The question to ask, therefore, is why such persons would like to deliberately imperil the chances of the party in an important election like this.
O yes, PDP can win in Ekiti again, and heavens will not fall. This, however, will not be because of anything Governor Ayo Fayose, the quintessential, practical Nigerian politician, does, or does not do, but principally because of the complete disharmony that now envelopes the Ekiti chapter of the APC with its current 26 but still growing, number of wannabe governors. Let me quickly say, though, that this piece does not contemplate a serious look at the forthcoming governorship election.
That will come sooner than later, God willing. Rather it should be seen as an essential input into what should reckon as the unavoidable efforts to properly reposition the party ahead of the election which will obviously not be a walkover, incumbency at the federal level, or not. It therefore seeks to encourage true lovers of the party to ensure that a reasonable synergy emerges within the party ahead the 2018 election. There is a massive, and urgent need to immediately dissuade many of those indicating interest in contesting the election. It is a mad house as it presently stands. The APC leadership must therefore move like it is being pursued as the Ondo crisis which considerably fissured the party must not be allowed to repeat itself in Ekiti. It is sincerely hoped that APC is a serious enough party to know that this huge number is no indication of party popularity. Rather it demonstrates a putrefying self interest, simplicita. Many of them will not be bothered, whatever happened to the APC, as I shall try to show.
Ordinarily, the party should not have been in the current mess in Ekiti but for a totally unexpected misunderstanding which erupted shortly after the 2014 governorship election but which, happily, appears to have since run its course. Had that not happened, the party should, by now, be at its strongest ever, in the state.
Not unexpectedly, therefore, party activities was in the doldrums for a long time with none of the former state governors – Adebayo, Oni and Fayemi (unwilling to upset the apple cart) – showing up to champion a permanent détente. This situation continued until a measure of anxiety led some respected elders like former governor Bamidele Olumilua to step in to forge a rapprochement which was well received by the highly traumatised party members and supporters.
But gubernatorial ambitions would appear to have returned matters to the status quo ante bellum.
While most of these contestants are men of honour, in Ekiti, we sure know ourselves. Our people will, therefore, have no difficulty identifying those who are mere place holders, just as they know the jokers among them who are hardly of any significance back in their home towns. They equally know those whose primary motive is to use the occasion to make money in form of contributions from friends. The question to ask, therefore, is why such persons would like to deliberately imperil the chances of the party in an important election like this.
It is called enlightened self interest.
To properly validate the huge joke going on in Ekiti APC right now, I present below, a cast which would give most Ekiti people a belly laugh. They are those whose names have been paraded as contestants on the platform of the APC, without a rebuttal. Any questions should be directed at the Ekiti Whatsapp groups where this has been running, uncontested, for quite a while.
Hon. Olufemi Bamisile
Dr. Adebayo Orire
Hon. Bimbo Daramola
Hon. Bamidele Faparusi
Senator Gbenga Aluko
Senator Babafemi Ojudu
Senator Ayo Arise
Hon. Debo Ranti
Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele (MOB)
Otunba Yinka Akerele
Dr. Femi Thomas
Dr. Owolabi S.
Chief Sesan Fatoba
Dr. Oluwole Oluyede
Mr. Yemi Adaramodu
Hon. Funminiyi Afuye
Hon. Bayo Idowu
Otunba Bisi Aloba
Chief Dele Okeya
Mr. Bodunde Adeyanju
Mr. Kayode Adaramodu
Engr. Segun Oni
Captain Sunday Adebomi
Mr. Bayo Babalotin
Mr. Muyiwa Olumilua
Mr. Kola Alabi
Mr. Kola Adu
Mr Kole Ajayi
Hon. Diran Adesua
Mr. Kayode Oladipupo
Mr. Ishola Fapounda
Mr. Olajide Akinyemi Junior
One of Ekiti’s most poignant philosophical sayings is: Aan tan ra oni je, I ri re meaning you can never profit from deceiving yourself. It is analogous to the farmer who planted 200 heaps of yam but claims he has a thousand heaps. There is no reason, whatever, to think that our people will be deceived, this time around. They know each of these men like their palms.
I decided to put out this list for two main reasons. One, that family members – parents, wives and children, would critically examine their interested family member, and since two heads are better than one, properly counsel him as to its reasonableness, or otherwise. At a recent social outing in Lagos, I ran into a friend, who contested as the governorship candidate of a major party in the state, and, indeed, performed fairly well, but never mentioned a word of his intention to his wife until he had spent over N250 Million. Because these things do happen, relations on seeing their names here should be able to give proper advice. This is a humongous contest you do not get into in a flight of fancy. An adjunct to this is that his town’s people should also have a role to play lest an unserious contestant jeopardises their chance of striking an agreement with a more viable candidate.
The more important reason, however, is to draw the attention of the party leadership to what could very well be far worse than the Ondo conundrum. Writing to me from London on the matter only this past week, Banji Ogungbemi, former Managing Director of the Republic of Benin National Oil Corporation, wrote: “Egbon, this motley crowd brought memories of Lagos just before BAT chose RAF. I am still amazed at how the “me-too” succession chaos was managed without any collateral damage to the Lagos team. However, because of our unique Ekiti characteristic of obduracy, the APC risks acrimony and fragmentation that may give the incumbent governor a chance of installing his man”.
This exactly is why APC should allow history be its guide. Many of those indicating interest are decampees from the PDP. While it is a truism that politics is a game of numbers, it must not escape the party leadership that back in 2007, about 12 members of the AD, inclusive of some of these contestants, left the party to join the PDP directly after the primary elections which they lost. Many of them rose to prominence in the PDP, a party that is now aggressively, and feverishly, going round the country, wooing its aggrieved members. In this, not even men of timber and calibre like former Vice Presidents, Alex Ekwueme , and Atiku Abubakar or Senate President Bukola Saraki, are spared the renewed onslaught. APC should therefore be extremely careful as the PDP will eagerly be awaiting their members defeated at the APC primary. Also, it must be understood that Ekiti politicians are uniquely obdurate. Towards the 2011 elections, I served as a member of the national Screening Committee of the A C N, for Ekiti. Of all the constituencies, it was only in Gboyin where Dr Wale Omirin, later Speaker, comes from, that had a consensual arrangement. Everywhere else in Ekiti, because of inability to agree on anything, virtually all towns presented contestants for every elective position, a times, 2 or 3 from the same town for the same position. The party must therefore not expect any gentlemanly agreement to reduce the number.
As a first step, before putting in place an absolutely transparent primary election process, the outcome of which will enjoy sustainable acceptance by most contestants unlike what happened in Ondo State, I will like to advise that the party enpanels a committee of solely, non-Ekiti, members to weed the field.
The committee must call for a comprehensive bio-data of every contestant, which a committee of the state chapter must forensically ascertain with the assistance of the security agencies before they are remitted to the national committee. Given the absolutely unwieldy field, APC must improve on the PDP requirement of a minimum of two years period of unbroken membership, or a waiver, to qualify to contest elections. This must be increased to a minimum of 36 calendar months as it is far less painful to disqualify when an intending contestant has not spent much money or sold property, than to want to propitiate him after losing at the primaries.
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