- Shameful exercise shows APC won’t reign beyond 2019 – PDP
Following Saturday’s botched primary election of the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State, fresh investigations have revealed that the entire affair was a battle of wits, in which leaders of the party tried to demonstrate their political authority.
Top sources within the APC in Ekiti State confided in our correspondent that there were series of moves by loyalists of Tinubu, to ensure that Fayemi was humiliated at the primary election, despite the fact that the minister enjoyed the support of the presidency towards his governorship aspiration.
It was learnt that the Tinubu camp had, at first, backed the duo of former Governor Segun Oni and a Lagos-based engineer, Mr. Kayode Ojo, to win the ticket, but at the last minute, Ojo was reportedly endorsed by the camp.
A reliable source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “The Tinubu camp finally endorsed Ojo, following an observation by a party member that Oni was being backed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and that Oni could defect to newly revived Social Democratic Party once he becomes the governor.
“So, for this reason, all members of the camp were directed to work for Kayode Ojo, a 48-year-old politician from Ikoro-Ekiti, who Tinubu respects and admires, and more so, he was the one who recruited Ojo to Mobil Oil Producing many years ago, to do his internship.”
Tinubu: I’ve put my own political gear on neutral. I have no favoured or anointed candidate. Everyone aspiring and contesting is a very dear member and they have the right to aspire
In what appeared as a tacit admission of the claim that Ojo enjoyed the strong support of a heavyweight like Tinubu, Ojo at the weekend claimed that he was leading with a wide margin when thugs sponsored by one of the contenders (whom he did not name) disrupted the exercise.
Speaking to our correspondent, the Director of Public Communications to Ojo, Mr. Deji Aiyelabowo, said, “Kayode Ojo was leading with a very wide margin when they sponsored some thugs to disrupt the exercise. He was already leading in five local government areas so far counted when they suddenly arranged the violence that led to the suspension of the exercise.
“But let me tell you, if they do the primary election 10 times, Ojo will still win, and he will win with a very wide margin. I know what I am saying.”
‘WHY TINUBU IS AGAINST FAYEMI’
Sources, however, attributed Tinubu’s alleged tiff with Fayemi to the disagreement between the two politicians during the first tenure of Fayemi as governor of Ekiti State.
A source, who is close to the two politicians but would not want his name mentioned, told our correspondent, “We all know how much Tinubu spent to make Fayemi win the governorship election in Ekiti and how he particularly spent a fortune to recruit a strong legal team that won the governorship for Fayemi in the courts.
“But on getting to power, things turned the other way between the two of them, as Fayemi freed himself from Tinubu and started taking advice from former Governor Niyi Adebayo.
“The hostility was part of the reason Fayemi lost the 2014 governorship election, as Tinubu sponsored Opeyemi Bamidele to defect to the Labour Party and challenge Fayemi.”
FAYEMI REACTS
But in his reaction, Fayemi also claimed that he was leading in the poll when some thugs believed to be working for some aspirants disrupted the exercise. The primary election, which held at the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium, Ado-Ekiti, was conducted by the Governor Tanko Al-Makura-led APC Primary Election Committee for Ekiti State.
In a reaction through his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, Fayemi condemned the violence that marred the exercise, saying the party did not deserve the type of ridicule, which the shameful act of the hoodlums had subjected it to.
He described the disruption of the primary election as the height of desperation on the part of some aspirants, “who, having seen defeat staring them in the face, conspired together to ensure that the exercise was not concluded.”
He alleged that the aspirants resorted to violence and destruction, having realised that he was already in a clear lead in the five local governments that had cast their votes.
The minister, who said he was not surprised by the disruption of the exercise, revealed that security agencies had a few days to the primaries, been notified of plans by some aspirants to deploy hoodlums to disrupt the voting exercise.
He noted that the security agencies took note of the information and promised to beef up security at the venue.
He said, “It is quite painful seeing some desperate elements trying so much to rubbish the party we all laboured to build to national reckoning, out of share lust for power.
“If the quest for political position is to serve, then one wonders why the desperation being displayed by the likes of Femi Ojudu and Bimbo Daramola (two other governorship aspirants).
“Certainly, the conduct of these desperate aspirants falls short of the minimum standards expected of anyone that professes progressive ideals.”
Efforts to reach Ojudu and Daramola to respond to Fayemi’s accusations were futile as they did not pick their phones when our correspondent called.
I’VE NO ANOINTED CANDIDATE – TINUBU
Meanwhile, Tinubu has said that he has no anointed aspirant in Ekiti.
He described the exercise as a demonstration of the APC’s observance of the tenets of democracy.
“We have demonstrated to the people across the country that we are a law-abiding party and we believe in the tenets of democracy. We’ve demonstrated that across the country,” he said.
The APC national leader, therefore, appealed to party members to remain law-abiding by channeling their grievances on the conduct of the primaries to the appropriate quarters for redress.
“My appeal to party members is to conduct themselves peacefully and comply with the rule of law,” he added.
On the cancelled exercise, Tinubu assured that he had remained neutral concerning the APC primary in the state.
He stressed that he had no preferred candidate among the aspirants, stressing that all those who participated in the botched primary had the right to do so.
“I’ve put my own political gear on neutral. I have no favoured or anointed candidate. Everyone aspiring and contesting is a very dear member and they have the right to aspire,” Tinubu said.
APC CAN’T REIGN BEYOND 2019, SAYS PDP
Meanwhile, opposition Peoples Democratic Party has said that the violence associated with the governorship primary election portrays the APC as “an unfortunate party to rule Nigeria.”
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiya, in an exclusive conversation with our correspondent, said he was sad that
Nigerians found themselves in a ship piloted by the APC, “which has no plan for the masses.”
According to him, the election in Ekiti State shows that the party will not reign beyond 2019.
“Even, ordinary ward congress became an impossible task for APC. It is unfortunate that such a party is ruling. With what they have demonstrated, it shows that, if given another chance, they will put the country in a big disaster.
He said, “APC is not a party but a camp of weak people who do not have something good for the masses. Despite that Governor Fayose was magnanimous enough to release the state stadium and also received the chairman of the primary election and Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura, they still went ahead to wash their dirty linen in the public.
“And the display that you all saw at the Ekiti State APC primary election showed what will happen in 2019 at the national level.
Already, the country is doomed under APC; so what do you expect if not an election marred with violence. And I don’t see them change from their old ways.”
DISRUPTED POLL SHAMEFUL – FAYOSE
In his reaction too, the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, described the ill-fated APC primary poll as “shameful.”
In a statement by Lere Olayinka, his Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Fayose said it was a proof that the APC had become a house divided against itself and that it would fail in the July 14 governorship election.
“The whole world can now see the so-called progressives; ordinary primary election, they can’t hold,” he said.
“It is shameful! If the party could be this violent during their own primary election, won’t they do worse things during the election proper?” Fayose asked.