Across the country, many Governors and some Senators representing districts of their various states in the national assembly are locked in fierce political face-offs as the 2019 general election draws closer. In some states, the fighting Governors and senators belong to the same political party, while in others, the gladiators are of different political platforms, but one common denominator in all the places where these political battles are raging is the quest for political power.
In this report, Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, writes about how 2019 political ambitions are generating tension between some governors and a number of national assembly members.
Ahead of the 2019 elections, state governors and senators elected to represent some districts in their various states, are at loggerheads over political ambitions and permutations. These developments have set the political firmament in many states across the country agog with the gladiators and their supporters engaging themselves in deft games of political manoeuvring.
In some states like Kaduna, Kogi and Akwa Ibom, there have been cases of physical clashes between supporters of the combatants leading to destruction of properties and maiming of some supporters. The quest by governors and senators to outwit one another ahead of the next general election is so pronounced now that it has become a source of concern, not only to the leadership of the ruling party, but also to the handlers of the opposition parties with elected governors and senators.
Perhaps because it is the ruling party at the centre which also control majority of the states across the country, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is worst hit by this fierce political struggle between governors and their senators. Aside Kaduna and Kogi where APC chieftains have thrown caution to the wind in their political battle for supremacy, the situations in Zamfara, Bornu, Ondo and Kano states are not better either.
But that is not to say the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not affected by the development. Findings by The Nation in the PDP-controlled state like Ekiti and Akwa Ibom revealed similar scenarios where governors are working round the clock to ensure that some serving senators are denied return tickets to the national assembly, come 2019, over political disagreements.
While the causes of the acrimony differ from one state to the other, one thing that is constant in all the affected states remain the determination of the governors to truncate the ambitions of some senators to return to the red chamber for another term of four years.
In some states, it is because the senators disagree with the governors over who should be the next governor of their state while in other affected states and senatorial districts, it is because the governors, or their anointed ones, are poised to take over the senators’ seats.
There are also cases of senators eyeing the governorship seats of their states. This, The Nation learnt, has pitched them against the incumbent governors who are either seeking a second term themselves or interested in foisting an anointed candidate on their party and state at all cost. From one state to the other, the scenario differs, but in their fierceness, the contests for supremacy remain the same.
The Nation also gathered that in some states, the current face-offs between have polarised their political parties into factions. In others, the state executive committees of the parties are divided into groups of loyalists of either the governor or the senators he has issues with. Just recently, the face-off between Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo and Senator Ajayi Boroffice, representing Ondo north senatorial district, resurfaced with both camps exchanging verbal missiles.
And in spite of spirited efforts by the national leadership of the concerned political parties and other stakeholders to mediate in some of these clashes of interests and ego, it appears many of the disagreement will be carried into the next general election where both parties are ready for showdowns. Except in Zamfara, where a recent stakeholders’ intervention is said to be dousing tension, there seems to be no respite yet in most of the states where governors and senators are throwing brickbats.
While the APC at the national level may be banking on the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led national reconciliation committee to help nip some of the festering crisis in the bud before the 2019 general election, the national chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, is personally taking the bull by the horns in his determination to clear his party of internal crises, especially in states under the control of PDP governors, before the next general election.
Borno
The story from Borno State is very peculiar. It is a story of erstwhile political allies now turned arc-rivals. Between Governor Kashim Shettima and Senator Abu Kyari, who represents the northern senatorial district of the state, the 2019 general election is causing more than just ripples. According to reliable sources, the state chapter of the APC, especially in the northern zone, where they both hail from, is divided into two camps as loyalists of the duo line up behind their principals.
Aside from both being chieftains of the ruling APC, they have been political associates for over a decade since they met in the camp of former governor of the state and controversial factional leader of the PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff. Of a fact, they were united in the political battle that saw Sheriff losing grip of the political control of the north-eastern state before the 2015 general election.
But today, free from the over-lordship of their former godfather, they are finding it difficult to remain political allies. Party sources claim 2019 ambitions appear to be at the centre of the face-off between the duo. Before now, the gladiators and their allies were careful not to expose the lingering feud which has been on for over a year now. But events of the past few weeks have shown they may have decided to throw caution to the winds and battle each other more fiercely.
“Senator Kyari wants to be the next governor of Borno State. He is eminently qualified and he is a deep rooted party man. But Governor Shettima is opposed to his governorship ambition. He is supporting another senator from the party to succeed him in 2019. This is what is causing the problem between the two of them. And their supporters are all over the place making matters more difficult to resolve,” a chieftain of the party told The Nation.
But our correspondent gathered that the matter may be more than just the wish of a sitting governor to impose his choice candidate on the party. At the centre of the crisis is an unwritten zoning arrangement. Both Shettima and Kyari are from the northern zone of the state. There is a gentleman’s agreement that the governorship will rotate among the three zones. It is this agreement the governor is trying to respect in his opposition to Senator Kyari’s ambition, The Nation gathered.
“It is not true that the governor dislikes Senator Kyari. They are friends and very close political allies. But the governor feels another zone, aside from the north where the two of them hail from, should be allowed to rule the state. And he has said this publicly many times even before Kyari showed interest in the ticket. This is why people are saying he is supporting Senator Baba Garbai from the central zone for the governorship.
“Garbai, to the best of my knowledge, is yet to tell us he wants to be governor. We know those who have confirmed their interest in the race aside from those whose posters we are just seeing. There are many people outside the northern zone who want to get the APC governorship ticket and the governor has a right to support anybody he wishes,” our source, a state official of the ruling party from the northern zone, added.
Ekiti
Senator Biodun Olujimi was one of the trusted allies of Governor Ayodele Fayose, especially during the trying period before he was re-elected governor of Ekiti State in 2014. In a show of appreciation towards her, the governor supported her senatorial aspiration on the platform of the PDP in 2015. Riding on the popularity of Fayose and the ruling party, she won. The two politicians remained very close allies until talks about the 2018 governorship election in the state threw spanners into their alliance.
The situation between the duo is so bad that party sources claim the governor has made it clear that Olujimi should forget about returning to the senate in 2019, even if she fails in her current governorship ambition. The state leadership of the party is also said to be in agreement with Fayose on the need to checkmate Olujimi, come 2019. The senator, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the PDP, has been at loggerheads with Fayose over the latter’s refusal to support her ambition.
Alongside other aggrieved PDP aspirants, she accuses Fayose of subverting the PDP constitution by planning to impose his deputy as the flag bearer of the party for the governorship election in the state. She is insisting on the conduct of free, fair and credible primary election in the state that would produce a popularly acceptable candidate if the party is desirous of retaining power in the state.
“Governor Fayose has pitched his tent with Prof Olusola and he should be disqualified from playing any role. The relevant provisions of the Electoral Act and the PDP constitution should be followed strictly and arbitrary and illegal use of state apparatus like radio and television stations to subvert the truth must stop,” she said, while also accusing the leadership of the party in the state of dancing to the governor’s tunes.
And just as sources claim Fayose is plotting to pay Olujimi back, come 2019, for defying him, the senator in conjunction with other aggrieved aspirants have been telling those with ears to hear that the consequence of Fayose and the party ignoring their complaints will be fatal to the PDP’s plans to hold on to power in the state beyond 2018.
“Whoever says we are politicians that can be wished away will blame themselves because the result will be grievous. We don’t want to lose Ekiti but Governor Fayose is messing up the whole process. It was because people like us worked hard in 2014 that made the 16-0 possible for PDP. Prof Olusola was only a beneficiary of our sweat, he didn’t contribute anything and now he wants to be adopted against the party’s constitution, this we will not accept,” they had vowed.
Kaduna
In Kaduna, Governor Ahmed El-Rufai is fighting two senators at one go. According to party sources, the Kaduna governor, who is seeking a second term in office, will be extremely glad if both Senators Shehu Sani and Suleiman Hunkuyi, representing Kaduna Central and Kaduna North in the national assembly respectively, are unable to return to the red chamber come 2019.
While the trouble in the state is actually over who occupies the coveted seat of the governor of the state after the forthcoming governorship poll in the state, El-Rufai, who has suffered untold criticism and condemnation from the camps of the two senators in recent times, is said to be working round the clock, not only to ensure he wins the APC governorship ticket, but to also see to it that neither Sani nor Hunkuyi gets the party’s nod to re-contest in their various districts.
“The governor is the leader of the party in the state. It is not a good thing that our senators have been working against the governor. Now that election is coming, can we blame the governor for working against their re-election? We cannot. But the party is working hard to reconcile all of them in the interest of the party. The governor also needs them for his own re-election,” a party source told The Nation.
Not a few were surprised when Senator Hunkuyi declared his ambition to displace El-Rufai from Government House. This is because he was a known supporter of the governor all the while. His criticism of the administration, however, increased drastically afterwards. He also led others to open the factional secretariat of the party which was later demolished by an agency of the state government.
Speaking with our correspondent, the senator said he will defeat El-Rufai and take the gubernatorial ticket of the ruling party in 2019. The governor’s camp is not taking the threat lying low. And just as they are working hard at ensuring the APC governorship ticket remains within the grip of the governor, they are also scheming to further punish Hunkuyi by ensuring he doesn’t get the senatorial ticket even if he abandons his governorship quest.
Trouble started between Sani and El-Rufai almost immediately after the 2015 general election. Stories have it that they quarrelled over the refusal of the governor to consider people suggested to him by Sani for appointments. El-Rufai compounded the issue when he publicly reminded Sani that the late President Yar’Adua died after fighting him. Sani on his part has been unrelenting in his criticism of the administration’s policy and actions.
Several efforts to reconcile the governor and Senator Sani, by stakeholders within and outside the state, failed with the senator lamenting that “What is happening in Kaduna is simply tyranny. We don’t have an elected governor; we have a military administrator who thinks everything should go his own way. He engineered the party to suspend us, to suspend me.”
Kogi
As things stand today in Kogi State, not a few pundits are predicting an uneasy re-election bid for Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West in the national assembly, as the 2019 general election draws closer. Such predictions are largely based on the unending political feud between the senator and Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello. Currently, a move to recall Senator Melaye by members of his constituency, allegedly engineered by the governor’s camp, is ongoing.
It is common knowledge in Kogi today that while Melaye has joined forces with those opposed to the re-election of Governor Bello in 2019, the governor and his associates too within and outside Kogi West are poised to stop Melaye from returning to the senate for another term. Already, there are talks about some prominent APC chieftains gearing up to replace him as the ruling party’s candidate.
In April 2017, there was a reported assassination attempt on the senator in his country home in Ijumu Local Government Area. The police arrested the sole administrator of Ijumu, Taofiq Isa, and released him on bail over the incident. But as we speak, Melaye, the complainant, is in court being tried for misleading the police through false information about the incident.
Supporters of the two politicians have been involved in a series of violent clashes. A good example is the bloody clash that occurred after the senator delivered a speech at the Kabba Day celebration last year. While Bello insists Melaye is not representing the people of Kogi West well, the senator constantly calls the governor unprintable names while vowing to ensure he is jailed after leaving office.
Reliable party sources claim with the court judgment ordering the senator to go and face the recall process in his constituency, those opposed to him are determined to ensure the logical conclusion of the process that may see Melaye losing his seat before the end of the current political dispensation. But supporters of the senator insist he will survive the recall process. “Melaye is popular with his people. He is not the type of politician they can recall like that,” an aide said.
Speaking about the ongoing process to recall Senator Melaye, Governor Bello, once said, “the good people of Okunland and indeed West Senatorial District have learnt from a bitter mistake of not taming and curbing that social deviant (Melaye) and they have decided to take lawful steps in recalling him.” This is just as the senator insists the recall plot against him will fail.
Among those alleged to be seeking Bello’s nod to be allowed to replace Melaye as APC senatorial candidate in Kogi West are Senator Smart Adeyemi, who lost to Melaye during the last senatorial election before defecting from the PDP to the APC recently, and Honourable Taofiq Isa, the incumbent sole administrator of Ijumu Local Government Area of the troubled state.
Ondo
Before now, the leadership of the APC in Ondo State tried to dismiss the existence of cold war between Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and Senator Ajayi Boroffice, the member representing Ondo north senatorial district in the national assembly. There are now strong indications that all is not well between the two party leaders. Boroffice did not support Akeredolu’s election in 2016 and the governor has never hidden his disapproval of the senator too.
The Nation learnt that there is growing mutual distrust between the camps of the two politicians. Amidst rumour that Akeredolu may have made up his mind to work against Boroffice’s re-election into the senate next year, the governor’s men are afraid that the senator may run against Akeredolu for the APC governorship ticket in the next governorship election in the state.
“What is playing out in Ondo State is not unusual. It is all the outcome of suspicion amongst political gladiators. Boroffice is now seeking a return to the senate and the governor’s men are against him. One, because he opposed Akeredolu in 2016. Secondly, because they fear he may run for the governorship again in 2020 when the governor would be seeking a second term.
“The idea may be that it is better to render him irrelevant politically now by preventing his return to the senate than allow him gather more political credence as a two-term senator which will put him in vantage position to challenge the governor especially as the governorship slot is still zoned to Ondo north for now. It is these political permutations that are causing ripples within the two camps,” Tunde Odere, an Akure based pro-democracy activist, explained.
Akwa Ibom
Senator Nelson Effiong represents Akwa Ibom South senatorial district in the national assembly. He was elected on the platform of the PDP. But in January 2017, he dumped the party for the APC, saying his decision was to enable him pursue his political career. “I was elected into the senate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, but over the past one year, this great party has disintegrated. No reasonable politician will allow his people to drift without direction,” he argued back then.
But Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, Effiong’s erstwhile political godfather, was angered by the defection. “We had rumours that this was going to happen; we engaged the senator in various discussions and we showed him the implication. We want the senate to note that the PDP in Akwa Ibom is on its way to court and we want to reclaim his mandate,” he said then.
Even Governor Udom Emmanuel, according to sources, agreed with Akpabio on the need to curtail the excesses of Effiong political. Thus, a decision was taken, not only to recall him from the senate but to also prevent his re-election on the platform of any political party in the state come 2019. And if Effiong thought that was an empty threat, he was soon to start seeing signs that his former political associates meant what they said.
Last week, the determination of Emmanuel and Akpabio to stop Effiong’s re-election bid resonated as prominent community leaders and traditional rulers from Eket senatorial zone of the state met and reiterated their resolve to ensure that the former PDP chieftains is not returned to the senate in 2019 to represent the zone. Rising from a meeting under the auspice of Eket Leaders of Thought (ELT), the group endorsed Governor Emmanuel’s second term bid and rejected Effiong’ re-election quest.
The meeting frowned at what they described as the poor representation of the senatorial district by the lawmaker, and vowed to see the judicial process for the retrieval of the mandate freely given to his former party by the people, to the very end. “The recall process is on and we are in court. Aside that, we want to tell him we are in agreement with our political leaders that he should not be returned to the senate,” the group said, echoing the well publicised positions of both Emmanuel and Akpabio.
“His action is uncharitable and unaccepted to the senatorial district. His defection does not affect in anyway the position and strength of the party in the senatorial district and the desire of the governor and support of the people to run for the second term. Besides, we are yet to see the dividends of his dumping the PDP which is the party of Akwa Ibom people for a strange party,” ELT declared.
With these developments barely a year to the next election, nobody should be left in doubt that Senator Effiong will have to fight the political battle of his life if he desires to return to the senate on the platform of his new party, the APC. But associates of the lawmakers insist there is no cause for worry as “the real voters in Eket zone have made up their minds to stay with their senator in his new party.”
Imo
Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, with his intention to contest for the Imo West Senatorial seat in 2019, has taken his political battle with the current senator representing the district at the national assembly, Senator Hope Uzodinma, a notch higher. Though Uzodinma is of the opposition PDP, talks about his desire to join the APC have been on for a while.
But sources say Okorocha and his men in the ruling party have been frustrating moves by the senator to jump ship even when it is obvious he has severed political links with the mainstream leadership of the PDP in the state following the Supreme Court judgement that sacked Modu Sheriff as PDP’s national chairman. Currently, the camps of the two politicians are at loggerheads over the Imo West senate seat.
Okorocha said his participation in the senatorial race will brighten the chances of President Muhammadu Buhari and other candidates of APC in general election in the state. “I have decided to run for the Imo West Senatorial zones because if I don’t, bad people will take the position,” he said, in what many have interpreted at a swipe at Uzodinma.
But the senator’s camp firmly believes Okorocha cannot stop Uzodinma from being re-elected. According to an aide of the senator, “Okorocha should stop playing God. He is governor, yes, but he will soon become a former governor. He cannot decide for Imo West people. Even when he won elections on the platform of APGA and APC, Imo West voted against his party. So, he will learn political lessons in 2019.”
The Nation, however, learnt that there is confusion in the camp of the senator over which political party to move to following Okorocha’s declaration that he will be annexing the APC ticket of the zone, come 2019. According to insiders, the senator is strongly considering joining the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as a way of keeping his political dream alive. “And he may be doing that very soon,” our source added.
Kano
The raging political battle between Governor Abdullai Ganduje and his erstwhile political godfather and boss, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, remains a surprise to many observers of the politics of Kano State. For the two terms, they worked together harmoniously as a governor and deputy. But hardly had Ganduje been declared governor-elect than crisis brewed between the duo. Kwankwaso is the senator representing Kano central senatorial district.
Party sources claim the genesis of the feud is the appointment of state executives by Ganduje. Against expectations, only one of the commissioners in Kwankwaso’s executive was retained by Ganduje. Following the escalation of open hostility between the two politicians, violent clashes among their supporters became the order of the day, and, at a point, Kwankwaso didn’t visit Kano for over a year.
Although the former governor has announced his desire to contest the presidency in 2019, feelers within the party are that Governor Ganduje is making moves to wrestle the Kano central senatorial seat from the grip of his former boss. “The governor is the leader of the party. Senator Kwankwaso will not be re-elected as a senator and anybody he supports in Kano central will not win,” a party source said.
In February, former PDP senator in Kano central, Basheer Garba Lado, defected to the APC. He was received into the party by the state governor, Dr. Ganduje, at a special reception held at Sani Abacha Indoor Stadium. While receiving the senator, Ganduje promised that he will replace Kwankwaso, the current senator for Kano Central, with Senator Lado in 2019.
The governor, at the event, signalled his readiness to battle his former boss right in his home base, when he raised Lado’s hands, saying, in Hausa language, “Kano ta Tsakiya,” and the crowd replied, “Sai mun chanja,” meaning “We must replace the Senator for Kano Central.” Party sources said the governor’s camp are working round the clock to deliver the APC ticket to Lado ahead of Kwankwaso or anybody he may prefer to replace him.
