Ondo 2016 governorship poll encore

…as Gov. Akeredolu, Jegede set for a bigger battle in October

By OLUSESAN LAOYE

The battle for  the occupant of  the Alagbaka Government house  in Akure, Ondo  state come October this year, after  the governorship  election, is now set, as it would  be a repeat  of the last election in 2016. With the conclusion of the primaries by the two main parties, the battle line seems to be drawn. In 2016 the battle was between the incumbent, Governor  Rotimi  Akeredolu of the All Progressives  Congress(APC) and  Mr.  Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In the last election, both  became the flag bearers of their  respective political parties after  a keenly contested primaries which observers sidy was more  intense than the just concluded  one last week, which again produced  the  two candidate, suggesting consolidation of power by the two candidates in the parties In Ondo  State, it could be said  that, there  are  three  major political parties, the PDP, APC and the Social Democratic Party  (SDP), founded by former finance minister and presidential candidate of AD in 1999, Chief Olu Falae, where  notable and prominent  figures  abound but only two of them have been receiving attention in the past 15 years of the current political  dispensation.

The PDP and the APC have always been at logger-head for supremacy  to rule the state. With  the emergence of Jegede and Akeredolu, another battle has begun. Although  they both worked very hard, with initial doubt emanating, from intrigues and power play, especially in APC, where Akeredolu  contested the primary of his party  as incumbent  governor, despite  all the  strives and threats within the party before President Buhari’s intervention to prevent another Edo situation, last minute maneuvering and calculations by some powerful interests for the 2023 presidential  election, saved the day.

Also with  Jegede of the PDP, the last minute  decampment of the Deputy Governor to Akeredolu, Mr. Agboola Ajayi to the party, created  some waves  and  storms which from the outside, looked like sinking the boat of Jegede who was the most favoured to emerge the flag bearer. It was a battle for survival with both both candidates taking nothing for granted. As the incumbent governor of  the state, he  had some stormy  issues  before  the primary, and  at a stage he was not so sure  that the whole thing  would  come in his favour, with a gang up against  him.

Before the primary a group known as the  Unity Forum said to have been backed by Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu came together to work out how to present a consensus candidate against him, because they did not want a repeat of what happened in 2016, when they went their different ways and Akeredolu won.

They felt that would be the best way to prevent him from winning the ticket of the party, but the plan did not work. They were unable to agree on the aspirant that would face Akeredolu.

Although the committee saddled with the responsibility picked Chief Olusola Oke, others disagreed and decided to go the way of 2016. That disagreement marked the beginning of Akeredolu’s emergence because with all of them in different camps, he was sure of victory.

What actually nailed the coffin of the gang-up was the indirect primary introduced by the new caretaker National Executive Committee of the APC. With this, it was glaring that there was no way anyone of them could defeat Akeredolu. Tinibu, who now felt that since Olusegun Abraham, his preferred  aspirant was disqualified, pitched tent with Oke who is equally strong  to face Akeredolu thinking that with the direct  primary, Oke had every chance of defeating the governor because that is where money would matter, “just”  to kick Akeredolu out and further consolidate himself in the south west.  He was however, disappointed when indirect primary was adopted.

At this stage he had to make a u-turn and find a way of backing Akeredolu tactically. That was why Abraham and four others who were his loyalists backed out at the last minutes to give their support to Akeredolu. As such, before the contest, Oke and others who refused to back down    knew they were going for a lost battle. Political observers believed that at this stage, Tinubu  had no than choice than to back Akeredolu and fall in line with the decision of the party because  it was really clear to him that there were  some powerful forces he was aware of, who wanted to use the primary of Ondo APC to humiliate him.

Being an experienced politician, he knew what the emergence of Akeredolu without his input   portends for his political career in the South West and his alleged presidential ambition. That was why it was  easy for Akeredolu  to have that  easy ride with 2,450 votes out of of the 3,000 votes of the delegates, leaving Oke his closest  rival.with just only 263 votes and the person  who came third, Chief Kekemeke with 19 votes.

Though Akeredolu has emerged the candidate of his party, he still has a lot of fences to mend within the  party and with the people of the state who have tested him and now would decide whether he would be given a second chance to govern them for another four years.

Jegede

Ironically, Jegede and his opponent in the APC Akeredolu who is currently ruling Ondo state, have many things in common. They are both men of the inner Bar and Senior Advocate of Nigeria. They are also meeting again for the governorship contest after four years that they    both engaged in the same battle. Jegede, like Akeredolu is a brilliant lawyer and politician who is not knew in politics. He was one of the favourites of former governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko who wanted the former to succeed him in 2016 but the  plan failed  as it was Akeredolu, his rival, then, that won the election narrowly

Jegede has now emerged the candidate of the PDP by defeating his closest contestant Agboola Ajayi, the current Deputy Governor who decamped  to the PDP last Month in a turbulent circumstance  with his principal Akeredolu. While Jegede scored 888 votes out of 2111, votes from delegates, Ajayi who joined the race few days to the primary had 667 votes.

Contrary to the speculations that Ajayi would emerge the candidate of the PDP because of the assurance giving to him by the leaders of the party in the state which made him left APC, the way he did, he eventually lost to Jegede who has been on the ground since he and his former  boss Mimiko came back to the party after their tenure in the labour party.

Agboola too was in PDP but left for the APC where he became the Deputy Governor, due to his political ambition to rule. The primary of the PDP was smooth and lasted eight hours. Jegede     approached the election with confidence because of the backing and support he got from the top members of the party, who still reposed confidence in him that he would deliver and in the    position to fight Akeredolu, despite his incumbency.

Jegede was backed by the Governor of Rivers state, Nyeson Wike, and Seyi Makinde of Oyo state who was said to have mobilized very well for him amongst other PDP governors. Apart from this, the former Vice President Alhaji Abubakar Atiku was said to have been strongly in support of Jegede. With the backing of all these notables, and for the mere fact that he too is consistent and has been on ground as a grassroots politicians, loved by the people, there was no way any of the aspirant including, Ajayi could have beaten him in the primary.

Way forward

Right now what is preoccupying the minds of the two contestants and their  political parties is how to win the election and to do this, many factors would come into play. In the first place, the    choice of their Deputies is paramount. The zones that produced the candidates are Ondo Central, where  Jegede comes from and Ondo North where Akeredolu is from. In 2016 Akeredolu who won, picked his deputy from Ondo South while Jegege picked his running mate from the North where Akeredolu comes from. It is now being speculated that  Jegede this time may want to pick his deputy  from the South.

It is now being suggested that he should run with Agboola Ajayi who came second in the primary, but the issue is that Jegede may not want to trust Ajayi in view of his antecedents with  the way he ditched Akeredolu, since he too would like to spend a second term, if he wins the election. Akeredolu too has two options to either pick from the South or the Central where  Jegede  is from to whittle down the votes of Jegede. But according to political analysts both may likely go to the South to placate them because the South believed they are being marginalised  by the North and the central.

It will be easy for Akeredolu to go back to the South and could use that to convince them that he would do everything to ensure that the governorship comes from there, after him. It was    argued that he could use the argument to demolish Jegede that the people in the South would still remain deputy since he would want a second term and he may even decide to go to the North in his second term.

The performance of the incumbent would also count as the people have tested him and would now have to decide whether they still want him or go for another person. Apart from the internal factors, external ones would also play major roles on who gets the mandate of the people in October 2020.

Meanwhile both Jegede and Akeredolu have reacted on their victories. According to Akeredolu, “Most profoundly, I salute the courage of my brother aspirants. They have enriched the contest, no doubt. I must say that I am particularly enamoured by the determination and the industry we all put into this endeavour.

“All the same, the campaigns preceding this day have been noticeably fraught with mixed feelings. Relationships in some cases may have been bruised and interests hurt. In other cases, methods deployed to run these campaigns may not have been pleasant. I plead with all of us to leave these in the past and move on.

“This is more so that, all aspirants, including myself, were either victims or indirectly responsible for such unpleasant circumstances. We must find spaces in our hearts to forgive one another. I am convinced that our individual pursuits were driven by the altruistic motivation to strengthen our great party and more importantly, take our dear state to loftier heights.”

The statement further statement: “I find it delightful to say here and now, that we have all won together. Consider me as the custodian of your vision for the sunshine state. Together, we shall move the state forward. Under my watch, we shall witness a more robust, reassuring and rewarding relationship.

“Today, history is made. History is made not because of my victory at the just concluded primary of our great party. In unpretentious terms, the strong will, dedication, perseverance as well as the palpable resolve of all-party men and women at this very event present a historic moment to behold.

“While I consider this evening reflective of our collective desire to sustain our party in Government, our expressed direction, the exceptional comportment on the part of our delegates and the seeming show of love for one another has thrown further challenges upon me as your leader and governor.

“May I use this opportunity to express sincere appreciation to my brother Governor, Yahaya Bello of Kogi state and his team for this wonderful outing. You have displayed a high sense of professionalism and an immeasurable degree of competence.

“You have demonstrated that a credible electoral system is possible and achievable. The transparency you have exerted today is the platform I intend to leverage upon for reconciliation.

“Please permit me, to use you as a point of contact to express my profound appreciation to the national leadership of our great party, especially Mr. President, President Muhammadu Buhari, our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as well as the national caretaker committee led by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe state.

Akeredolu added: “I would also like to appreciate all party delegates, starting from the state party executives, who came from all the local government areas in the state for their unalloyed support and dedication to this party. I can assure you all, Ondo state is an APC state, together, we shall deliver come October 10.”.

In his own reaction, Jegede thanked all the people that made his victory possible and promised   to work together with other aspirants to ensure that the party wins the coming governorship  election.