Head, News Desk, VICTOR EBIMOMI, takes a look at the Ekiti governorship election on Saturday, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the three leading contenders
Prof Attahiru Jega, INEC chairman.
Ekiti State is literally on heat. On Saturday, June 21, its electorate will file out to cast their votes in a governorship election that promises to be crunchy. For more than three months, after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gave the parties the green light for electioneering, the state has continued to witness a lot of political activities, some even unpalatable.
The major contestants are Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the governor and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC); Ayo Fayose, former governor and flagbearer of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); and Opeyemi Bamidele of Labour Party (LP), who is member of the House of Representatives.
Since their emergence as candidates of their respective parties, Ekiti political temperature has been on the rise. During a visit by TheNiche last week, the Saturday poll was clearly the dominant issue at major joints. At the Adekunle Fajuyi Memorial Park at the heart of Ado-Ekiti metropolis, engagements by supporters of the candidates indicate the seriousness they attached to the battle at hand.
According to Kayode Adeyemi, a Fayemi die-hard, Ekiti is currently undergoing a transformation it had not witnessed since its creation 18 years ago. Areas he readily credited to the present administration were infrastructure uplift, education, health and industrial sectors. Above all, he insisted that the governor has restored the dignity of the Ekiti man by his insistence on hard work and discipline as bases for attaining enduring success.
“You may not like his austere disposition on matters of finance. He is not your regular politician who throws money about. But you must concede to him the fact that he has brought dignity and integrity to bear on governance,” Adeyemi, a graduate of Accountancy, told us.
His friend, Yinka Fadipe, however disagreed with him, accusing the governor of sounding too academic and appearing withdrawn from the people. His preference is Fayose, the PDP candidate.
The former governor, Fadipe stressed, rescued Ekiti from the administration of Niyi Adebayo and put it on the foundation that Fayemi is building on. What Ekiti currently needs, he insisted, is a grassroots man who understands the basic needs of the people.
“Fayose is that man. The rich men may not like him because of his attitude of being closer to the common man. I pray that God gives him the opportunity to serve the people again. He is our man,” he enthused.
Curiously, a female staff of the State’s Ministry of Health, who pleaded anonymity, confessed that she had sentiments for Bamidele. According to her, neither Fayose nor Fayemi had shown much interest in the health sector, hence her preference for Bamidele, who is running on the ticket of LP.
“I am convinced that his programmes would be patterned along those of Ondo State, especially on health issues. The mother-and-child health policy of Ondo remains the best in the country. Since Bamidele is running on the platform of LP which produced Governor Olusegun Mimiko in Ondo, it will be my prayers that he wins in Ekiti to replicate such programmes here,” she remarked.
Elsewhere in the capital city, supporters of the three candidates advertised their loyalty in various forms. While some drivers hoisted mini flags of their preferred candidates on their vehicles, commercial motorcycle operators (okada) put on T-shirts indicating who they support. Aside the three leading contenders, posters of the other 15 parties and their standard bearers were also noticeable in strategic points in the city. On the average, the stakes were high.
Drawing the battle line
The line for the titanic battle was drawn following the emergence of the candidates. Bamidele’s entry to the race, particularly, made it more interesting. Reports have it that the LP flagbearer and Fayemi were best of friends before politics put them asunder. It was, in fact, said that Bamidele played a significant role in the emergency of Fayemi as the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate.
The story, which has not been confirmed, alleged that Bamidele was initially tipped for the job when Bola Tinubu, the party’s godfather, asked some of his aides to head for their states of origin and take the mantle of leadership. Bamidele was then Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State. It was at that point he allegedly suggested ‘a friend’ in person of Fayemi for the position, while he elected to head for the Senate. His compatriot in the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Rauf Aregbesola, however, grabbed the opportunity and eventually became the governor of Osun State.
The turning-point in the Bamidele/Fayemi association, which nosed-dived into enmity, was allegedly over the scuttling of the former’s ambition for the Senate.
Another candidate for the Red Chamber, Babafemi Ojudu, a journalist, was said to have been the preferred choice of Fayemi and he eventually used his position as the governor to have his way. Bamidele eventually settled for the House of Representatives, but then he was said to have felt fatally hurt and betrayed by the action of the governor. Since then, he was said to have zeroed his mind in taking his pound of flesh.
So when he eventually left the APC, a party that has given him political relevance for years, for a relatively unpopular LP, in December 2013, many political watchers, declared that they saw it coming. It is time for him to fight his friend from another platform.
The emergency of Fayose as PDP candidate further raised the stake for Fayemi, but he soon scored an unexpected point. His once arch-enemy and the person he threw out of Government House through a protracted litigation, Engr. Segun Oni, on May 5, dumped the PDP and teamed up with him. To many political observers, it was a big boost for the governor’s ambition and he did not waste time to celebrate the ‘big catch’.
Back to the trenches
Since the political campaigns towards the June 21 poll kicked off, a season of tension seems to have returned to the state. The tension is so high that hardly could a week pass without allegations of attacks by supporters of rival parties. Incidentally, Ekiti has unenviable record of political bloodshed, right from the time it was part of Ondo. In 1983, the riot that erupted after the governorship election that gave victory to Akin Omoboriowo of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) ahead of Adekunle Ajasin of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) started from Ekiti side of the then Ondo.
In the current engagement, among the easily recalled allegations of attacks is the one of April 7, 2014 by LP. Bolanle Olatunde-Bruce, the party’s media and publicity secretary, accused the APC supporters of the act.
Early in the month, Fayose alleged that he was attacked by APC supporters. On Tuesday June 10, he took the matter to President Goodluck Jonathan.
The former governor declared that the fracas, which led to the death of one of his supporters, “was instigated by supporters of the rival APC”.
Fayemi’s supporters have also experienced series of attacks which they claimed were perpetrated by supporters of LP and PDP.
For example, on June 8, the governor raised alarm that his convoy was attacked by the police.
Briefing newsmen the following day, the governor said the incident led to the death of one Taiwo Akinola, just as he described the attack as an assault on the government and people of the state.
Fayemi said: “We cannot be back to the era of one day, one bloodletting in Ekiti State. The peace that this state has enjoyed in the last three and half years must be sustained and I will like to think that all relevant authorities, right from Mr. President, who is the chief of the security agencies, will not want the peace reigning in the state disturbed in anyway”.
Worried by the spate of violent attacks in the state, Ekiti State Elders’ Forum mooted that all the candidates should sign an undertaken to shun violence as the election inches closer. But the effort did not pay off.
Royal fathers to the rescue
Also disturbed by the rising tension over the election, royal fathers in the state last month said they would take the matter to President Jonathan, so that perhaps he could prevail on the political actors not to plunge the state into crisis because of the June 21 election.
The council of the traditional rulers also said it planned to meet the security agencies to intimate the council on its plans to curb the violence.
Eyes on INEC
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), TheNiche learnt, is worried at uncertain developments in the state that prides itself as the Fountain of Knowledge. It has been estimated that to forestall any unpalatable show, the chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, will literally be moving the commission’s headquarters to Ekiti.
He would be on ground with six national commissioners, aside being supported by all the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) from neighbouring states.
The REC, Husseini Halilu Pai, disclosed this on Monday, while hosting a non-governmental organisation, NUJ/NBA Peace Initiatives on Election. He added that Jega’s decision to be in the state for the election was borne out of his commitment to a thorough exercise. But analysts maintained that the INEC boss may have seen the writing on the wall and may have decided to be on ground to pre-empt any violence. The presence of Jega is also believed to be capable of adding more bite to the security arrangement for the election.
Trampling on Ekiti electorate
But beyond headaches of how to put down enough security, INEC may also be facing a techy issue of disenfranchisement of some eligible voters.
Traditional rulers in the state had raised concern about this at their 165th council meeting. Based on their worries, they resolved to invite Pai for parley over voter cards.
Candidates at a glance
Fayemi is into the race as the incumbent, a position many analysts said could give him a relative advantage over others.
Apart from that, he is seen as someone who has brought reasonable development to the state since he assumed power. A major card that Fayemi is said to be flaunting as the election draws near is his record of people-oriented service which, his supporters say, cuts across all the councils in the state. His unusual disposition to the elderly and the most vulnerable in the state through the welfare scheme of his administration also counts in his favour, TheNiche learnt.
“Victory is on his side. I have no doubt that he will make it. His good works will speak for him,” enthused one of his admirers who preferred anonymity.
Another great factor in favour of Fayemi, analysts say, is that of Oni. When the former governor left PDP to team up with Fayemi in APC, he moved with prominent people, including those who worked with him during his tenure. This, they said, is a big boost for the governor. He is an indigene of Isan-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of the state, which is regarded among the council with the widest spread.
Fayose is not new to politics and political intrigues. As a former governor, some political watchers believe he could spring surprise at the poll. Apart from being versed in the politics of the state, another joker up his sleeves is the fact that he is seen as a grassroots man, who is always at home with the ordinary Ekiti man.
“Fayose can win in Ekiti because he is a very popular and likeable person in the state,” an indigene of Iyin-Ekiti, who gave his name as Bolaji, said with air of finality.
Unlike Fayemi, who easily picked his party’s ticket, Fayose emerged through a keenly contested primary, beating 14 other contenders and garnering 462 votes, a feat analysts say is a confirmation that he still has powerful political clout in the state.
It is also argued that despite the controversy that trailed his tenure as governor, he was adjudged by many to have performed considerably well in the infrastructural transformation of the state, when compared to his predecessors.
Observers also believe that Fayose might have been put forward for the election by his party in the belief that he cannot be easily intimidated by the incumbency factor currently being enjoyed by Fayemi, since he had once occupied the position and thus understands most of the political intrigues that the office can pull up before and during the election.
Even at that, the governor’s camp is said to be convinced that Fayose could easily be beaten at the polls. This conviction receives boost from the fact that the former governor was trounced by an APC candidate, Babafemi Ojudu, in his attempt for the Senate in 2011.
Bamidele is also well positioned on the political radar. Having served as Commissioner for Information in Lagos and still serving as House of Representatives member since 2011, he can boast of needed experience to weather the storm. He is also regarded by many in his state and friends as a good material for the number one job.
Although, he is vying under a party that can only lay claim to a state (Ondo), the fact that Mimiko is perceived as an antagonist of Tinubu, the national leader of APC, could make the contest very keen because Mimiko is also planning to make an in-road into the South West. Besides, some analysts argue that apart from having a significant following, Bamidele could also get sentiment votes from some voters who believe he was not well treated in the APC.