As it is now, however, there is tension as to who controls the political structure in the state beyond 2019, particularly if the PDP fails to reclaim power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the centre in the next general election.
For instance, despite the controversies that trailed the last local government elections, none of the opposition parties has come out openly to condemn the alleged electoral irregularities raised by them
How the Dickson’s reconciliatory committee will convince the likes of Nwobodo, Nnamani and former Governor Sullivan Chime to return to PDP, will, however, be a Herculean task as they appear to be comfortable where they are as long as the APC controls the government at the centre.
Indeed, another problem that is creating unease in the PDP umbrella in the state is the maneuverings by political office-seekers and their sponsors. Individuals like Chinaka Oha, a former Accountant-General of the state and now Permanent Secretary in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja is said to be interested in occupying the Enugu East Senatorial seat in 2019, which a source said, would pave way for him to go to the “Lion Building” Government House in 2023. But that ambition might lead to a clash of interest with the deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who is said to be propping up Senator Gil Nnaji, to succeed Ugwuanyi in 2023.
Enugu APC
For the Enugu State chapter of the APC, which currently has two major factions, with the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Judicial Reforms, Juliet Ibekaku, leading a faction while the incumbent state chairman of the party, Dr Ben Nwoye, is the arrowhead of the other group.
The party was, at its inception, divided along the lines of Dr Nwoye and Osita Okechukwu, who is now the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), as the duo were members of the legacy parties that form the APC.
Today, while both Okechukwu and Nwoye have mended fences, the struggle for the 2019 general polls, has reenacted the internal crisis in the party, making the coming of Senator Tinubu’s reconciliation committee imperative to many of the APC faithful in the state.
2019: Issues as APC, PDP reconciliatory mission begins in Osun
In Osun, there is no doubting the fact that the path to peace in the ruling APC and the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may be tortuous and laced with thorns for the peace and reconciliation committees recently constituted by the national leadership of both parties.
Osun APC
The reconciliation committee of the APC may be face a Herculean task in bringing back peace to the party in Osun, as the factions were bent on mobilising supports and advancing their causes as a prelude to the 2018 governorship poll and the general election in 2019.
Findings by the Sunday Tribune indicated that though the state leadership of the APC, under the chairmanship of Mr Gboyega Famodun claimed the party was one united entity, some pundits said view was façade, noting that the party was fragmented into more than two factions, with each group spoiling for a showdown ahead the September 2018 governorship poll.
The power struggle among the groups to ensure that somebody from their political blocs emerge as successor to Governor Rauf Aregbesola and the determination of the majority that a ‘homegrown’ and credible politician take over, have further exacerbated the crisis in the APC. Sources informed our correspondent that some cabinet members and top government officials were only playing along with the governor, as they were involved in subtle moves to ensure that he did not influence the emergence of any Lagos-anointed politician as the standard-bearer of the party in the primaries ahead of the election.
One of the major factions in the party is that of loyalists of Aregbesola, with his Chief of Staff, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, who is a governorship aspirant and the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Moshood Adeoti, who also has gubernatorial ambition, commissioners, special advisers, the current state executives of the APC and a sizeable number of newly-elected councillors from the January 27 local governments poll, where a parliamentary model of governance was used by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC).
Another group is the one reportedly led by the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Honourable Lasun Yusuff, who is one of the governorship aspirants on the platform of the APC, with his followers and foot-soldiers cutting across virtually all the local governments and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).
The third group, Sunday Tribune gathered, is made up of some aggrieved party chieftains, including the popular Alhaji Fatai Diekola; former political appointees of Aregbesola such as the immediate past Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Sunday Akere; former Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Dr Wale Bolorunduro; former Commissioner for Lands, Urban and Regional Planning and the son of the late Minister for Justice, Chief Bola Ige, Mr Muyiwa Ige and others.
Commenting on the position of the mainstream APC in Osun, the director of publicity, research and strategy of the party in the state, Mr Kunle Oyatomi expressed that Tinubu would restore cohesion and team spirit among all the party’s members in the entire state.
Osun PDP
For the Governor Dickson to succeed in his mission of reconciling the rank and file of the PDP in Osun, he may need more than the wisdom of King Solomon, as previous efforts, spearheaded by a former Secretary to the Ogun State Government (SSG), Mr Sarafa Tunji Ishola, further widened the gulf in the troubled party.
There are two factions: The one loyal to the former deputy governor of the state and erstwhile chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Iyiola Omisore and the other loyal to Honourable Soji Adagunodo.
The Omisore group, with its party secretariat located at Ogo-Oluwa, Osogbo, is headed by a former factional chairman of the PDP, Dr Bayo Faforiji, while the other group, which has its party secretariat along Biket area of the state capital, is headed by another ex-factional chairman, Adagunodo.
Though efforts were made by Ishola to conduct ward congresses for the PDP last year, the exercise generated more crises for the party, just as the gains recorded by the party, which culminated in their victory during the last year bye-election in Osun West Senatorial poll, won by Senator Ademola Adeleke had almost been frittered away through bickering. Investigations showed that governorship ambition of some stalwarts of the party, lack of internal democracy and moves to resist domineering influence of some major stakeholders were main causes of squabbles in Osun PDP.
Adagunodo, who affirmed that his faction was ready to co-operate with the Dickson peace team, said they had absolute confidence and trust in the ability of the team to foster peace and resolve the internal wrangling in the party.
Oyo: Ajimobi, Shittu, others test might
The ruling APC in the pace-setter state has been bottling up its internal combustion, but the bubble burst recently and the cleavages within party were made public. The biggest grouping in the party is that of Governor Abiola Ajimobi, followed by a group of loyalists of former governor of the state, Alhaji Lam Adesina, and the third group belonging to the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu.
As the party prepares for council election slated for May 12, the discontent of members of these groups is growing. Last week, aggrieved members of the Lamist group stormed the party secretariat to protest alleged imposition of candidates, in what watchers say may be a prelude of the battle to come as 2019 builds up.
While may have said it may be easy for Tinubu to unite the Lamist group to be in full communion with the larger Ajimobi group, the task for the conciliation team will be how to bring Shittu under the same roof with Ajimobi. The former is hoping to succeed the latter. But the governor has shown clearly that he is not looking in the direction of the Minister for a successor.
Oyo PDP: ‘We will sing in unison soon’
The PDP family in the state is still not acting as a united body. Issues that arose from the parallel congresses held in the late last year are yet to be finally resolved, although some of the issues have been addressed. A former House of Representatives leader, Honourable Mulikat Akande-Adeola, told Sunday Tribune that all the leaders of the party will be singing in unison very soon.
A former Deputy Senate Whip, Senator Hosea Agboola, who felt aggrieved in the outcome of the congress, has petitioned the National Working Committee (NWC) to register his displeasure. A meeting to address the issues raised by him has been slated for Abuja this week. The issues raised by other leaders, who similarly felt cheated, have been addressed and those leaders have since joined others in the task of repositioning the party for success in 2019.
In Ogun, Kashamu’s group in last battle
In the internal politics of the PDP in the Gateway State, the faction loyal to Senator Buruji Kashamu appears to have been outplayed by the larger groups which have since fused and which controls the structure of the party in the state.
Last week, the was a ruling of a Federal High Court in Lagos, which ordered INEC and the PDP NWC to recognise Chief Bayo Dayo as the chairman of the party in the state. However, the party’s leadership in the state has fought back, declaring that it remains the real face of the party in the state. The Sikirulai Ogundele-led executives, through their counsel, Dr Yemi Oke, said the reliefs sought by the Kashamu’s “thinning out faction” had been overtaken by events as they touched on the already concluded national convention of the party. The judgment got by the Kashamu faction in an earlier suit is on appeal. The appeal is to be heard on March 8.
Reconciliation efforts in APC, PDP in Anambra
As the 2019 general election approaches, the Anambra State chapters of both the PDP and the APC have begun strategic moves on how to put their house in order ahead of the Senate, House of Representatives and state House of Assembly election in the state.
The PDP leaders were said to be putting their house in order, having realised that a divided house “cannot win power.”
The party’s zonal chairman, Mr. Austin Umahi, the party’s state chairman, Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu, members of his state executives and party elders, Sunday Tribune learnt, had reminded the party faithful that only a united front “can confront the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state and effect power shift in 2019,” citing the PDP’s recent woeful outing in the last governorship election.
In more than 10 years, the PDP, which once controlled Anambra State, has been retrogressing as a result of internal wrangling, with APGA and recently, the APC gaining from the PDP’s losses in the state. Nothing attests more graphically to the declining electoral fortunes of the PDP in Anambra than the result of the November 18, 2017 governorship election in which the party came a distant third, a development that shocked many, considering the heavyweights in the PDP.”
However, the leaders appeared to have woken up from their slumber. At the Onitsha mega rally for the last governorship poll, they spoke passionately about the need for the party to forge a united front, reconcile all factions and work together to avoid further losses in 2019.
To unite all factions in the state chapter, Nwobu said that a Peace, Reconciliation Committee headed by the South-East zonal chairman of the PDP, Umahi, had been set up, with a free hand to reconcile and enlarge its membership, if that would help it achieve its objectives.
Anambra APC
In the APC, the party, following its newfound strength in Anambra as reflected in its placing second in the governorship election, appeared not to be relenting in its efforts to win the next Senatorial, House of Representatives and state House of Assembly elections in the state.
The party boasts of names such as Senator Chris Ngige, who is the current Minister Labour and Productivity; Annie Okonkwo, Senator Uche Ekwuinife and Senator Andy Uba, who are great political warriors both at the state and federal levels.
The state chairman of the APC, Mr Dennis Emeka Ibeh, while speaking with Sunday Tribune said the APC national reconciliation committee headed by Tinubu would help reconcile all aggrieved members.
Ibeh noted that part of the responsibilities of the committee in the Anambra chapter, if properly handled by the national executives, would be to help consult and jaw-jaw with all those who contested in the party’s primaries ahead of the November 18, 2017 election, stressing that nobody would be left behind in the scheme of things.
Ondo State
Ripples over last year’s governorship contest in the state have not settled in the state chapter of the APC. The crisis has even led to the emergence of parallel leadership structures following the suspension of Kekenmeke by the group loyal to the state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu. His relationship with APC national leader snow-dived because Tinubu backed another contestant for ticket of the APC.
Lagos State
Though Lagos remains in his firm grip, Tinubu has been contending with issues with a number of other stalwarts of the APC in the state. A major one is his face-off with the National Legal Adviser of the party, Muiz Banire (SAN), who has consistently challenged perceived undemocratic style of the national leader. There is also disquiet between him and the Minister of Power, Works and as well as well as a number of party stalwarts that contested for the governorship ticket of the APC against Tinubu’s anointed candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode.
In the Lagos PDP, the cold war between Chief Olabode George and a host of other leaders, including the standard-bearer of the party in the 2015 elections, Mr Jimi Agbaje, remains a sore point that must be addressed if the party is to have any chance of victory in future elections in the state.
Ekiti
There is love lost between the APC national leader, Tinubu and the Minister of Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi. With Tinubu likely to have a major interest in who becomes the standard-bearer of the APC in the state, while Fayemi is said to be eyeing a return to the Oke Ayoba Government House, there is serious questions on how and who will reconcile these two individuals. Apart from Fayemi, about 25 other individuals have shown interest in the APC ticket.
In the PDP, there is a huge mountain to climb for Governor Dickson to reconcile state governor, Mr Ayo Fayose and an array of stalwarts in the party who have protested their sidelining in the running of the state and the reported anointing of the state’s deputy governor, Professor Olusola Eleka, as the PDP’s standard-bearer.
Rivers
In Rivers, the battle is between the Minister of Transport and aviation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe, who is hoping to contest the 2019 governorship election on the APC. The minister was quoted as threatening to mobilise his Ikwere kinsmen against the senator if the APC should field him in the election. “There is no fight in the APC. I am not in any way stopping Abe from running for the governorship (position), but what I know is that I will not support him. Abe is daring me, an Ikwerre son. He is abusing me every day. I will ensure I use Ikwerre vote on him,” Amaechi reportedly told Ikwere Elders and traditional rulers at a meeting.
- Additional reports by Dare Adekanmbi, Oluwole Ige, Jude Ossai and Michael Ovat
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