A little over a year before the race for the Ekiti State Government House starts and ends, controversial Governor Ayodele Fayose and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the state have become the subjects of discussion in many fora across the state.
And the crux of the matteris how Fayose and the PDP would surmount the high hurdles now placed on their way concerning theirretention of the governorship seat in the state in 2018.
Currently, the political turf in the state is fast getting hot with many interested personalities revving their political machineries back to life in preparation for the impending battle for the Ekiti Government House.
Already, consultations and some measure of political horse-trading have been going on amongst political actors and politicians in the state bracing for the 2018 governorship race on their different parties’ platforms.
Recall that some of the ruling party’s stalwarts still have questions to answer regarding the role they played in Fayose’s election as the governor of the state.
Owing to this development and other issues that have brought the state’s politics to focus recently, observers are quick to predict that the PDP may find it difficult to return to the Ekiti Government House.
They argue that a number of issues affecting politics in the state and at the national level will go a long way in determining the fate of both Fayose and the PDP in Ekiti during the 2018 governorship election.
Governor Fayose has, however, vowed to give it all it will require for his party to remain the occupant of the Ekiti Government House after the 2018 poll in the state with a view to ensuring continuity in the governance of the state, just like in Lagos, where the ruling All Progressives Congress, which metamorphosed from the Alliance for Democracy in 1999 to the Action Congress, the Action Congress of Nigeria and ultimately the APC, has held on firmly to the reins of governance.
Party sources are also of the belief that inspite of all the odds, Fayose will do everything possible to ensure a repeat of the feat that saw him sweep the poll that earned him the governor’s seat in 2014, but this time around without the federal backing that he enjoyed back then.
PDP national leadership crisis and party’s chances in Ekiti 2018 Some observers have cautioned that the on-going perennial leadership crisis rocking the PDP at the national level, which has been blamed for the party’s failure in the Ondo State governorship election, if not properly managed, may repeat itself in the Ekiti poll come 2018.
Sources from Ekiti State say that the crisis bedeviling the party since it suffered a major defeat in the 2015 elections at the national level, is one of the major concerns of Fayose and the party at the state level.
It’s also believed that the recent division in the party at the national level has led to the fragmentation of the state chapter of the PDP as some of them are loyal to Senator Ali Modu Sheriff’s camp while others have backed Senator Ahmed Makarfi.
“Though we believe that the election is not negotiable, but one of the major things that is posing concern is the leadership crisis at the national level, as you know that it affects all states.
In Ekiti here also, some of our people belong to either the camp of Sheriff or Makarfi, and all this, if not addressed on time, may lead to what happened in Ondo State”, the source said.
However, Governor Fayose has assured that the leadership crisis rocking the party at the national level will not affect the party’s performance in the forthcoming governorship election. Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, the governor maintained that, “Sheriff and his gang are only day-dreaming.
On our side are the governors, members of the Board of Trustees, the National Assembly caucus, former public office holders, and party supporters at the grassroots. If they think they can inherit the party illegally, that is a pipe dream. Those planning to invade the PDP secretariat here should be warned. They must not toy with fire.
“I receive a lot of calls from people over the possibility of the development affecting our candidate here in the 2018 poll. I want to assure you that what they did in Edo and Ondo states cannot happen here. We are still under the leadership of the Senator Ahmed Markafi-led National Caretaker Committee and we are taking the matter to the Supreme Court.
“As for the chances of our candidate in next year’s poll, God is giving us an expected end and that is victory over the All Progressives Congress and their cohorts. Three things are critical to winning election- the people, the party and the candidate. Of these three, the people are the most important and those that are with us are more than those that are with our opponents”.
Former governor of Kano State, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau, said that the nature and policies of Governor Fayose have endeared him to the Ekiti people just as his politcal achievements have made him a legend.
“Fayose is living in the hearts of the people; defeating him in his state is a mirage,” Shekarau said.
The former minister of education further said that the affection the governor had for the people of the state could be seen in the various policies and projects he had been executing in the state.
“More than physical infrastructure, the governor is so affectionate that the people have seen him as a leader they can rely on and lean on his shoulders, as he is very accessible.
“When you show affection to the people, they create a space for you in their hearts and you literally live there.
“The people of Ekiti have done that for Fayose. He is living in their hearts. That is what Prophet Mohammed (SAW) also taught; that we make positive impact on the lives of others,” he said.
Shekarau also said that the Ekiti governor had always overcome challenges and obstacles because he has made God his pillar of support, urging him to continue to do so.
APC’s determination to upstage Fayose.
Meanwhile, the major opposition party in Ekiti State, the All Progressives Congress, has vowed to ensure it upstaged the ruling PDP in the state in the 2018 governorship election.
The state Chairman of the party, Chief Jide Awe, told The Point, “APC in Ekiti State is ready to take over the seat from Fayose and the PDP in 2018. Let them brag about as they always do, the result will tell it all. For us, we are busy doing the needful to ensure victory and we will surely claim our mandate in the election.
“Winning an election is not determined by a single person as Fayose is bragging about. For us in the APC, we will make sure that we do all that is necessary to come out victorious in the election in 2018. Fayose is not the umpire but INEC. This time around, he will fail totally.”
An APC chieftain in Ekiti State, Mr. OlufemiAduloju, said that Fayose was still living in the past when the then PDP-led Federal Government assisted him to win the governorship elections at two different occasions. Aduloju reminded the governor that his PDP had been dislodged from the centre and boasting that his party would win the 2018 governorship election in the state was an empty one, especially with his dwindling popularity each passing day.
Governor Fayose must wake up and stop dreaming of winning 2018 Ekiti State governorship election for his dead party in the state. The only base of Fayose’s political structure, which was the Federal might, when his party was in power, has collapsed
“It is on record that the governor has never won a single free and fair election. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo supported Fayose to defeat the then governor Niyi Adebayo in 2003 just as former president Goodluck Jonathan deployed funds and security agents to ease former governor Kayode Fayemi out of office in Fayose’s favour in 2014.
“The only election that Fayose participated in as a candidate of the opposition party in 2011 ended in disaster for him as he, as Labour Party candidate in the National Assembly election, could not win even his constituency.
“Governor Fayose must wake up and stop dreaming of winning 2018 Ekiti State governorship election for his dead party in the state. The only base of Fayose’s political structure, which was the Federal might, when his party was in power, has collapsed. But the governor is still living in the past glory of winning elections with Federal backing. Perhaps, he has forgotten that PDP lost the centre years back.
Continuing, Aduloju further said, “PDP is no longer at the helm of affairs in Nigeria; the power that the former presidents gave you to control the police, Civil Defence corps, other security outfits and INEC has expired and no longer available. Fayose cannot win any election in Ekiti State without federal might.
“Even the last PDP primaries that produced him forthe governorship election was fraudulent and rigged. It was Ayo Fayose vs Ayo Fayose.
There was no other aspirants at the venue. Security personnel were used to chase them away from the venue because Fayose could not contest an election and win without intimidation and harassment.
“In 2003, Obasanjo and Chief Olabode George, then the southwest PDP chairman, helped Fayose. He was surprised when he was declared the winner of that election; he prostrated about 22 times, thanking the former president. That was why he messed up the government and he was thrown out.
“On the eve of the 2014 governorship election, over 90 per cent of APC leaders were arrested and detained till after the doctored and flawed result was announced. Fayose’s so-called popularity cannot and will never give him victory at any election in Ekiti State, in a free and fair contest. If he is so sure of himself, let him wait till 2018, when the chicken will come home to roost.”
Aspirants getting set to join the fray Meanwhile, no fewer than 55 aspirants are already jostling for the governorship seat in Ekiti State ahead of the 2018 election in the state.
The aspirants cut across the two major political parties in the state, which include the ruling PDP and the main opposition APC.
While the PDP has 15 aspirants warming up for the primaries, the remaining 40 are aspiring on the platform of the APC.
According to findings, the PDP aspirants include incumbent Deputy Governor, Dr. Olusola Olubunmi Kolapo; ex-deputy governors, Sikiru Lawal and Mr. Bisi Omoyeni; National Secretary of the Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi-led Natonal Caretaker Committee and ex-Minister of state for works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye; former deputy governor, Senator Biodun Olujimi;AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Mr. Owoseni Ajayi and Abiodun Aluko, among others.
They are said to have begun to seek the support of party members and reached out to interest groups and trade unions in their bids to clinch the party ticket for the 2018 governorship poll.
Those aspiring for the Ekiti State governorship ticket on the platform of the APC include Adebayo Oririe, Opeyemi Bamidele, Bimbo Daramola, Hon. Bamidele Faparusi, Sen. Gbenga Aluko, Sen. Babafemi Ojudu, Sen. Ayo Arise and former governor Segun Oni, among others.
