Mimiko, Tinubu, Buhari’s men in final showdown
It’s an epic battle for Yoruba nation – Afenifere
BY TAIWO AMODU
Today’s governorship election in Ondo State is a contest like no other in the southwest geo-political zone. For the outgoing governor, Dr Segun Mimiko, who has sustained his grip on the state in the last eight years and has successfully shielded his political territory from the onslaught of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria and the All Progressives Congress, the election is an unprecedented contest as he is being distracted within his party owing to internal dissension arising from intractable leadership tussle at its national secretariat.
It culminated in emergence of factional governorship candidates: Eyitayo Jegede, who had emerged at the primary organized by the faction led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, a creation of the national convention of the party while Jimoh Ibrahim won the primary organized by the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff faction. Mimiko’s anointed candidate, Jegede who had earlier been replaced by Jimoh, was back on the list on Wednesday following the decision of the Appeal Court. The former Attorney General of the State and candidate of the Ahmed Makarfi faction was challenging Justice Obong Abang judgment, which directed INEC to delete his name as PDP standard bearer from the list of eligible candidates for today’s election. And the courts in a string of judgments this week restored his mandate to contest the election.
Unlike previous elections, Mimiko is facing the toughest battle in his political career.
For the ruling APC, it is equally an unusual race as it is certainly a prelude to what to expect ahead of the 2019 general elections : the shape of things to come. In the APC, the forces at play in today’s election are the estranged national leader of the ruling party and former Lagos state governor, Bola Tinubu and certain governors and ministers in the Muhammadu Buhari cabinet who are up in arms against Tinubu over his unwavering grip on who gets what, when and how in the zone. Incidentally, the ministers involved in the cold war with the former governor are from southwest and they owe their upward mobility on the political ladder to him.
Buhari’s foot soldiers
The ministers believed to be doing the hatchet job of the presidency to supplant Tinubu in the zone include, former Ekiti state governor and Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi; his counterpart in Power, Works and Housing, Raji Fashola and the Ogun state governor, Ibikunle Amosun. It is no longer secret that Tinubu had no input in the choice of ministerial nominees from the zone , as he was left in the cold. His choice for the prized portfolio of Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, was dropped for the former Ogun state commissioner for finance, Kemi Adeosun who was nominated by Governor Amosun. The duo of Fayemi and Fashola were picked by President Buhari himself who, to the consternation of Tinubu also dropped Dele Alake, his favoured nominee for the position of Minister for Information for the incumbent, Lai Mohammed. Bayo Shittu, governorship candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, (CPC) in the 2011 general elections in Oyo state, who was to emerge as Minister of Communications was picked by President Buhari.
Controversial primary as last straw
The opportunity to squeal against his alienation by the Buhari administration came handy for Tinubu, following the rejection of recommendations of the three-member Election Appeal Committee chaired by Mrs. Helen Bendega, which called for cancellation of the governorship primary in Ondo that produced Rotimi Akeredolu, (SAN) and the submission of his name to INEC by the party’s national chairman, Odigie Oyegun.
The anointed candidate of Tinubu, Olusegun Abraham lost the ticket in the primary conducted last September to Akeredolu, believed to have been backed by the presidency. Incidentally, the former Lagos state governor supported Akeredolu in the 2012 election won by incumbent governor, Segun Mimiko.
Tinubu in his statement entitled, “Oyegun’s Ondo fraud: The violation of democracy in the APC,’’ accused the national chairman of the party of high handedness and shoddy manner in handling the outcome of the Ondo primary. Tinubu stated: “He has shown that he and democratic fair play cannot exist in the same party at the same time.
“If Tinubu is to choose between John (Odigie-) Oyegun and progress toward a better Nigeria, the choice has already been made. For those who care about the party, who care about Nigeria and its chance for a better tomorrow, now is the time to stand against this brewing evil before it grows to encompass all we have built and all we hold dear.”
The former Lagos State governor further demanded Oyegun’s resignation. Earlier before Tinubu’s indictment of Oyegun, the APC National Working Committee had defended its rejection of recommendation of Helen Bendega-led committee which called for the cancellation of the election result.
While justifying the submission of Akeredolu’s name to INEC, the party said it unanimously arrived at the decision having identified some fundamental flaws in the report of the appeal committee. One of the aggrieved aspirants who lost the ticket to Akeredolu, Olusola Oke had since jumped ship and he is the candidate of the Alliance for Democracy. The former national legal adviser of the PDP who was the candidate of the party in the 2012 governorship election is believed to enjoy Tinubu’s support.
Oke’s candidature for Ondo election, Saturday Sun gathered is being used by associates of the former Lagos state governor to test the political waters, ahead of 2019 general elections. The Director-
General of Oke Campaign Organization, Mr. Bola Ilori is a close ally of Osun state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, who is Tinubu’s political godson. Ilori was the Special Adviser to Governor Aregbesola on Environment and currently a consultant to Osun State government on environment.
Last Saturday, the grand finale rally of the APC held in Akure was boycotted by Tinubu and three of the governors in the zone: Aregbesola, Akinwumi Ambode and Isiaka Ajimobi, governors of Osun,
Lagos and Oyo states, respectively. A top chieftain of the party and former national chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, (ACN), Bisi Akande was equally absent.
Speaking at the rally, President Buhari in apparent reference to Tinubu and others’ rejection of the last September primary that produced Akeredolu said he was convinced that the process was free and fair.
The President said: “I wish to call on the people of Ondo State to cast their votes for APC in the governorship election, even as I appeal to aggrieved members of our great party to support Akeredolu in the interest of our great party, which is greater than any individual.
“The primary election of the party held on September 3, 2016 was free, fair and credible and I have no doubt in my mind that the best and most acceptable per son within the party emerged through the primary.”
A victory for Oke in today’s contest will reinforce Tinubu’s invincibility and enormous influence in southwest and confound the foot soldiers of President Buhari. Conversely, the trouncing of the AD candidate will certainly jolt Tinubu’s camp, but excite the president’s foot soldiers, and embolden them to embark on further onslaughts, ahead of 2019 to decimate and rout Tinubu in his traditional political turf. The presidency may also jettison further trouble shooting initiative in the event of a successful outing in Ondo State governorship election.
It’s a battle for the soul of Southwest —Afenifere
Yinka Odumakin, national publicity secretary of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere in a telephone interview with Saturday Sun also said the outcome of the election would determine the forces that would call the shots in the southwest between Tinubu forces and the Buhari foot soldiers in the zone.
He said: ‘’I think there is a battle for the soul of the Yoruba nation, between the presidency forces and Tinubu’s troops.
“Now, the judgment of the Court of Appeal which accorded recognition to Eyitayo Jegede has opened opportunity for Mimiko and Jegede. It is a three- pronged battle between the APC, AD and the PDP.
“A victory for Jegede is a victory for Mimiko, otherwise it would have been a battle between Buhari and Tinubu’s forces. A victory for Buhari camp would mean that they have secured their 2019 presidential ticket. That would also mean they have successfully subjugated southwest.
‘’If Tinubu’s tendencies win, they will certainly open a register for those who want 2019 presidential ticket to come and put down their names. So, it is an epic battle. But for us in Afenifere, the wish of the people must be allowed to prevail. “
Former Osun state governorship candidate on the platform of the AD, Barrister Tunde Odanye also described the election as a litmus test for 2019 within the APC.
“It is obvious that all isn’t well within the APC. You cannot but feel that there is a battle to prove a point by both sides of the divide. I believe that the disenfranchised APC members are trying to prove that without them, things cannot happen and others are trying to say, ‘ we don’t need you to get along.’