Ekiti 2018: The plots, dress rehearsals

That Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State is in the news is nothing new. However, his rumoured contemplation to check out another platform for the 2018 governorship election contest in the state and his denial of the rumour, raise fresh angles to issues in the politics of the state. Deputy Editor, SAM NWAOKO, writes on the issues.

GOVERNOR Ayodele Fayose ranks among those in the news the most. However, his touching of nearly all issues affecting the Nigerian polity is nothing when the politics of his succession comes into consideration. This is because he has not hidden his desire to ensure that his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) emerges victorious in 2018, when his successor to the office of the governor of Ekiti State will be elected.

To this end, his activities as a governor have relentlessly been pro-people. He has created several avenues through which he ensures a constant interaction with nearly all the interest groups in the state: Teachers in all categories, civil servants, artisans in all their ramifications; commercial drivers in both the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN); commercial motorcycle operators, traders and all sorts. The various people in this category of trades can reel out their first hand experiences of their governor as a matter of pride.

However, Governor Fayose as an individual with now acknowledged deft political touches has insisted that he cannot rule out the fact that the troubles bedeviling his PDP as well as the high-wire plots by the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the federal level, will have an impact in the calculations of Ekiti 2018 politics. As a matter of fact, he has not ceased to rue the fact that he happens to have made a notable contributor to the current situation in the PDP by the support he had earlier given to Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to emerge as the national chairman of PDP. This is due to the fact that the emergence of Sheriff turned out to be that well known albatross that is currently hanging in the neck of the party.

But with the perceived growing influence of Fayose, can the APC beat him to his game in Ekiti in 2018?

Having weighed in on the Edo and Ondo elections, which Fayose insisted were won by INEC for APC, his PDP and indeed their supporters are of the opinion that the prognosis are not looking wholesome for a repeat of the 2014 PDP’s feat in the state in 2018. Meanwhile, the APC which, so far, is the only other political party in the state is not particularly in a good standing in the state either. The APC in Ekiti State is currently lacking cohesive leadership and the division in the party has remained as obvious as it was when it lost election and if anything, is getting wider because of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu factor.

“As things stand, PDP is way ahead of APC in terms of preparedness for election in Ekiti State.” That is the contention of Adewumi Adeyanju, a sympathiser with the party from Ekiti West Local Government. Adeyanju contended that the loss if the election and the lack of cohesion in the APC had given the PDP an edge. “But given what is going on around the country now in terms of elections, nobody really knows what joker the planners of the election would come up with when Ekiti 2018 sets in.”

But the vice chairman of the Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the PDP in the state, Mr. Olasunkanmi Ogunbiyi, said the chances of either the PDP or the APC in Ekiti in 2018 is dependent on how the troubles he said was in the party “are resolved and how all the issues bedeviling the party are resolved.” Olasunkanmi noted that they were in court challenging the leadership of the PDP in the state he described as “loyal to Fayose.”

He said: “We are in court challenging the leadership of the PDP faction loyal to Fayose. The court has reserved ruling in the case till January 24. After the ruling, the party’s direction will become clearer. There are many people who want to contest the election in our faction, like a dormer deputy governor of the state, Chief Abiodun Aluko, Ambassador Dare Bejide and Segun Adewale and some others are all coming and this is because the chance of PDP is bright.

“Going by what I can see, the chances of APC are very slim because as things stand, the APC is not on ground. I saw this because most of their stakeholders, like my former boss, Chief Segun Oni, are not based at home. Former Governor Kayode Fayemi, Babafemi Ojudu and all of them are based outside the state and are not on ground. But if the kind of PDP crisis that affected Ondo is allowed to fester in Ekiti State, then the APC will exploit that and do what they did in Ondo.”

He said the PDP must put its house in order and ensure that all its members that had issues with the party must be made to come on board. “All the groups namely Buruji Kashamu, Sheriff, Ahmed Makarfi and Fayose must all come together and resolve their differences before 2018 otherwise the cracks will widen and the APC will take advantage.”

But the publicity secretary of PDP in the state, Jackson Adebayo, said “the PDP is not in any moved by all the antics of the opposition because we have been through it before. Our government is currently on a high, with laudable performance and we hope that when the time comes, the people of the state would not be swayed by all the shenanigans of both the INEC and the APC.”

Ogunbiyi even hinted that the reported rumour that Fayose gave indications that he might not field a candidate on the platform of the PDP meant that he might actually leave. He said “what we want is that if he is leaving, he should leave on time so that we can know how to arrange our party.”

But Fayose has denied that he would leave PDP. The APC has said they wouldn’t accept him in their fold while the INEC, the umpire whose plans the political gladiators would rely on, is watching with keen interest. The high court in Ekiti has reserved ruling in the case filed against the PDP leadership in the state. Could that be the point of no return for Ekiti 2018 election? Time will tell.