Would unintended actions from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Southwest geopolitical zone collude to pave the way for the resurgence of main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that once held sway in the region?
That question has continued to agitate the minds of APC chieftains in the zone, particularly in Ondo State where the simmering internal crisis seems to be threatening Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s continued membership of the ruling party.
In readiness for the 2020 gubernatorial election in the state, various political parties have started strengthening their systems and structures. This is just as the main opposition PDP has been strategically positioning its forces so as to be able to reap from the looming crisis in APC.
Perhaps against the backdrop of what happened in Adamawa and Bauchi States, some chieftains of the party have predicted that the internal crises rocking APC could not only make it extremely impossible for Governor Akeredolu to get reelected, but also capable of rocking the boat.
Already, a large number of gladiators across the 203 wards and three senatorial districts of the state have indicated interest in the governorship seat. Apart from the fact that a handful of former aspirants are positioning themselves to take over from the governor, some are actually debutantes.
For instance, in the Ondo South Senatorial District that has been the strongest base of PDP since the return to democracy in 1999, the aspirants include the South West Chairman of the party, Chief Dr. Eddy Olafeso; Chief Sola Ebiseni, Senator Boluwaji Kunlere, Otunba Bamidele Akingboye (OBA).
Also from the district are, the former state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Banji Okunomo, a former Commissioner for Information and Deputy governorship candidate in last election, Olu Mafo, among others.
From the Central, the former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Eyitayo Jegede, the party’s candidate in 2016, is also getting ready for another go and in the North: the former Special Adviser on Labour Matters, Mr. Dayo Fadahunsi and former Commissioner for Culture, Tourism and Special Duties, Mr. Femi Adekambi are also interested.
As a sign of the growing optimism within PDP, the state chairman, Mr. Clement Faboyede, boasted that the main opposition party would send Governor Akeredolu out of the Alagbaka Government House in 2020.
Faboyede disclosed that PDP is making frantic efforts to put its house in order across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state, assuring that the party will conduct a transparent and rancor-free primary election that will produce a popular standard-bearer.
It would be recalled that despite its past electoral triumphs, PDP put up an impressive performance in the recent General elections by defeating the ruling party with its incumbency in the state to give the party’s Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a resounding victory.
Similarly, PDP won two out of the three Senatorial seats, including South and Central districts. Its candidates also won two House of Representatives seats in the South, one in the Central, even as it left the other two federal constituency seats to other opposition parties.
Governor Akeredolu’s faction of APC could only win one National Assembly seat in the House of Representatives, while the rival faction won the only senatorial seat and three House of Representative tickets.
Most watchers of Ondo politics saw the outcome of the last election as evidence of the infighting within the ruling party, as well as remote fallout of the controversial September 3, 2016 APC governorship primary that threw up Akeredolu and the Aketi team.
PDP’s optimism
Faboyede based his optimism that PDP would reclaim the state from the APC on the state of affairs in the ruling party, explaining that APC defeated the former governor, Dr. Olusegun MImiko and the party’s flag bearer in the November 26, 2016 governorship election, Eyitayo Jegede, due to such multi-dimensional crises rocking the ruling party.
Jegede
The chairman, who is a former commissioner in the state, stressed that the process of picking the party’s candidate would be done without rancour and to celebrate the culture of internal democracy peculiar to the opposition party.
He hinted that the same tactics deployed during the primaries that preceded the general elections would be used to elect the party’s governorship candidate. Such painstaking process, he added, makes reconciliation and cohesion for victory possible, since according to him, no one could fault the process because of fairness and justice.
The Ondo PDP boss pointed to what he described as the lack-lustre performance of the present administration as huge advantage of the party to defeat the APC regardless of the paraphernalia of office and powers of incumbency at its behest in the election.
He pointed at the low acceptability of Governor Akeredolu and the APC government at all levels as further boost to PDP’s chances, stressing that the lack of good Social Protection Programmes, gross disconnect from the grassroots and deterioration of people-centred and welfarist programmes inherited from past administration would be APC’s undoing.
His words: “At this time of government of pressure and tyranny, we have decided to leave no stone unturned. By God’s grace, Ondo State will rise again with the PDP government. The incoming PDP government would be one that respects social norms. It will govern based on empathy and the rule of law.”
Speaking when Olafeso and his supporters came to notify the party of his governorship ambition at the party secretariat recently, the Ondo State PDP chairman reaffirmed that the party would defeat Akeredolu and APC in next years election.
Earlier the National Vice Chairman (South West), Olafeso, who was a Commissioner for Information in late Dr. Olusegun Agagu’s regime, recounted that his ambition is a rescue mission to salvage the state from the present doldrums in all sectors of the state.
“There is no government in Ondo State. This is the state of Ajasin, it is the state of Adefarati, it is the state of Agagu and Mimiko. We are now witnessing a situation, where students are paying for tuition from primary school level to secondary school.
“The tertiary institutions are far beyond the ordinary man. I’m a product of the Awolowo era. I won’t have been educated if there is no social welfare program for the ordinary man on the street. They have abdicated their responsibility and they have stepped on the head of history,” he ecounted.
Olafeso disclosed that at the appropriate time, many PDP members who had migrated to other parties would come back home to work together for the party and reclaim its lost glory and provide quality governance and dividends of democracy to the people.
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APC hybrids
There are indications that PDP’s confidence might not be unconnected to the resolve by some APC faithful to work against the party if Akeredolu gets a second term ticket.
Sources within the party accused the faction in government of marginalizing others not belonging to the Aketi faction since it took over the reins of governance on February 24, 2017.
One of the APC stalwarts confided in The Guardian that across the 3009 units of the state, those APC members that are not part of Aketi Team are treated as the most miserable of creatures.
He lamented that there is no difference between most APC members and members of the opposition parties that are not in power, lamenting that the governor is not funding the party adequately.
Apart the neglect of the political ‘footsoldiers,’ the source noted that even political appointees too could not afford to take care of any party structure in their wards.
Another APC chieftain in Okitipupa LGA also bemoaned the fate of party faithful belonging to the other faction, saying: “We have never seen this kind of government in this state. In many of our meetings across the state, people are lamenting terribly. In fact, there is no difference between now and when we were in opposition.
“Governance and politics now have become purely family affair in the state. We all worked assiduously for Aketi during the primary election. We abandoned our own son, Olusola Oke, to vote this man, Aketi, but he has abandoned all of us.
“Even when forming his cabinet, he appointed those who never worked for him at the primary and abandoned us. We are waiting for him next year; if he eventually gets the party ticket, we will work against him and the party.”
