Aspirants from various political platforms in Ondo State are eyeing the job of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu ahead the governorship election coming up in the state next. HAKEEM GBADAMOSI X-rays the issues and political calculations that may determine the course of the election.
THE 2020 governorship election in Ondo State seems a bit far away, but gladiators within the various political camps in the state, especially the two main political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are not leaving anything to chances. The political actors are indeed rolling up their sleeves in preparation for the election, an exercise which may be another intriguing two-horse race between the two leading political parties in the state.
Though the incumbent governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, is barely three years in the saddle and yet to officially signify his intention to contest for a second term, his body language points to the fact that he may eventually succumb to what some people in his camp described as inundated requests from various groups urging him to seek second term in office, on the platform of the APC.
Reps set up ad-hoc committee to probe N5 trillion crude theft
The re-election bid of the governor would not come on a platter of gold as there are so many hurdles to scale within and outside the party. Some prominent members of the party in the state were said to have been working from behind the scene to dislodge him during the yet-to-be scheduled primary. Many of them were believed to be hell bent on taking back their pound of flesh from the governor, having been politically injured by the outcome of the APC governorship primary in 2016. However, they may be hindered by the developmental projects embarked upon and executed by the governor since he assumed office.
Not unmindful of the scheming, Akeredolu was said to have extended an olive branch to all the aggrieved leaders of the party ahead of the primary. The governor’s camp is optimistic that, if he is able to secure the confidence of party faithful in the state, half of the battle is won. It was gathered that the foot soldiers of the governor had impressed it on him that once the party leaders in the state are solidly behind him, his second term ambition would sail through.
This is couple with the peace meeting initiated by the national leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu, calling on all the aggrieved party to sheathe their swords in the interest of the party.
Despites all these, some APC heavy weights are still eyeing the governorship seat in the state. The lawmaker representing Ondo North Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Senator Ajayi Boroffice, is said to be weighing the option of contesting for the number one seat in the state, even as he has denied having interest the 2020 governorship election in the state. Boroffice, who was elected as senator for the third term on the platform of the APC, reportedly said, “There was the need to resolve all the crisis rocking the party in the state.”
There are indications that the South-West coordinator of the 2019 Buhari/Osinbajo Campaign Organisation, Chief Olusola Oke, may throw his hat into the ring for the governorship contest in the state. He was initially said to have shelved the idea of seeking the number one plum job in order to get a slot on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) which he lost out. Oke was also said to have lobbied for the ministerial appointment but lost out to Senator Tayo Alasoadura, who is representing the state in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal cabinet.
A source within the political group of Oke, however informed that the former AD candidate in the 2016 governorship election in the state is weighing the option of contesting on a relatively new political platform to achieve his political ambition. The source further said the platform would be unveiled after the plans might have received the blessing of some political godfathers of Oke.
Another strong APC chieftain said to be in contention for Governor Akeredolu’s job is the Executive Director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Mr Ife Oyedele. The NDPHC director, before the appointment of Alasoadura as a minister, was said to be highly-favoured as the right man for job, in view his closeness to President Buhari. Oyedele was a strong member of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) before the marriage of political parties that formed the APC. But he eventually lost out in the struggle to make the ministerial list from the state.
Oyedele, who hails from Okitipupa Local Government Area, was said to have played an important role in the formation of the APC in 2013. It was gathered that he was being groomed to take over the mantle of leadership in the state in 2020 from Akeredolu. It was learnt that a group of Abuja politicians sought the ministerial job for him so that he would be well-placed to displace Akeredolu in the 2020 election but lost out in the race. It was not too certain if he is still interested in the race, given the fallout of the peace meeting initiated by Tinubu with South West leaders of the party.
Also interested in the seat is the former Information Commissioner in the state, Mr Banji Ayiloge, who has never ceased criticising Akeredolu over his style of goverance and what he referred to as snail speed development in the state. He has expressed his readiness to turn around the state if given the opportunity to rule the state.
However, the leadership of the APC in Ifedore Local Government Area where Ayiloge comes from disowned him for his hard stance on the governor. This was as the current Commissioner for Information and Orientation in the state, Mr Donald Ojogo, dismissed the position of his predecessor, saying it amounted to “lack of ideas, knowledge and, indeed, unbridled display of ignorance.”
Akeredolu might however survive the onslaught if the peace and accord meeting sails through. He is currently said to be on the same page with some power brokers in the presidency and the APC National Leader, Senator Tinubu, a development which is seen in political circle as an added advantage to enhance his chances of returning to the Alagbaka Government House in 2020.
The PDP in the state seems to be getting back its rhythms after its shocking loss to the APC and Akeredolu in the 2016 governorship election. The party came back from its long slumber by winning the state for the party’s flag bearer in the 2019 presidential election, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. Apart from delivering the state for PDP, the party also secured three out of the nine seats in the House of Representatives and one out of the three seats in the Senate at the last elections.
The bond of unity in the Ondo PDP might be one of the reasons responsible for the large number of aspirants eyeing the party’s ticket for the 2020 governorship election. As at the last count, no fewer than 16 members of the party have signified their intention to represent the party at the poll. Apart from Jegede who is from Akure in the central senatorial district, majority of the governorship aspirants from the PDP camp hailed from the southern senatorial district, even as the party leadership has dismissed the idea of zoning the party’s ticket to any particular senatorial district.
Confirming the number, the PDP Director of Publicity in the state, Mr Zadoc Akintoye, said the party never zoned its ticket to any of the senatorial districts, even as he assured that the best will emerged among the 16 contenders.
He said, “Our party in Ondo State has never zoned its governorship seat and there is no history where you would find the party deliberately zoning his gubernatorial ticket. We have always ensured at all times that we give visible examples to show that we are a party that promotes free and fair electoral process. We will allow all contestants, regardless of the zone they come from, to contest in the election.
“The best of them will emerge in a free and fair election. We have 16 aspirants at the momen that have indicated interest to contest for the ticket of our party. Our job as a party is to ensure that there is freedom of choice by party members as to who would become the party’s candidate.”
Prominent among the PDP contenders is the former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and the 2016 PDP governorship candidate, Mr Eyitayo Jegede who lost to Akeredolu. Jegede who hailed from Akure, Ondo Senatorial District, is highly favoured for the ticket.
Jegede, recently addressing some party faithful, hinged his decision to take another shot at the exalted position on the need to turn around the state and ensure its socio-economic development. He said he had held consultations among various political interests across the state and was convinced that he had solutions to some challenges facing the state. According to him, Ondo State has a lot of potential in agriculture, tourism, education, information technology and engineering, among others, nothing that only a visionary governor can bring these to fruition.
“I am here to thank you for the support you gave me during the 2016 governorship election. I see myself as somebody who is ready to serve. I contested the last gubernatorial election and we knew the result, the following day we went to church to thank God for how far He had helped us.
“Now, I consulted God Almighty again; I asked if I should go forward on this project. He answered me that I should go ahead. I am asking you whether to go ahead or not? This is not the time for the campaign. We will surely come back when the time comes. I seek your support for our great party, the PDP and appreciate you for all your efforts both during the 2016 governorship election and the last general elections,” he said at the meeting.
Though Mimiko had left the party, Jegede was said to have reorganised the party and assumed its leadership in the state. But many of the PDP members did not see him as the rallying point as they saw him as a proxy leader who spends most of his time outside the state. Some others also argued that nature of his work made him to be absent from the state.
To those who believed in him, the former Attorney General looks good to clinch the PDP ticket, coming a familiar terrain. Apart from having the financial capacity, Jegede began consultations early enough to secure the support of the party members and he has also met with chieftains of the party at the national level over his ambition.
Another strong contender from the PDP camp is Mr Sola Ebiseni, a three-time former commissioner in the state. Ebiseni, from Ilaje Local Government Area in the southern senatorial district of the state, also contested in the PDP governorship primary in 2016 after his fallout with Mimiko over the former governor’s support for Jegede.
Declaring his interest in the party’s ticket, Ebiseni said, “It is the constitutional right of every person or part of the state to aspire to the office of the governor, while having the ticket of the party and winning the governorship election goes beyond social media agitations, some of which may even be annoying and offensive.”
Ebiseni, one of the few grassroots mobiliser in the state, is said to understand the politics of the state and had boasted several times that it would be an easy task for him to defeat candidates of other political parties.
While Ebiseni may not have the financial muscle to finance his governorship project, he was reportedly said to be banking on the support and endorsement of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, to get the PDP’s ticket for the governorship contest.
Another PDP member who had shown interest in the party’s ticket is the former chairman of Ilaje Local Government Area and the erstwhile Ondo PDP publicity secretary, Mr Banji Okunomo.
Okunomo who said his desire did not stem out over-ambition but a genuine passion for service, declared: “It is my earnest desire to put my energy and whatever talents it has pleased God to give me at the service of the state. My ambition, borne out of a genuine desire to serve, is subject to the approval of eminent citizens like you. It is not a desperate ambition. If God decides otherwise, I will cooperate fully with whoever is elected to ensure that our party, the PDP, as well as our state, succeeds.”
Quite expectedly, there have been exchanges of accusations and counter-accusations between the two leading political parties in the state ahead the governorship contest. For instance, the PDP leadership accused Governor Akeredolu and the APC of planning to use the state resources to prosecute the governor election, alleging that the N50b loan bond recently approved by the state House of Assembly was meant for that purpose.
Ondo PDP Director of Media and Publicity, Akintoye, in a statement, condemned the manner the state legislature passed the bill for the loan, saying the development showed the naivety of the lawmakers. He said there was no justification for such a loan at this period when the present domestic and external debt had become a burden on the state. He therefore implored the people of the state to “keep asking questions from this government, particularly with respect to how state funds are being expended.”
However, Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Ojogo, maintained that the N50b loan bond approved by the lawmakers in the state was to be used for developmental projects initiated by the Akeredolu administration. He said the governor would rather spend such huge bond on legacy projects that would impact positively on the lives of the citizenry, instead of using same for any re-election bid.
The accusations and counter-accusations notwithstanding, the 2020 governorship contest may likely be a straight contest between the incumbent, Akeredolu and any of the PDP aspirants, even as some of the issues that will sway voters in the next governorship election in the state will include salary, vote buying and selling and power shift, among others.
The backlog of unpaid salaries left behind by the PDP administration, led by former Governor Mimiko, will remain an issue of campaign in the election. Incumbent Governor Akeredolu has never ceased to remind workers in the state of how his administration promised to offset the salaries and fulfilled the promise. A political analyst noted that workers in the state seem to be at home with Akeredolu as regards the payment of salary and other allowance.
Many political observers in the state agreed that vote buying and selling played a significant role in the last election in the state. Though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other stakeholders have been campaigning against it, but the factors that elevated the phenomenon still subsist; hunger still persist in the land, poverty is everywhere and most electorate still believe in getting paid for their services to politicians rather than waiting for what they have in stock. This factor is expected to have a great influence in the coming election as politicians have much to spread around to ensure victory, even as the electorate are warming up for another round of jamboree during the campaigns for the governorship election in the state.
There are increasing agitations that power should shift to the southern senatorial district of the state as there have been allegations of marginalisation of the district in the political scheming of the state. This may explain the reason there are more PDP aspirants from the area. The argument was that the late Dr Olusegun Agagu remained the only elected governor from the district since the commencement of the present democratic dispensation in 1999. On the other hand, the north and central senatorial districts have completed two terms each.
Another factor that would come to the fore, preparatory to the governorship election is how to resolve the internal crisis within the ruling party in the state. Ondo APC has been embroiled in crisis for a long time and there seem no end to the raging war between the two major camps. Though some leaders of the party in the South-West met with the two sides recently but the crisis is far from over. How the APC leadership is able to get round the bend will surely determine if the election will be a straight fight between the incumbent Governor Akeredolu and whoever emerges as the candidate of the other political party.
In spite of the above, many analysts see Akeredolu scaling the hurdles as he continues to extend the olive branch to the aggrieved camps, especially with the recent appointments of some of the foot soldiers of the aggrieved leaders by the governor into various positions in his government. The APC also seemingly has a clear advantage over the PDP, given the past poor record of the latter as related to its failure pay workers’ salary.
More importantly, while the former ruling party appeared formidable and seemed poised to wrestle power from the APC-led government, its greatest challenge lies in the fact that it lacked a clear-cut leadership structure since the exit of former Governor Olusegun Mimiko and this factor has considerably weakened the support base of the party in the state.
and then