The stakes remain high in Ondo politics, even with the defection of Governor Olusegun Mimiko from the Labour Party (LP) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), writes Special Correspondent, JULIUS ALABI.
Going by developments in Ondo State in the last couple of weeks, there are indications that activities for 2015 politics may have commenced. But even with the obvious rise in political engagements, picture of events remain hazy. It would, for instance, be difficult speculating on true state of affairs in the new Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), following the defection of Governor Olusegun Mimiko from Labour Party (PDP) into its fold.
The unfolding scenario began to take shape last week as the Chairman of Ondo State Radiovision Corporation (OSRC), Kayode Ajulo, a close confidant of Mimiko, was elected National Secretary of LP at the fourth national convention of the party held in Akure, apparently to keep LP alive in Ondo.
Also, at the convention, former national secretary of the party, Abdulkadir Salam, was elected national chairman.
Salam replaced Dan Nwanyanwu who stepped down recently after spending 10 years in the office. Like other members of the executive, Salam was elected through the show of hands.
Though the governor has left LP, the emergence of Ajulo as the party’s national secretary was seen as having his imprint. This is especially as many insinuate that he wants to remain a dominant factor in the state’s politics.
Ondo, apart from being an oil-producing state, is among entities that are marked as battle grounds, especially by PDP and APC.
Despite the fact that Mimiko’s government gained public sympathy and support through LP, hence the touted developments and achievements he made in his first term in office, attacks have started coming from different angles over his defection from the party he nurtured to a winning party in the state.
Incidentally, planting Ajulo, one of his trusted aides, in LP did not come to many as a surprise, given that Mimiko appears to be having a running battle with some old members of PDP who see his return to the party as a bid to take over its structure.
The insinuation of his coming to dominate the PDP in the state with his LP supporters, recently, resulted in disagreement between him and some politicians, especially members of PDP State Executive Council (SEC) who vowed to resist him vehemently.
In a release last week, Ondo PDP Director of Publicity, Ayo Fadaka, expressed concern at the way and manner the Mimiko carpet-crossing was managed by select leaders of the party at the national level. According to him, they did so with a lot of disrespect to the state party chairman and members of the State Working Committee (SWC).
“We believe that this action is calculated to treat the entire members of this party as inconsequential in the fortune of our own party. Therefore, we declare that this is grossly unfair and so reject outright all negotiations purportedly entered into on our behalf without our direct input and blessings. Therefore, we state, in the most unequivocal manner, that we repose absolute confidence in the executives of the party at every level in the state and will take serious exceptions to any action taken directly or indirectly to harm or dismantle them.”
Fadaka stated that while they welcome Mimiko and his followers to the party and respect the constitution of the PDP, particularly the recognition it confers on any governor who is a member, it was not lost on them that he was joining as a governor, adding that PDP is a big party with established structures that must not be treated anyhow.
“We also understand that Governor Mimiko’s publicly stated goal of defecting into our party is to enable him contribute effectively to the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan. We must say this is appreciable, but as citizens of Ondo State, we do know that Governor Mimiko currently carries a lot of baggage and liabilities that preclude him from discharging such responsibility.
“Therefore, we declare again that our party, the PDP, was already set on a winning course before this desire of Mimiko to cross into our party again,” he added.
Apparently exploiting the looming crisis in PDP, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Saka Ogunleye, described the merger of LP and PDP in the state as combining two evils, adding that he was confident that his party would triumph over the coalition.
In the event of his losing out in PDP politics and APC carrying the day, Mimiko’s agenda of not wanting an outsider succeed him would have been bungled.
Till last week, the PDP was literally a divided house, as various efforts to bring the leadership together were yet to yield positive result. Mimiko reportedly held a meeting with select chieftains of the party at the Government House on how to resolve all the lingering crises among them and move the party forward. He was said to have promised that his government would be open and inclusive, stressing that the merger should not cause any distraction.
TheNiche gathered that after the meeting, some of the stakeholders who were in attendance were asked to go back to their local governments, wards and units to reconcile the warring factions to avoid the situation getting out of hand.
But what remains to be seen is how such reconciliation would be possible, considering that what is tearing the party apart is the political interest of the major stakeholders in the party ahead of next year’s general elections.
Analysts argue that it was in a bid to guard against the fear of being messed up in PDP that Mimiko planted Ajulo as LP scribe. How far Ajulo would go in resurrecting and repositioning LP that has been bleeding since the governor’s exit remains to be seen.
Interestingly, Ondo politics, as other states in Nigeria, is still miles away from the issue-based engagement.