Scores strategising to unseat Mimiko

Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko

The multiplicity of aspirants for the October 20 governorship poll in Ondo State is causing confusion in political circles in the state, writes SUNDAY ABORISADE

Residents of Akure, the Ondo State capital, have been subjected to a serious stress on the Oyemekun Road in the last two months by various aspirants of the Action Congress of Nigeria, who have been organising political rallies to formally declare their governorship ambition, almost on a weekly basis.

A majority of the aspirants have their campaign offices on the road and usually arrange prominent musicians to perform on the day of their declaration, obviously to attract a large crowd. The crowd of supporters invariably takes over a lane of the dual-carriage way, forcing motorists to make use of a single lane.

A cab driver, Mr. Joseph Jolayemi, who was caught up in a traffic congestion during one of such rallies recently, wondered why the leadership of the party had not drawn up a framework for the aspirants to reduce their number.

Jolayemi is among the numerous residents of the state, who are now concerned about the number of politicians in the fold of the Ondo State chapter of the ACN, who wish to become the governor. The question on the lips of many, however, is why the leadership of the party had to wait for this long before picking its candidate.

Aspirants who had openly declared their ambition under the umbrella of the party are: a human rights activist, Dr. Tunji Abayomi; a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN; Chief Jamiu Ekungba; Senator Olorunnimbe Farunkanmi; Mr. Saka Lawal; Dr. Olu Agunloye; Chief Tayo Alasoadura; and a serving senator, Prof. Ajayi Boroffice.

Others include a daughter of the late former Governor Adekunle Ajasin, who recently resigned as chairman of the party, Mrs. Jumoke Anifowose; two-term House of Representatives member, Mr. Jaiyeola Ajatta; Mr. Adefope Ajayi; Mr. Festus Oluwole; Mr. Rawa Felix; a former commissioner in the state, Mr. Wale Akinterinwa; Chief Sola Iji; Senator Omololu Meroyi;  a serving House of Representatives member from the state, Mr. Ifedayo Abegunde; Chief Segun Ojo; Mr. Segun Abraham; and an industrialist, Mr. Olayato Aribo, among others.

The senatorial candidate of the party in the Ondo South Senatorial District in the April 2011 elections, Dr. Pius Akintelure, had earlier raised the alarm over the growing list of the aspirants and expressed the fear that opposition parties could sponsor candidates to join the ACN and contest the governorship seat.

Akintelure, in an interview with our correspondent, then had noted that the rate at which notable politicians from other parties were defecting to the ACN and seeking the ticket to contest the 2012 governorship election, called for caution.

The ACN chief advised the leadership of the party at both the national and state levels to be wary of the development and act on time.

He had said, “As far as I am concerned, I don’t have any inordinate ambition. I’m not desperate for power. I’m only desperate to make my people get out of their poverty line. My people will choose for me the role they want me to play when the ACN government is in place come 2013 in the state.

“It is possible for the opposition to be using some aspirants, who will be parading themselves as governorship aspirants within our party right now. We are counselling our people to be mindful of these infiltrators.”

Two prominent aspirants told our correspondent in separate interviews in the last two weeks that the choice of the party’s candidate and the process adopted for their emergence would either mar or make the party in the forthcoming election.

While one of the aspirants suggested the use of primaries to pick the best candidate, the other urged the leadership of the party to subject the profile of all the aspirants to a serious scrutiny and pick the best.

The latter stated that adopting the primaries method could make a moneybag, who did not have the required qualification or experience, to pick the ticket, while the former expressed the fear that hand-picking a candidate might throw the party into serious crisis that might jeopardise its chances at the poll.

But a frontline entrepreneur in the state, Aribo, who declared his intention to contest the governorship election under the umbrella of the party, had allayed the fear of his colleagues on a possible crisis over the choice of a candidate.

Aribo gave an assurance that the choice of the party’s candidate for the poll would not degenerate into any form of rancour.

He said, “We have a large number of governorship aspirants under the umbrella of the ACN in the state because of the party’s acceptability and popularity among the people.

“The development will not manifest into any form of rancour during and after the emergence of our candidate because our party is a disciplined political party that is genuinely committed to all-round development of our state.”

The decision of Anifowose to resign her appointment as chairman of the party and join the governorship race was viewed by many as an invitation to chaos.

A leader of the party confided in our correspondent during the week that the executive of the party might want to favour her and that the action could boomerang except the national leadership of the party handled the situation with  caution.

However, the ACN treasurer and chairman, Contact and Mobilisation, Mr. Ade Adetimehin, insisted that the high number of the aspirants would not constitute any problem to the party.

Adetimehin said the party leaders would definitely meet and decide on the modality for the emergence of the party’s candidate because the party was operating as a large family.

The decision of a former Defence Minister, Mr. Tokunbo Kayode, SAN, to contest under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party, has also increased the number of governorship aspirants to nine.

Those who had earlier indicated their intention to contest included: a former Head of Service in the state, Chief Alaba Isijola; billionaire politician, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim; Mr. Joseph Adeusi; Mr. Ayo Olorunfemi; a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Victor Olabimtan; Mr. Moyosola Niran-Oladunni and a former National Legal Adviser of the party, Chief Olusola Oke among others.

Although the internal crisis rocking the PDP over the outcome of the congress of the party in the state, which led to the emergence of parallel executives, has become a subject of litigation, most of the aspirants believe that the development will not affect their campaigns.

Niran-Oladunni, Isijola and Olabimtan, in separate interviews, argued that the so-called crisis notwithstanding, they would intensify efforts at convincing the electorate that they were the candidates to beat.

They pledged to accept the outcome of the primaries that would be conducted by the leadership of the PDP to pick the candidate for the election.

The elected chairman of the party in the state, Mr. Ebenezer Alabi, told our correspondent that the PDP candidate would be the best in the forthcoming election because the process that would lead to his emergence would be transparent, free and fair.

Alabi said leaders and members of the party had been meeting at the senatorial level to fine-tune the arrangement for the election. The chairman said the candidate of the party could come from any of the three senatorial districts of the state since all the zones had had their shots at the governorship.

He said what looked like a faction in the party was nothing but a demonstration of the anger by some aggrieved members. He expressed the hope that the matter would soon be resolved amicably.

“We have been doing everything possible to reconcile and if truly they are for the interest of the party, they will agree with us. We cannot afford to quarrel now. We had it once and we resolved it; so, we will resolve this one also,” he said.

The factional chairman of the party, Dr. Akin Olowookere, believes that the crisis may deny the party an opportunity to field a candidate because it may linger beyond Oct 20 and may prevent the party from producing a candidate.

The incumbent governor of the state, Olusegun Mimiko, and a relatively unknown politician in the state, Mr. Francis Ogunejumelo, have so far signified their intention to contest the election under the umbrella of the Labour Party.

The leadership of the party in the state, elected politicians under the umbrella of the party, and the political appointees have, however, sealed Ogunejumelo’s fate as they recently adopted Mimiko as the LP candidate for a second term.