POlitical WAR in Ekiti (2015 Preview)

As Ekiti Gears Up for 2015 Elections

With the governorship election out of the way in Ekiti State, SAM NWAOKO writes on the current attention

of political gladiators on the sundry elective offices available in the coming 2015 election.

As the 2015 election approaches, the Ekiti State polity is gradually warming up for the epoch, just as the gladiators are already showing their faces, albeit; in bits. So far, only a few leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state have publicly declared their interest to contest in 2015 elections. Ekiti has been in what one elderly politician in the state referred to as “a state of lull” after the governorship campaign and election on June 21.

Thus, with that election out of the way in Ekiti, the focus of all and sundry has shifted to the other elective offices available for contest in 2015. Already, many politicians have been coming to the leaders of their political parties in the state and beyond for necessary action. Interestingly, the preponderance of political activities in Ekiti is currently found in the PDP.

Since the party defeated the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) in the June 21 governorship election in the state, the latter has recoiled and literally remained in its shell ever since. The party has hardly been in the news nor has it been doing anything other than the occasional news of its petition at the election petitions tribunal. Many commentators believe that the defeat has seriously dampened the morale of the APC adherents in the state while on the other hand, members of the PDP have become gingered up and are rearing to make an encore on the belief that their party has become the beautiful bride.

Following the seeming lull in the house of the APC in the state, the active politicians in the PDP are not in any way showing signs of slowing down yet.

In Ado Ekiti, the state capital, two prominent indigenes of the town are in the race for the position of senator to represent Ekiti Central in the next Senate. One of them is Senator Bode Ola, formerly of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), who spent only a few months in the last Senate, having fought in the courts for over three years to regain his mandate that was initially awarded to Chief Femi Kila of the PDP by the electoral umpire. Chief Ola, who is now a chieftain of the PDP, left the ACN/APC in anger some months to the governorship election, following persistent claims and complaints that the leaders of the APC had left him in the lurch.

Another prominent member of the PDP eyeing the Ekiti Central senatorial seat is Mrs Fatima Raji-Rasaki. she represented Ekiti Central Federal Constituency I in the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011. She has been a member of the PDP all along and has been to the PDP secretariat in the state to submit her letter of intention to vie for the ticket to contest the election.

Also in the race for the ticket to represent Ekiti Central in the Senate on the platform of the PDP is a prominent lawyer and former national secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Obafemi Adewale. Unlike Ola and Rasaki, who are from Ado Ekiti Local Government Area, Adewale, who is a foundation member of the PDP, hails from Ijero Local Government Area, which has never produced a senator for Ekiti Central. He is vastly experienced, having served the PDP in various capacities in and out of government.

The three well-known PDP chieftains are believed to be currently in the psyche of both the leaders of the party and the constituents of Ekiti Central district, while observers wait to see how the party will handle the situation of the ticket. Chief Ola, Mrs Raji Rasaki and Mr Adewale have unique qualities which they are bringing into the race. The trio is undoubtedly good quality materials for the PDP and the party is revelling in this. A leader of the PDP in the state said: “The victory party recorded in the June governorship, apart from changing the lot of millions for good because of various governments’ actions in reaction to it, has also spurred our star members and citizens to show interest in elective offices and these are people Ekiti citizens cannot resist.”

Other members of the PDP in the state have also shown interest in the ticket to contest for the House. For instance, the only member of the party in the state House of Assembly, Mr Ajibola Oyedele, has indicated interest to go to the National Assembly. Ajibola, commonly known as 50:50 in the state, hung on the Assembly dominated by APC members, even when his only other colleague at the inauguration of the Assembly in June 2011, Mrs Aduke Oriniowo, defected from the PDP to the APC a few weeks to the governorship election. Many commentators and PDP apologists see Ajibola’s ambition as an opportunity for the party to reward his steadfastness and tenacity. However, the party will have to decide that when the time comes.

The general opinion so far expressed by various stakeholders in the state favours primary elections to select the PDP candidates. The chairman of the PDP in the state, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, had reiterated the determination of the party to give every contender an equal opportunity to emerge as candidate. He said the party would prove, through the selection of its candidates, that it was the party with the most enviable democratic credentials in the country.

The leader of the party in the state, Mr Ayo Fayose, has also spoken of his determination to ensure that the selection of candidates does not cause crisis in the party by ensuring a level-playing ground for all the contestants. Fayose, the state governor-elect, announced at a gathering of the party faithful that all the political offices were still available for contest and gave the assurance that all would be treated fairly.

While all political activities seem to surround only the PDP at the moment, the APC is also expected to commence activities when the time for the election comes. The APC had said it would not shirk in its responsibility of providing responsible opposition. The chairman ofthe party in the state said in a recent interview that the government of Dr Kayode Fayemi had raised the bar of quality governance in Ekiti and that his party would monitor to ensure that the people of the state are not short-changed by the incoming government in terms of quality governance. The people of Ekiti State are waiting for the swearing-in, following which a lot of various activities would commence.

Indeed, the people are waiting for what the coming months will bring in Ekiti, just as they watch the political gladiators scheme their next political moves.