2018/19: Succession battle in the S/West

In this report, BOLA BADMUS, SAM NWAOKO, OLAYINKA OLUKOYA, HAKEEM GBADAMOSI, OLUWOLE IGE and WALE AKINSELURE take a look at the politics of the South-West states ahead of the 2018/19 governorship and other elections and how the succession battles are shaping up.

FROM 1999, when the country returned to civil rule, the South-West zone has remained the epicentre of intense and intriguing power play. Apart from donning the toga of the beautiful bride, the scramble for the soul of the zone by gladiators from within and outside has never for once ebbed.
In the build-up to military exit from power on May 29, 1999, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) had humbled the Peoples Democratic Party PDP) and the All Peoples Party (APP), which later metamorphosed into the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the South-West, having a 100 per cent victory in all elections in the geopolitical zone, from local to the national levels.
Four years after, however, the AD was routed in various elections across five of the six states of the zone, with the PDP taking over the governorship seats of Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ogun, while the AD retained Lagos State. An offshoot of the AD, Action Congress (AC) had sought to reverse the electoral fortunes of the PDP in 2007, but had equally fell short, as it could only retain Lagos State, before the judiciary eventually decided the Osun State governorship election in its favour. The Ondo State governorship seat was also taken away from the PDP after the court ruled in favour of the Labour Party.
In 2011, however, PDP’s success story in the South-West came to a halt, with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), a rainbow coalition formed from the AC, giving the PDP an electoral rout in the governorship, state and National Assembly elections across the South-West states where it held sway for eight years, while the Labour Party of Nigeria. Though the PDP could not be completely annihilated, as it retained some states and National Assemblies seats, it became clear that the politics of the South-West would no longer be dominated by a particular political party. What went further to confirm this viewpoint came in the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti and 2016 governorship election in Ondo, where the ruling APC and PDP respectively, were rejected by the electorate.
In all, the South-West has had a taste of what the AD, PDP, AC, ACN, and the LP and could offer individually to the electorate, leading political observers to not only attempt a prognosis of why the South-West electorate refused to stick with one political party like its counterparts in other geopolitical zones in the Southern part of the country, but also to begin to raise questions about what the 2019 general elections hold for the parties.
While it is instructive that the succession battle in the zone has always been tough and energy-sapping, with political godfathers and other leading stakeholders deploying all critical arsenals to the field of play, the question that has begun to agitate the minds is what the 2019 election holds in terms of the succession battle across the states. Up for contest are the governorship seats in Osun and Ekiti in 2018; Lagos, Oyo and Ogun in 2019 as well as hundreds of legislative elections across the six states.
As the countdown to the series of elections approaches, therefore, political intrigues and maneuvering had begun across the major political parties in the states, with a critical realignment of forces and effort to gain hold of the party structures already reaching a high note. The leading actors are literally hopping from the capital cities of the states making up the zone to forge either alliances or consolidate existing mutual political relationships. In particular, there is increasing tempo in horse-trading among political kingmakers and their foot soldiers, as well as consultations on possible formation of alliances by major caucuses and power blocs, as revealed in the accompanying situation reports:

The emerging succession battle in Ekiti
As Ekiti State gears up for 2018 governorship election, which many, including politicians have described as “a unique succession battle,” there seems to be more activities in the APC in the state and this, they say is understandably so. The party is in the opposition and it wants to wrestle power from the PDP, which has remained funding of Governor Ayodele Fayose.
While it is believed that interesting times await the people of the state, following the Supreme Court judgement that affirmed that Senator Ahmed Makarfi as the rightful chairman of the PDP caretaker committee, the APC is also in for its own shares of scheming to outwit the ruling party.
For the PDP in the state, not a few observers say that they expect a schism. The claim of those with this contention is that some of the aspirants in the PDP, such as a former Nigerian Ambassador to Canada, Dare Bejide, and a former deputy governor of the state, Chief Abiodun Aluko, who both belong to the Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff’s faction of the PDP, are expected to find their level somehow, following the outcome of the leadership tussle at the Supreme Court. Observers claim that Aluko and Bejide, including some other leaders in their camp, such as Senator Clement Awoyelu and Senator Fatimat Raji Rasaki would not be able to work with Fayose in the coming dispensation.
There are also feint claims in some quarters in the same PDP that politicians like Chief Bisi Omoyeni might swap camps if they fail to get the nod of PDP and Fayose to fly the party’s flag in the coming succession battle.
However, while all these are simmering in the political kitchen of Ekiti PDP, Fayose has kept his plans under careful wraps and refused to publicly let anyone into what he is cooking. But rumours among some people in the state are that, deciphering the aroma of Fayose’s cooking, it could be taken to mean that he is grooming his deputy, Dr. Kolapo Olubunmi Olusola or Mr. Kayode Ojo, his former Commissioner for Works. Some have also interpreted what’s seeping from the secret kitchen of Fayose to mean that he’s looking in the direction of Senate’s Deputy Minority Whip, Mrs. Biodun Olujimi, the Senator currently representing Ekiti South.
Interestingly, not many people are looking in the direction of Prince Adedayo Adeyeye, a sure formidable force in the scheme of things in Ekiti PDP as the succession battle gathers momentum. Adeyeye is currently serving as the party’s National Publicity Secretary of the party and is obviously a force to reckon with in the state. What would transpire among him, the PDP, Governor Fayose and the agitation of Ekiti South district for governor, will be an interesting scenario in the coming weeks.
On the part of the opposition APC, there are more pronounced activities in the party, which recently announced through its acting chairman in the state, Mrs. Kemi Olaleye, that 19 aspirants have officially joined the race for its ticket for the 2018 race.
Mrs. Olaleye had stated that Chief Dele Okeya, a former commissioner in the state and a frontline leader of the APC from Emure Local Government Area of the state, was the eighteenth aspirant to enter the race. And the next to him, according to the Ekiti APC chief, is a former governor of the state and the deputy national chairman of the party, Chief Segun Oni. Before Chiefs Okeya and Oni formally entered the race, some of the entrants had been equally formidable aspirants like Dr Wole Oluyede, Bimbo Daramola, Kola Alabi, Kayode Ojo, Femi Bamisile, among others.
However, the aspirants who have been to the APC secretariat are believed not to be the only ones interested in the race. For home-based Dr. Adebayo Orire, the time an aspirant visits the secretariat does not determine how formidable he or she is. It is also the belief in many quarters in the state that Michael Opeyemi Bamidele is another APC chief believed to be in line to join the race.
There are also speculations that Dr Kayode Fayemi might throw his hat in the ring too. But for now, it is said to have been largely quiet from his camp, except that many of those with whom he ruled the political airways of Ekiti State when he was the governor between 2010 and 2014 were seen queuing behind Oni as he went to the party’s secretariat in Ajilosun area of Ado Ekiti.
It has been found that the entry of Chief Oni into the race has, however, altered the calculations in Ekiti APC. The huge crowd that joined Oni to the party secretariat caused ripples among politicians from various divides, with the outward impression being that he might have received the favour of the majority of both the people and the leadership of the party in the state.
But some of the gladiators see the Oni crowd differently. They also have varying interpretations to what they think would help their party to regain victory in the state in 2018.
For instance, some of the APC stakeholders said they believed that APC and Ekiti were looking for “a grassroots person,” and that “they want a home-based person because they’ve been disappointed in the PDP and it’s leader, Ayo Fayose.” Some of the chieftains of the party also contend that they “do not need an outsider in APC”, and this is a veiled reference to Chief Oni, whom they have vigorously refused to accept as one of them, despite his position as a senior national officer of the party.
“Oni came to spoil our party; he has come to hijack our party because most of the things he has been doing is with his former PDP boys. It is not going to work because we will not allow PDP to hijack our party. We know that if he fails, he will move out to mega party and spoil our chances,” an APC chieftain, who is also gunning for the ticket claimed. However, Chief Oni has chosen not to react to the allegations and has remained his usual calm, mature self in what some others have seen as mud-slinging and name-calling.
The mouthing has festered so much that even Dr Fayemi and Bamidele have their share of the verbal attacks. For instance, some members of the party claimed that Fayemi will be rejected if he comes out, with a claim that “that’s what people are saying on the streets because they still have not forgiven him. For MOB people in the APC are still angry with him because they believe he cost the APC the election by detracting from their votes in 2014.”
On the South agenda, which has stuck out as a sore thumb, some APC chiefs from other zones see it as “a plea.” Some of the party chiefs, in countering the claim of the south to the ticket, on the grounds of morality and equity, said “zoning is not in our constitution and all the organs of the party have said so.” One of the leaders of the party even claimed that “the agitation is dying down and this tells that the agitation isn’t as popular as it was sometimes ago.”
But just earlier in the week, the proponents of the Ekiti South for governor movement, addressed newsmen and insisted that ignoring the agitation might spell doom for the APC in 2018. As a matter of fact, Chief Oluwole Ariyo, who spoke on behalf of the southern agitations, frontally declared that the declaration of aspirants from outside the South district, especially, Oni, was morally wrong and that the South district rejects it.
From all indications, power brokers in Ekiti APC are looking at the race from different directions and their agreement and comment front would play a major role in how the APC fares in the election.

Osun 2018: The storm over succession battle in Osun
Against the backdrop of the 2018 governorship election in Osun, political activities appear to have been revved up in the state, as political parties, politicians, stakeholders are making spirited moves to determine the successor of Governor Rauf Aregbesola next year.
Though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not officially announced the timetable and fixed dates for the election, which is expected to be keenly contested, some notable politicians in the APC, PDP and LP have already signified the intention to take over Aregbesola’s job and have begun discreet plans to actualise their ambition.
Before the conduct of the July 8 by-election for Osun West Senatorial District, which was won by Senator Ademola Adeleke, political activities had been at the lowest ebb. However, the campaign for votes and awareness created by both PDP and APC some weeks before the poll had succeeded in reawakening the consciousness of the citizenry, most especially the electorate, regarding the 2018 governorship election.
Some of the main gladiators angling to become the next governor of Osun on the platform of the APC include the Chief of Staff to Governor Aregbesola, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola; Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Moshood Adeoti; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Lasun Yussuff; Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salaam and the current chairman of Osun State Local Government Service Commission, Mr Peter Babalola among others.
In the PDP, former deputy governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore is said to be interested in taking another shot at the governorship seat. Though, he has not openly indicated his intention, feelers from some of his close aides indicated that he would throw his hat in the ring once again. Other notable aspirants among the PDP stalwarts, who have begun underground campaigns and nocturnal meetings to boost their chances include the former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Adejare Bello, who was the running mate of Omisore in the last governorship poll, Chief Lere Oyewumi and Dr Kayode Oduoye, who contested in 2015 for the seat of Ifelodun/Boripe/Odo-Otin in last House of Representatives election.
Similarly, the standard-bearer of the LP during the last gubernatorial poll, Alhaji Fatai , is also oiling his political machinery, with a view to relaunching his governorship ambition.
Notwithstanding, there are some power brokers within and outside Osun, whose political influences may go a long way in determining who succeeds Aregbesola in 2018. In the APC, the influence and far-reaching grip of the national leader of the party, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Aregbesola may determine who will fly the flag of the party in the coming election. Though this approach may have caused the defeat of the APC in the July 8 by-election, it is not clear if the party would allow the freewill of party members to decide its candidate for the election.
In the fold of the PDP, Omisore is one of the major power groups who asserts influence and control on who gets what in the party, despite the fact that he is one the potential aspirants for the governorship ticket. Similarly, other strong stakeholders in the party, who call the shots include former chairman of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Senator Olu Alabi, a member of the PDP BoT, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun and Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi.
While the question of zoning had become a common issue in the politics of the state, with the people of Osun West laying claim to the governorship seat, it remains uncertain where the major parties would look in picking their candidates. Findings by Sunday Tribune, however, indicated that the APC might not pick its standard-bearer from Osun East, bearing in mind that the incumbent governor is from that senatorial district.
Another key factor that political observers have noted might affect the succession battle for the governorship seat in 2018 as well as other elections in 2019 is the issue of ongoing alliances between some political parties. Observers were of the view that if sustained, the realignment of forces, which came to the fore during the last by-election, is capable of giving inkling as to where the pendulum of victory might swing. However, APC has been said to have returned to the drawing board to restrategise and plan on how to avoid a repeat of such electoral deficit.

As the succession battle in Oyo takes shape
The political climate in Oyo State has continued to burgeon with the two-term tenure of Governor Abiola Ajimobi billed to come to an end on May 29, 2019.
While some have openly declared their intentions, others are tipped to join the contest in the run-up to occupying the Agodi Government House. As it is peculiar of Oyo state, another titanic political battle is expected in the governorship contest in 2019, with about 30 persons already openly declaring interest or being tipped to run for the governorship seat.
Several factors, including the clamour for the zoning of the governorship seat to Oke Ogun area of the state, the huge voting number of the Ibadan zone and the role of power blocs and brokers, alliances, political base of contestants and party structures are set to affect the succession struggle. Apart from these, the fact that Ajimobi, being the first two-time governor, would be greatly interested in who succeeds him, is said be a major factor that will decide the shape of things in 2019.
Particularly, the clamour for zoning, which has seen the people of Oke Ogun in Oyo North Senatorial District of the state forming alliances and groups to clamour for the ceding of the governorship seat to the region has been said to be a key issue in the politics of the state. Since the inception of the state in 1979, eight civilian regimes have emerged where Ibadan has produced governors six times, Ogbomoso once, while the late Chief Bola Ige hailed from Ife-Ijesa zone in the old Oyo State. Other zones – Oke Ogun, Ibarapa and Oyo had only produced deputy governors, Secretary to the State Government and Speaker but not governor.
Another key factor that is said to be capable of affecting the succession battle is the issue of Ibadan’s voting population. Ibadan constitutes about 52 per cent of the population and some political observers point to an unassailable advantage that favours Ibadan zone in who emerges governor. Though the people of Oke Ogun, which has 10 out of the 33 local governments in the state, had begun to toy with the idea of presenting a consensus candidate, the governor and many political observers have noted that Ibadan, which has 52 per cent of the votes, would be a key decider.
As in the past, Ibadan boasts of a huge number out of those seeking to be governor, with some of the aspirants from Ibadan being on the front seats in their respective political parties. But the question analysts have begun to ask is whether some of the aspirants, including Chief Niyi Akintola and Seyi Makinde from Ibadan zone, Professor Adeolu Akande, Mr Remi Olaniyan and Mr Debo Adesina from Oke Ogun zone have the needed political base and party structures needed to win election.
In 2015, candidates of the APC, Accord Party (AP), LP, PDP and Social Democratic Party (SDP) contested the governorship election but political observers are already envisaging a situation whereby the contestants for the governorship might be more in 2019, citing how some of the candidates might not be willing to sacrifice their ambitions for others.
From the party levels, the battle for the ticket of the APC, which is the ruling party, is expected to be fiercer ahead of the 2019 poll. With the party already divided along the lines of those loyal to the governor and those who are not, the struggle for the party’s ticket is being predicted to cause a huge clash of interests, which if not well-handled, might affect the fortunes of the party at the poll. However, the Executive Secretary to Governor Ajimobi on Political Matters, Dr Morounkola Thomas, asserted that Ajimobi, had in conjunction with the Chief Akin Oke party leadership, calmed all frayed nerves, saying that the APC now boasted of a united front, which was stronger with the entry of Adebayo Alao Akala, and would be strategic to floor any opposition in 2019.
Furthermore, he noted that the people of the state were wise to remember the achievements of the APC led administration over the past six years in security, social and physical infrastructure, welfare, environmental cleanliness among others. According to Morounkola, Ajimobi would lead the party to victory in 2019, while being concerned about a successor that would not truncate his strides since 2011.
For the other major political parties such as the PDP and the Accord, the struggle for the governorship ticket appears to be mild for now, as the two parties are still mulling over a possible alliance ahead of the 2019, with a recent report even suggesting that the leader of the party and former Governor Rashidi Ladoja was in talks with the PDP leadership to return to the party he left years back to form the Accord Party. The recent victory of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led leadership of the PDP has also thrown up different challenges for the PDP, which it must address before talking about the 2019 election, as observers have noted that the way the handles the interest of those in the Ali Modu Sheriff faction in the state would determine whether or not it would even survive till 2019.
The LP and SDP are the two other parties in the state whose activities might interest the public for now, but while Makinde, who Sunday Tribune gathered had also been in talks with many parties about a possible realignment, remained the clear leader of the SDP and is in pole position to clinch its ticket while activities in the LP appeared to have simmered with the exit of Chief Alao-Akala, its governorship candidate in 2015.
Like the governorship contest, elections into state and National Assemblies in the state are also being expected to be epic, as they would be a keen contest between an APC that had been in power for eight years with all its strengths and foibles and an opposition that might be approaching the polls with a formidable alliance among many forces.
But several key stakeholders in the state have argued that more than some of the factors highlighted above, merit would be the most important deciding factor in the political battles in the state.
The senator representing Oyo North, Senator Fatai Buhari, noted that the people “will elect their leaders based on merit, what they can offer and not on where they come from.,” while Olaniyan also argued that the candidate’s marketability, reliability and credibility will matter a lot.
On his choice successor, Ajimobi said: “I want a leader who can envision and be courageous. Oyo needs someone who is an intellectual, passionate, not afraid to take tough decisions, has the interest of the people at heart, not interest of the few.”

2019: The gathering cloud in Ogun
The succession battle for the seat of power in Oke-Mosan Governor’s Office in Abeokuta has begun among political parties and aspirants in Ogun State, with each of the major parties in the state preparing grounds for the election, which is less than 20 months away.
If the political permutation and the zoning agitation currently ongoing in the state is anything to go by, the next governor of the state should emerge from the Ogun West Senatorial District, which has never produced a governor in the 41-years history of the Gateway State. The other two senatorial districts have tasted the seat of power at different times, but despite the clamour that the governorship seat should be zoned to Osun West, they are not leaving any stone unturned to field governorship aspirants ahead of the 2019 poll.
However, the incumbent governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, at a recent event, threw his weight behind the “Yewa Agenda,” a development said to have irked the leaders of the APC in Ogun East Senatorial District, which necessitated their meeting with Amosun some days back.
For the opposition party, especially the PDP, the issue of mending its fences appears to be the ultimate for now, before any other factor could be considered. The party in the last two elections had, however, also supported the aspiration of the Ogun West people.
As of now, major contenders for the seat of power are from the three senatorial districts and have started reaching out via different meetings. From the Ogun West Senatorial District are Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka; Chief of Staff to the Governor of the State, Chief Tolu Odebiyi; Senator Olamilekan Adeola; three-time member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abiodun Akinlade; Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Hon. Suraj Ishola and a current cabinet member of the Amosun government, Chief Kola Lawal. Indications have it that Akinlade, who until now is a chieftain of the PDP, has concluded plans to defect to the APC. All the names mentioned above are members of the APC except Isiaka.
In Ogun East Senatorial District, oil magnate, Chief Dapo Abiodun; Senator Olalekan Mustapha; Economic Adviser to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Jimi Lawal; Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu; Hon. Segun Seriki; Mr Owodunni Olayemi and former governorship candidate of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Prince Rotimi Paseda are among those eyeing the number seat in the state.
From the Osun Central District, Sunday Tribune gathered that only the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole had indicated interest to contest for the governor.
Political observers in the state have, however, pointed out that the election would be keen, noting that some of the interested aspirants who are mere pretenders might soon give way. The reason for that expected keenness is the fact that Governor Amosun, whose two-term tenure ends in 2019, will have more than a passing interest in who succeeds him.
But it is being said that more than the factor above, the surprises of the 2019 governorship election in Ogun State might come from the number of forces that are interested in deciding what happens in the poll. Apart from Amosun, the political machineries of three former governors, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Olusegun Osoba and Chief Gbenga Daniel are said to be preparing seriously to influence the electoral development in the state.
While Tinubu and Osoba are said to be supporting the aspiration of Adeola, who is currently a Senator representing Lagos West in the National Assembly, with the political movement of Adeola moving like waves around the state, Daniel is interested in a rainbow coalition that can unseat the APC in Ogun State.

The battle for Lagos
There appears to be no visible signs in Lagos for the 2019 governorship election on the part of political parties, be it the ruling APC and the opposition parties, namely the PDP, the Labour Party and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), among others. On Saturday, the state witnessed the conduct of local government poll, which took place in all its 20 Local Governments (LGs) and 37 Local Council Development Area (LCDA). The final results are still being awaited as of press time.
Getting the candidates for the chairmanship and councillorship posts for the major parties, including APC and PDP, was herculean, as both the APC and PDP have been thrown into crisis as a result. Aggrieved aspirants in the APC and their supporters are still crying foul over alleged imposition, while they got an ally in the National Legal Adviser of the party, Dr. Muiz Banire, speaking against the evil.
Since the conclusion of the 2015 governorship election that gave Governor Akinwunmi Ambode victory, little or virtually nothing has been heard from most of his challengers on the party’s platform. Even now, they have all equally stayed away from participating in the local government election by promoting choice candidates. In some cases, many of them, according to findings are said to have relocated to Abuja or elsewhere.
A source close to one of the former aspirants, told Sunday Tribune, that his “Oga” and equally, most of his colleagues, preferred to stay away from what is happening in APC since they knew that the party does not exist in Lagos, but that an individual has turned himself into the party, having constituted himself into a sole authority.
According to the source, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, what Dr. Banire was talking about imposition was like speaking the minds of the majority in the party, even as he insisted that his Oga had never been a beneficiary of imposition in whatever form.
On the part of PDP, it is equally not a smooth-sail having to select its candidates for yesterday’s local government election. Candidates of the party contested on the party platform and what they also called Labour Party-PDP alliance, which was entered into by the Moshood Salvador group belonging to Senator Makarfi. Those that had the privilege of contesting on PDP platform belonged to the Sheriff group led by Chief Segun Adewale.
With the situation on ground in the state, it thus appear that real politicking in the state would come after the local government poll, when the APC would have had cause to ascertain the support it still enjoys at the grassroots against any the opposition parties, especially the PDP which is trying to come back to its footing after over two years in the doldrums.
Also in the APC, there is pervasive air of uncertainty within the ranks of some party members, because of the protracted crisis in the party both at the state and the federal levels. Some are not confident that the APC would survive the current serious challenge thrown up by the crisis, especially at the national level because of the seeming intransigence of the major dramatis persona. There were claims in some quarters that a couple of the leaders had been approached by the leaders of the PDP, Labour, Accord and other parties for the purpose of forging an alliance. The development is aid to have been further made imperative following the love lost between a section of the APC leadership with the national leadership of the National Assembly, as well as some ministers and power centres in the Presidency.
Coupled with this is the strained relationship between those beloved to control the lever of the APC machinery in the South-West with other party buffs from the zone who are said to enjoy the backing of a few external forces, especially from the North and in the Presidency. The group comprises former governors, serving ministers and members of the APC national organs.
Similarly, there is increasing schism on the ranks of both the PDP and the APC because of reports of intense but discreet ongoing consultations by some aggrieved APC leaders with like-minds in other parties such as the PDP to form a broad-based political party. These individuals, who said to be waiting in the wings, do not share the vision of two parties formed recently that profess to real change from what the PDP and the APC represent individually.
Another issue exacerbating the bottled anger within the political space in Lagos is the perceived stranglehold of the major parties by a clique. Members of the clique are being accused of throwing up cronies and relations as candidates and officers of the party executives at state, local government and ward levels.

Ondo: Parties withdraw to strategise for 2019
Political activities in Ondo State seem to be at a standstill since the inauguration of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu as the governor of the state, as all political parties had withdrawn into their shell to re-strategise towards the 2019 general election in the country.
While the PDP is still working hard to contain the crisis in the party, following the declaration of Senator Ahmed Makarfi as the authentic national chairman of the party, silence seems to have beclouded the Social Democratic Party (SDP), while Governor Akeredolu appears to be busy with the administration of the state since he assumed power.
The PDP, political observers maintained that its loss in the last governorship election, which many believed was due more to its internal wrangling than the electorate hating it, will need critical reformation and reengineering in order to retain its popularity among the electorate. According to those in this school of thought, indiscipline and internal struggle cost it the victory in the 2016 election and should it continue to allow some individuals who are not genuinely committed to the party, it would fade into oblivion.
In the APC, the structure of the party is said to be solidly in the hands of core supporters of Akeredolu following his victory in the last election. The chairman of the party before the coming of Akeredolu, Hon. Isaacs Kekemeke has been sidelined and relegated to the background with the state executive members of the party alleging him of anti-party activities. His deputy, Ade Adetimehin, had since been appointed as the acting chairman of the party in the state.
Kekemeke and his group, who were said to be loyal to the national leader of the party, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have also withdrawn from the party activities.
The uneasy calmness and silence from Kekemeke has, however, been described as dangerous for the ruling party in the state. Apart from Kekemeke, the lawmaker representing the Northern Senatorial District, Ajayi Boroffice, has been conspicuously missing in the activities of the party since the new government came on board.
The other major party in the last election, the AD, appeared to have taken the backseat immediately after the election. While most of Oke’s supporters, who followed him to the AD had since returned to their base to work with Akeredolu’s government, others have just been silent, perhaps waiting in the wings for another auspicious time.
One of the AD officials, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, said there is a silent battle among politicians who are interested in contesting one position or the other. He said: “Some lawmakers who pitched their tents against Akeredolu in the last election should kiss their ambitions good bye. They were not regarded as member of the party any longer and they have also abstain from the party”
He said political activities will soon pick up in the state after the appointment of commissioners, who will work with Akeredolu, while those jostling for one position or the other will commence underground campaigns.
It is, however, apparent that political activities across political parties in the state are, for now, at the lowest ebb.