Some weeks to the primary of the All
Progressives Congress in Ondo State, in the build-up to the November 26
governorship election, the number of aspirants seeking the party’s
ticket has reached 50. More aspirants are still expected to emerge.
The rise in the number of the
governorship aspirants seems to be giving the party’s leadership a
serious concern. It was gathered that the issue of how the governorship
candidate will emerge in a rancour-free atmosphere has become what one
of the APC chieftains termed as a must-not-fail assignment of the
party’s National and State Working Committees.
But with the way things are going on
within the party, post-primary crisis appears inevitable because all the
aspirants seem desperate to get the ticket. The aspirants are sure of
securing the party’s ticket, thereby giving no room for consensus or
imposition of candidate by the party’s leadership.
The desperation of the aspirants
followed their conviction that the ruling party in the state, the
Peoples Democratic Party, has lost its popularity among the people.
Each of them had expressed the belief
that any candidate presented by the APC for the forthcoming election
would have an easy ride to the Alagbaka Government House, Akure, on
February 24, 2017.
Some of the leading aspirants of the
party are a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Rotimi
Akeredolu (SAN); Senator Ajayi Boroffice, Mr. Segun Abraham, Chief
Olusola Oke, former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Victor
Olabimtan, Mr. Bode Ayorinde and Chief Bukola Adetula.
Others are Mr. Boye Oyewumi, Moyosola
Niran-Oladunni, Niran-Sule Adesuyi, Foluso Adefemi, Dele Alade and
Senator Tayo Alasoadura, who currently represents Ondo Central
Senatorial District at the Senate.
In a bid to emerge as the candidate,
many of the aspirants were said to have met with the national leaders of
the party to have their “blessings” while various party leaders, both
men and women across the 18 local government areas of the state, seem
not to be experiencing the current economic downturn in the country as a
result of the money being showered on them by various aspirants who
regularly visit them for endorsement. They now laugh all the way to the
bank courtesy of the largesse from the governorship aspirants.
It was gathered that the party too as a
whole had enjoyed some benefits from the aspirants as some of them had
bought new vehicles for the branches of the party in the 18 LGAs in the
state. The party secretariat on Oyemekun Road, Akure, now wears a
beautiful look courtesy of some of the aspirants.
However, the ugly aspect of these
developments is the incessant clashes by supporters of the aspirants
whenever they meet during ongoing familiarisation tours of their
principals, who are visiting party leaders and members across the 18
LGAs.
One of such occasions was the clash
between the supporters of Senator Borroffice and that of Segun Abraham
in Iwaro Oka-Akoko in Akoko South West Local Government Area of the
state last year. Many supporters of Abraham were allegedly attacked by
supporters of Boroffice. Though the senator had since denied being the
sponsor of the attack, the bottom line is that there was an attack
against an aspirant, where many vehicles were damaged and many
supporters of Abraham were injured.
Aside from the physical attacks, the supporters had also taken the fight to the social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter
and with a series of sarcastic write-ups to discredit any aspirant
perceived to be the opponent of their principals. In fact, some state
executive members of the party have openly shown their bias towards some
of the aspirants, thereby polarising the leadership.
Another controversial issue in the party
is the senatorial zone that will produce the candidate. It was learnt
that this is also causing internal ripples within the leadership of the
APC in Ondo State. A source within the party said the APC leaders were
divided over this issue. While some said the party had zoned the
candidacy to the Northern Senatorial District, some believe the
candidate should come from any part of the state, as far as the
candidate is sellable.
The position of some of the leaders is
that the candidate that will emerge must be a politically experienced
member from the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria. This, they said,
would ensure that the person would be loyal and have respect for the
party authority if he eventually becomes the governor of the state.
A source within the leadership of the
party said, “The party leaders both in the state and at the national
level know where they are going over the issue of candidacy; they know
who they want to be the candidate of the party in the election. When the
time comes, the boys will be separated from the men among the
aspirants. Let them continue to come out, it is a welcome development
for the party, it shows that our party is a beautiful bride in the state
now.
“I am very sure the 50 aspirants will
not contest the primary, but let the party’s guidelines for the election
come out first, some of them will eventually fall by the way side.”
The source disclosed that the guidelines
of the party for the primary would prune the number drastically, adding
that it was after then that the primary would be held where the
“favourite” candidate would emerge.
However, the chairman of the party, Mr.
Isaac Kekemeke, had insisted that the party had no anointed person among
the aspirants. He had said the party would take the necessary
procedures to ensure the candidate emerged through a free, fair and
credible primary.
He said, “Even though the responsibility
of organising primary elections rests on the National Executive Council
members, the election will be free, fair and transparent and whoever
will emerge victorious, will win fairly, while those who will lose will
also lose fairly.
“This would make the election credible
as the party would do everything within its power to ensure a free, fair
and transparent primary. It is within the rights of any member to
support any aspirant of his or her choice, but no individual has the
power to impose any candidate on the party, not even the chairman, the
deputy chairman or the secretary has such powers.”
It is also believed in some quarters
that the APC in Ondo State might be torn apart after the primary, sequel
to the intending process through which the winner would emerge, which
might be controversial and capable of causing grief among many of the
aspirants.
It was learnt that some of the
aspirants, who might perceive malpractices at the primary, were already
looking out for alternative political parties under which they could run
for the governorship election.
Meanwhile, one of the aspirants,
Moyosola Niran-Oladunni, during an interaction with our correspondent,
reacted to the emergence of the numerous aspirants of the party. He had
said the APC guidelines for the primary would definitely reduce the
number of the aspirants.
He said, “The party has not even come up
with its guidelines for the primary. I can assure you that we have some
of these aspirants without tax-clearance. There may be some of them
that are not even registered voters yet. There are standard
requirements.
“The party will soon set up its
guidelines for the primary; that will be the first step towards reducing
the number of the aspirants. The truth is that the number of aspirants
we have today is good for our party. I do not know why people keep
expressing reservation about the number of aspirants in the APC.
“It is a way of showing the popularity
of the party. We have a party in this state that does not have up to
five aspirants. What that means is that the people do not trust the
party that it has any chance of winning.
“We have internal mechanism within the
party that will resolve whatever form of disagreement that comes out of
the primary. Let us leave that to the party. I believe we are not going
to have any problem with our primary because we are looking forward to a
credible primary that will produce a popular candidate.”
It was gathered that all hands are on
deck by the party’s leadership to ensure the primary is conducted in a
free, fair and transparent atmosphere to avoid post-primary crisis just
like it was done in Edo State.
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