants as intruders,” a PDP source said.

Another source said the new attitude in the Presidency may have been “a late discovery that the party leadership may have been misguided in the choice of Fayose.”

June 3, 2014
APC, PDP flex muscles in Edo

The recent defection of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and his followers from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is being celebrated with fanfare in Edo State. But, can he swing the pendulum of victory towards the opposition in future election? Correspondent OSAGIE OTABOR asks.

The emergence of Adams Oshiomhole as the governor of Edo State six years ago under the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has diminished the stature of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He also impressed the people during his first term, with the rapid transformation of the state. This earned him the mandate for a second term.

The governor got the second term mandate, in spite of the determination of the PDP to bounce back. This feat has convinced everyone that his victory in the 2007 governorship election, which was stolen, was not a fluke.

But, the Edo State PDP is celebrating the recent defections from the ruling party to its fold, saying the party is capable of displacing the APC in 2015 and 2016. The next governorship election may be two years away, but the PDP is already beating its chest. The PDP leaders believe that the party has found its feet, with the defection from across the 18 local government areas. The former APC members are loyalists of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who had a disagreement with Oshiomhole over the recent party congresses.

With this development, members of the PDP are optimistic that the party would sing victory songs during next year’s general elections and the 2016 governorship election. The chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih had boasted that it is a signal that the party is returning to power.

Observers however, fault Orbih’s optimism, saying it is too early to conclude that the coming of Pastor Ize-Iyamu will swing the pendulum of victory towards the PDP.

Apart from the four APC lawmakers in the House of Assembly who joined the defection train, other defectors were former members of the PDP that had left the party, ahead of the 2007 general elections. The key defectors are Evelyn Omokhodion, former Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Bright Omokhodion, Chief Amos Osunbor, Alhaji Usman Shagadi, and Abubarkar Momoh.

The four former APC lawmakers are Abdulrasaq Momoh (Etasako West 1), Friday Ogieriakhi (Orhiomwon South) Patrick Osayimen (Oredo East) and Jude Ise-Idehen (Ikpoba-Okha).

Abdulrasaq Momoh said that he was not really part of the APC because he was disowned by the defunct ACN, following last year’s local government elections. Momoh was arrested during the elections following rifle allegedly found on him. Subsequently he was remanded in prison.

He said: “Before now, I had decided to give the party a chance, to know whether the new leadership would reconsider their action. But, recent events have convinced me that they are hypocrites. Similarly, the people of my constituency appear to have also seen through the party and its leadership, especially as it relates to the provision of basic amenities. We are from the same local government with the governor, but he has totally neglected us.

“The governor has done creditably well in his homestead, Uzairue, but he abandoned my constituency for reasons best known to him. He also neglected Auchi, the headquarters of the local government. My people said they can no longer bear it and I have no other option, but to move with them. It was not a personal thing, but as a result of the neglect of my constituency. I expected when money was voted to contain the erosion problem in Auchi that it would be used for that purpose. But, it was diverted. If they used N30 billion for Benin City erosion, they should have spent N2 billion on the erosion problems in Auchi. What I’m saying is that Auchi has not been given the necessary attention. At the rural areas, there are no roads. The governor could not go to those areas by road during the campaign for his second term. He went there with helipcopter.

“The PDP’s chances in the coming elections are better because the people are not satisfied with the performance of the ruling party. The women are complaining, bike riders who are now without jobs are complaining, school proprietors, saw-millers, workers, teachers are complaining of over taxation. All these are indicators of the people’s rejection of APC as a party.”

But, others are leaving for personal reasons. Ise-Idehen, for instance, is warming up for the House of Representatives race, after his eight-years stint at the House of Assembly. His ambition is however, considered unrealistic by leaders of the APC.

The lawmaker said he left due to lack of internal democracy in the party. He said the governor failed to take decisive actions on certain pertinent issues.

His words: “It was difficult for me to leave the APC. It is only a mad man that continues to do the same thing and expect a different result. It was like I was hitting my head against the wall. People refused to change. They say one thing and do something different. It was a difficult situation.

“The governor is fair and a good man, who has the interest of the people at heart, but the people around him are the problem. They are the problem we have in the APC. We are not fighting the governor; we are fighting the group surrounding him. The governor is a friend. He has not offended me in any way. I have nothing against him. What I am against is the system and the people around the governor. I have not heard of any plan to impeach the governor and I will not be involved in any plan to impeach Oshiomhole. As for the speaker, it is an internal issue within the house. It is only the members of the house that can remove the speaker. It is not about me wanting to remove the speaker.

“Those people saying we left because of our stomach are the ones lying to the governor. They tell the governor lies so that they can get something from him. But, the governor has not been able to see through the lies and when his attention was drawn to the issues, he did not act.

“We are not in the system to fight anybody. I believe the PDP has improved in the last few years. Much to our surprise, the PDP has made a major turn-around. I decided to leave the house, which I helped to build because the environment was no longer conducive. What they are saying does not make sense. It is really not about the stomach. I have never been hungry in my life and I will never in this life time be hungry again. I can walk away from politics and not be hungry.

Osayimen, who is also eyeing the House of Representative, said his problem with the APC started 18 months ago when the House leadership started treating him like a minority member because he voiced the feelings of his people concerning the Land Use Charge.

He said that he left to prove a point, adading that, based on personal principle, he could not be in a party where he would not be allowed to express his opinion.

Osayimen said: “The congress was just the last straw. My spirit left the party about 18 months ago. They crucified me because I stood to speak the voice of my people. What a Bini man hates most is to ask him who are you? The party may be doing well, but without internal democracy, it still has a long way to go.”

Ize-Iyamu is insisting that he would deliver the state to the PDP, by winning in all the 18 local government areas. He said no amount of money and blackmail could change the situation adding that more lawmakers would soon defect to the PDP.

He said: “I gave my best to ensure the success of the party, but Oshiomhole tried to belittle some of us. Majority of the party members had a lot of confidence in me. Many of them accepted the last ACN executive list because of me. Some of us did certain things to support him. We were interested in him delivering the dividends of democracy. We wanted him to be more involved in governance. Issues pertaining to the party that would have distracted him, we took it off him.

APC chieftain Chief Dan Owegie, who described the defection as a one-man movement, said the exit of Ize-Iyamu would not affect the fortune of the party. His words: “Those people, who allegedly defected with, him were hired. Only few people there were party men. The party tried its best. The governor tried his best. He called several meetings, but Ize-Iyamu was resolute on leaving the party.

“The APC is going to score 18 over 18 in the next election. Pastor Ize-Iyamu can no longer deliver Edo for the PDP. We will win because of the APC, development strides. The governor will redouble his effort to develop the state. Our future is very bright in Edo. The trouble shooters have left. It is greed that is pushing them out of the party. It is too early for somebody to start putting structures on ground, two years before the expiration of the Comrade Governor’s tenure.”

APC Secretary, Chief Osaro Idah expressed confidence that Pastor Ize-Iyamu would return to the party after he gets tired of the PDP. Idah said it was laughable for Ize-Iyamu to talk of winning the state for the PDP when the people are aware of what is going on.

Comrade Godwin Erhahon, who challenged Ize-Iyamu to a public debate, said it was Oshiomhole’s goodwill and antecedents that gave the party victory in 2007. He said those being wooed by the PDP were “the rejected ones of APC, who have fallen out of grace.”

He said: “I have challenged Pastor Ize-Iyamu to a public debate and he is not bold enough to accept it. One of the PDP spokesmen challenged me, asking why it is only the governor that is inspecting projects and not the commissioners. That shows they are scared of the achievements of the governor. The Benin Water Storm is an unprecedented achievement. Have they not always acclaimed the goodness of the governor? Is it now that they have lost out they are saying different things?

“Oshiomhole has so deflated the PDP that, even if a swarm of flies that fell out of grace join the PDP, is will celebrate them. The PDP are receiving those we rejected and the bad ones in the APC. Ize-Iyamu should have hijacked other parties, if he had the structure. But, they are going to where the food is ready.

“It was when they saw what we put in place for Oshiomhole in 2005 that they begged Oshiomhole to join them. Oshiomhole won because of his personal appeal and not what those leprous hands did. Nobody wants to shake hands with them.”

June 3, 2014
There is zoning in Enugu, says group

The people of Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, Enugu State have called on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP and Governor Sullivan Chime to respect the zoning agreement in Enugu State in the interest of fairness and justice.

A community leader, Ignatius Onodugo, said the neglect of the pact would lead to the political marginaliation of the area.

He said the agreement on the rotation of the House of Representatives slot between Uzo-Uwani and Igbo-Etiti councils in the Nsukka Constituency is sacrosant, adding that it is the turn of the former to enjoy the slot in the next year’s election.

The community leader said the federal legislator from the constituency is trying to tamper with the agreement by mooting a second term agenda.

Onodugbo said: “In recognition of the historical and brotherly affinity and the need to foster peace and unity between Igbo-Etiti and Uzo-Uwani Local Government Areas, some wise men from both areas met in February, 1998 and entered into an agreement that the House of Representatives seat would rotate among the two brotherly local governments.

“They further agreed that Igbo-Etiti would produce the first candidate for the seat and this led to the emergence of Hon. Mathias Ozor in 1998 under the platform of the UNCP. However, his tenure was short lived because of the truncation of the Abacha transition programme due to his demise,” he said.

He added: “Again, in January, 1999, by a broader representation, another agreement was entered into by political leaders from the areas reiterating the need to foster a harmonious co-existence between the two areas by rotating the seat.

“It was further agreed that Uzo-Uwani LGA shall take the first shot this time around having conceded the position to Igbo-Etiti the previous year but for the truncation of the transition programme.

“This agreement led to the emergence of Dr. Romanus Ezike from Uzo-Uwani whose election was upturned by the electoral tribunal . He spent only three months in the office and was replaced by Hon. Chris Nnadi from Igbo-Etiti, who now stayed from September 1999 to 2007.”

“It is instructive to note that, since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999 till date, Uzo-Uwani has served only four years out of the 16 years by 2015 when the incumbent might have completed her tenure making Igbo-Etiti to occupy the position for 12 years leaving Uzo-Uwani with only four years.

“It is in the interest of the foregoing that we call on all men of goodwill to see the need for an Uzo-Uwani to take the next turn’’.

June 3, 2014
Ekiti/Osun 2014: PDP to import Niger-Delta militants

The president should know that he can only ill afford another theatre of war, especially in a multi-ethnic geo-political zone like the Southwest

If there is any doubt about the Peoples Democratic Party playing games with the nation’s security, the involvement of a Niger-Delta militant, one Okubo Robert, as coordinator at the meeting to finalise the security plans of the Southwest PDP for the forthcoming gubernatorial elections, with both Fayose and Omisore reportedly in attendance, should blow away such doubts. That the soldiers reported by newspapers, in a story that is yet to be refuted, as accompanying the militant could shoot at demonstrating students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, is proof positive that President Jonathan will think nothing of deploying militants from his home base to shoot, maim or kill Yoruba people in the course of the coming elections in the region. Also, the fact that Okubo Robert could order soldiers to shoot at defenceless students shows that a Boko Haram variant is taking root in that part of the country: otherwise why shoot at university students? The presidential assurances of peaceful elections delivered through his Special Adviser on Inter-party Affairs, Senator Ben Obi, at a meeting with the U.S Consular General, Jeffrey Hawkins, should therefore be taken with much more than a pinch of salt. Truth be told though, it is not that the president cannot be trusted as a person, but in the Southwest, he is at the mercy of absolute desperadoes who will do everything to misuse the sacred offices of both the Police Affairs Minister and that of the Minister of State for Defence as we have already seen serially. The president will therefore be thoroughly mistaken to trust these and other ‘do and die’ politicians that populate the Southwest PDP.

It is obvious from the dangerous involvement of these reconstructed militants that there is a coincidence of interests between members of the power-mongering Southwest PDP caucus who have been shoved aside into political Siberia since 2010, and the president’s intent to do whatever it would take to guarantee his victory in 2015. Nigerians could not have forgotten so soon how Chief Bode George, as then President Obasanjo’s Man Friday, for instance, rode roughshod all over Yoruba land. That he has now been out-muscled by the ‘soldier-recruiting’ Kashamu means that should the PDP ever get a toe-hold in the region again, Yoruba land would be engulfed in a massive turf war reminiscent of what happens among the Italian Mafioso or the Mexican drug barons. To have a glimpse of what that would mean for the entire Yoruba land in terms of socio- economic development, is to take a retrospective look at the confusion and rudderlessness that have characterised PDP in Lagos State for over a decade and a half. This is one more reason Ekiti and Osun must vote right to ensure that Yoruba land never returns to the locust years.

As already publicly attested to by former Ekiti State governor, Engr Segun Oni, those boasting to invest billions in the Ekiti election, and their infernal acolytes, are so desperate and dangerous that even if President Jonathan were not minded to personally approve of their evil designs, they could still go out, in his name, to infiltrate Niger-Delta militants into Yoruba land as we already saw in Ekiti with the influx of thugs coming in through Ondo State. The campaign of the Labour Party candidate, who is himself a PDP ally, is now not complete without an orgy of bloodletting. Being an accomplice, the Labour Party campaign has become a theatre of war, with thugs and fake police men shooting and maiming APC members as well as onlookers. A victim of such at its Ikere rally is currently lying critically ill at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti. In contrast to that, the APC candidate has taken his campaign to the entire 131 towns

and villages in the state without a single incident of thuggery; the only exception being when thugs in Fayose’s campaign office shot at a passing APC campaign convoy and they had to be repulsed. PDP members and sympathisers in the Southwest may continue to bury their heads in the sand, living in denial, but they will wake up to reality the morning after, when some rag tag Niger-Delta militants would have devastated their homeland. It is then they will realise the futility of evil. Nwon ni nwon o fe o nilu o ni o fe da orin –You are not wanted in a community, yet you want to be a lead singer; who will sing along with you? The Yoruba people remember, as if it were yesterday, the total ruination the PDP brought upon them in those seven years of the locust after President Obasanjo had successfully messed up the country’s entire electoral system and inflicted that clueless party on an unwilling people. It was a period of unmitigated blood, tears and ruin, as well as the total despoliation of our entire road infrastructure, with the Ile-Ife-Benin Express Road broken in two at Igbara-Oke, just as education reached its very nadir in the region. Insecurity, like we now have nationally, was the order of the day throughout Yoruba land, as epitomised by the activities of the late patron of amala politics in Oyo State.

It is hoped, in the extant circumstances, that Yoruba elders, especially our revered royal fathers, as well as our other cultural icons, will draw the president’s attention to this looming danger for the Yoruba nation. It is far beyond partisan party politics or elections though these militants could also be used to ferry stuffed ballot papers into both Ekiti and Osun with unimaginable consequences. Nearly half a century back, and in similar circumstances, the incomparable Avatar, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, declared as follows: “The truth about the people of Western Region (Yoruba People) is that they are sufficiently enlightened and bold to refuse to be led by the nose by any person or group, however sophisticated such person or group may appear. They are slow to anger, robust in contentions, alert to their rights, and will fearlessly resist and combat evil, whenever and wherever they discern it, with all their might and resources.” One can only hope that our elders will see the larger picture and plead with the president to restrain these Delta Boys and warn their patrons, the PDP hawks and power mongers in the Southwest, and those others, who have declared the Ekiti and Osun elections as war zones, to sheathe their swords. The president should know that he can only ill afford another theatre of war, especially in a multi-ethnic geo-political zone like the Southwest as that will tantamount to literally writing the country off the world map.

It is apposite to mention in this regard, and as hinted here some two weeks ago, that the Oodua Foundation, a U.S-based think-tank of the Yoruba intelligentsia, has made good its promise to bring this looming danger in Yoruba land to world attention. Led by its chair person, Professor Adeniran Adeboye, the group consisting of its patron, Senator (Prof) Banji Akintoye, Legal Counsel, Ayo Turton and the Liaison Officer, Wale Adelagunja, visited the United States Senate on the invitation of the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee on African Affairs, Senator Chris Coons, this past week almost the same time as the Consular General was giving his own warnings about the importance of the Ekiti/Osun elections. That certainly was no mere coincidence. Having thanked the U.S for her assistance towards securing the release of our stolen Chibok girls, the delegation tabled the all-pervading fear that the PDP-led federal government was determined to rig the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun states and urged the U.S to impress on the Jonathan government, the inevitability of a free, fair and transparent election which the Senator promised to facilitate.

Those who, having seen the futility of their chimerical ambitions and now want to play the role of ‘agent provocateurs’, in the manner of kaka ki eku ma je eree a fi se awadanu , i.e wanting to work towards the Ekiti election being declared inconclusive by instructing their imported thugs to cause massive unrest, should be careful if they do not want to put a peoples’ cultural curse upon themselves.

June 1, 2014