Friday, March 29, 2024

Worries over tension-soaked electioneering in Ekiti, Osun

  • Fayemi, Eleka in war of words
  • Zoning agitation rends Osun politics

Ekiti and Osun states are currently hotspots of politics in Nigeria as dates for the governorship elections in the respective states draw closer.

In particular, the stakes are now higher in Ekiti with the two leading political parties (the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress) and the rest, crisscrossing all communities in the state, to sell their brands to the electorate.

And as July 14, the election date, draws near, realities of the game continue to unfold with political parties undertaking high-stake negotiations and scheming.

Interestingly, the strong and the weak parties alike have been recording losses and gains to political negotiations and permutations.

An instance is PDP’s loss of a former Minister of State for Works and ex- party spokesman, Dayo Adeyeye, in the intensive battle for the Ayoba Hill Government House in Ado Ekiti. Although Governor Ayodele Fayose had retorted that Adeyeye’s exit was inconsequential, it is obvious that the development was a hit below the belt for his party.

Adeyeye said he was joining forces with the APC and its candidate to rescue Ekiti. But Fayose said Adeyeye’s defection from the PDP would not affect the party’s fortune, saying his action confirmed that he was not loyal to the PDP.

 

Funny that the President said Ekiti must return to the fold of progressive states. Is he talking about the same so-called progressives’ states that are sacking workers in their thousands? Or the APC states where herdsmen are killing people in gruesome manner on daily basis?

 

He added, “His move to APC will not in any way affect us. Majority of those he thought were behind him did not defect with him. One of his two party agents for the last primary is still with us in PDP and you know what that means.”

And for the APC, the upheavals that trailed the party primaries leading to the emergence of Dr Kayode Fayemi, as its standard-bearer still hunt the fold. In spite of efforts by the APC leadership to mend fences with aggrieved aspirants, report had it that some supporters of former Governor Segun Oni recently booed Fayemi in Ekiti.  Feelers indicate that the party’s activities are tension-soaked and only being managed.

Analysts are of the view that the two political parties are worse hit by tension, perhaps because they have higher stakes and prospects in the poll.

Some are of the opinion that for Fayose and the PDP, apart from consolidation on existing development, victory in the election  is vital to bolster up the hope of the party in the 2019 general elections, and to save the incumbent state governor from impending witch-hunt after service.

WHY POLL IS MUST-WIN FOR FAYOSE

In the view of this, Fayose, a critic and foe of the ruling APC, may have been pencilled down for punishment after serving his tenure, observers contend. Some, therefore, reason that the plot to nail him can be easily hatched if his crony is not allowed to succeed him as governor.

But Fayose, as perceived by other political watchers, is a ruthless stock that won’t let off his guard for enemies’ intrusion. He cleverly capitalises on the errors of the APC to score points even as he keeps alleging plot by the APC to rig the election, using ‘the federal might’.

 

Fayemi: Ekiti people have suffered untold hardship under the administration of Fayose, going about in empty stomachs as they are being owed nine months’ salary, despite that monthly federal allocations and other funds accrue to the state

 

Just as the PDP and APC bicker and engage in war of words, other parties in the state seek means of converting the situation to their own advantage.

For instance, the Social Democratic Party, the African Democratic Congress and other political parties in the race are wooing aggrieved politicians in the big parties to boost their fortunes.

PREDICTION ON EKITI

However, politicians in the state have been warned from fighting dirty with argument that only the will of God as well as the decision of the people would suffice.

At the end of a week-long revival at Odo Owa Ekiti, the General Overseer, Hour of Mercy Prayer Ministry Worldwide, Prophet Muyideen Kasali, said, “Powerful people will be rendered useless (in the election). Ekiti belongs to God and God is ready to intervene in the affairs of the state in 2018 and there will be surprises.”

APC, PDP SET FOR BIG FIGHT

However, no party is ready to let lose its guard. The APC is already bearing its influence, just as the PDP accused the party of plotting to use federal might to turn the table in its favour. The PDP in Ekiti condemned APC’s inauguration of a 77-member National Campaign Council for the Ekiti State governorship election as well as President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration on APC’s determination on the poll.

The deputy governor of Ekiti who doubles as the standard-bearer of the PDP, Prof. Kolapo Olusola Eleka recently blew hot in his reaction to President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement on the coming poll.

He said, “Funny that the President said Ekiti must return to the fold of progressive states. Is he talking about the same so-called progressives’ states that are sacking workers in their thousands? Or the APC states where herdsmen are killing people in gruesome manner on daily basis?”

“Truly, Ekiti people are well known for their forthrightness, candour and integrity. They will never subject themselves to the whim and caprices of a President who looked the other way when thousands of people were being killed by herdsmen in Benue, Taraba, Plateau and other states”.

But Olusola-Eleka’s major opponent, Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the APC, said as far as the coming governorship contest is concerned, his achievements in the first four years as governor of Ekiti State were there to bear him witness, even as he promised to do more, if elected.

Fayemi, who last week resigned his position as the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, said, “Ekiti people have suffered untold hardship under the administration of Fayose, going about in empty stomachs as they are being owed nine months’ salary, despite that monthly federal allocations and other funds accrue to the state.”

ZONING AS ISSUE IN OSUN

Meanwhile in Osun, issue of zoning is still generating tension within the polity, ahead of the September 22 governorship election. This has led to bickering among political heavyweights with some aspirants defecting to other parties where they foresee brighter hope of being allowed to fly party flags.

An example is Senator Iyiola Omisore who defected recently to the Social Democratic Party from the PDP.

The calm water of the APC in Osun State is being vehemently troubled with the issue of zoning, just as the PDP is having its share of the friction. Currently, while the people of Osun West are clamouring for the emergence of candidates from the zone in the governorship slot, some politicians in the state have kicked against zoning, saying it is not constitutional.

In the Osun APC, there is the suspicion that Governor Rauf Aregbesola and his avowed political godfather are backing the candidacy of an aspirant from Osun Central, just as other aspirants indicate their interests against the zoning arrangement.

And as the governorship election draws closer by the day in the ‘State of the Living Spring’, parties are at each other’s jugular, struggling to harness majority support.

As the election days draw closer, leaders of thought in the two states have been cautioning politicians to desist from do-or-die politics and bloodletting, in the common interest of all.

Popular Articles