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The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) appears set to use the July 14 Ekiti State governorship election as launch pad to test its electoral strength ahead of 2019.
APC, which came into power in 2015 with popular votes from Nigerians who were disillusioned with then People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-led federal government, appeared to have lost the support of the people especially as the nation marches towards another general election.
Ekiti State on the other hand is the only state in the South-West which is the stronghold of APC but is governed by the main opposition PDP with Governor Ayodele Fayose as the helmsman. Though, Ekiti may not be the only state where governorship election will hold before 2019 as Osun is next in line but the ruling party seems to be poised to win the state almost at all cost.
The 77-man gang
In the demonstration of its resolve if not desperation to capture Ekiti whether by hook or crook, APC last Thursday inaugurated a very powerful National Campaign Council for the Ekiti Governorship Election made up of 14 sitting governors, a former governor of the state, 8 strategic ministers, key serving and former members of National Assembly, some members of APC National Working Committee and other political juggernauts.
The governors in the 77-member Campaign Council are; the Chairman, Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State; Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State; Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos; Ibikunle Amosun, Ogun; Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo; Rauf Aregbesola of Osun; Abdufatah Ahmed, Kwara; Abdulazeez Yari, Zamfara and Godwin Obaseki of Edo State.
Others include Yahaya Bello, Kogi; Simon Lalong, Plateau; Kashim Shetima, Borno; Umar Jibrilla, Adamawa; Abubakar Badaru, Jigawa as well as former Ekiti State governor, Segun Oni.
The Ministers that are in the Council are Mansur Dan-Ali – Defence; Abdulrahman Dambazau –Interior; Bawa Bwari Abubakar – State, Solid Minerals; Ibe Kachikwu -State, Petroleum; Babatunde Fashola – Power, Works and Housing; Rotimi Amaechi – Transport; Chris Ngige – Labour; Isaac Adewole – Health, while two principal officers of National Assembly in the team are Sola Adeyeye, Senate Chief Whip, and Yusuf Lasun, deputy speaker, House of Representatives.
The Campaign Team is strategically composed to ensure victory as it has all the Yoruba speaking governors except Fayose of PDP, chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum, Yari and the Amaechi who anchored the campaign that brought President Muhammadu Buhari to power in 2015 and has been appointed again to anchor the President re-election in 2019.
While this may look like just part of concerted efforts to enthrone Kayode Fayemi, APC standard bearer as the next Ekiti Governor, political pundits view the arrangement as ploy to subdue the Fayose-led PDP which is obviously more popular in the state. Fayose has remained an ardent critic of the President Buhari administration and the APC government at the centre.
For instance, observers alleged that the presence of the Minister of Defence, Ali in the Campaign Council is aimed at using the military to coerce, harass, intimidate the electorate and ultimately, rig the election in favour of the ruling party.
The same thing applies to the Minister of Interior who superintends over the Police, Para-military and security agencies, which may be used to the advantage of APC but to the detriment of other parties, particularly PDP.
This is in addition to the inclusion of the Minister of State, Petroleum who is obviously not a politician in the Council, according to analysts, his role as the one who controls the nation’s main revenue earner is to make huge amount of money available for the Ekiti project.
A member of the APC at the national level, who does not want his name in prints, told BusinessDay last Friday that “everything possible including the money, the men and the influence required to disgrace the noisy Fayose is being put in place. The APC must win Ekiti in order to prove that it is still political virile in the South West.”
He disclosed that all the governors and the ministers are expected to contribute funds to the Ekiti project. He however, feared that the collection of 77 members, who are mostly not Ekiti indigenes, may lead to failure, adding that “too many cooks spoil the broth.”
Recall that during the 2014 Ekiti Governorship election when the then former governor now the incumbent, Fayose, defeated the then sitting Governor, Fayemi, the PDP controlled Federal Government through former Minister of Defence, Mooshod Obanikoro allegedly used the military to capture the state for PDP.
That the Ekiti governorship election is a do-or-die affair is no longer news as had even before his nomination as the APC candidate, Fayemi had told a gathering in Ado-Ekiti that the election is a must win for APC and “federal might will be used to win the election.”
Also, APC Deputy National Chairman (North), Lawali Shuaibu bluntly said during inauguration of the Campaign Council that “The election in Ekiti is very important for the APC. In fact, we feel the level of importance of the election is slightly below the importance of the presidential election to us. We are not going to relent in our effort to win Ekiti State. The responsibility now rests on your shoulders”.
Similarly, Chairman of the APC National Campaign Council for Ekiti, Governor Bagudu after his inauguration left no one in doubt of what the election means for APC when he said: “We have faced enough of affront as a party”.
“Challenge has been thrown to us not only by the PDP, but by Governor Fayose. So we must be united to confront that challenge. We will give our all to ensure that we win Ekiti State for the APC.
Experts react
Reacting to the APC mobilisation for Ekiti election, a chieftain of the Northern Elders Forum, who wished to remain anonymous told BusinessDay Friday in an interview that the massive force being mobilised by the APC to dislodge the PDP in Ekiti is because of the ruling party is afraid of Fayose. “They are afraid of the popularity of the Fayose who is on ground in Ekiti State. If they (APC) are on ground, they will not need to do all that,” he said.
However, Majeed Dahiru, a security expert and columnist, was very scathing of the APC saying that the party is threatening democracy. He added that the APC wants to intimidate the voters and force on the people of Ekiti, an outcome that could undermine their democratic choice. “This is a very, very ugly political culture evolving under the APC dominated polity today. An election that is supposed to be decided by the people is now being threatened by brute and naked force by the federal government.
“It is something that spells doom for our democracy. I can’t imagine how a party that claims to effect change in the polity has deepened impunity to this level. This is share waste of resources. 77 people and about 14 governors I am told will leave their duty posts and converge in Ekiti for a week just to influence election for one candidate.
“It is also an indication that politics under the APC administration has become self-service, an avenue to convert public resources for personal enterprise. Otherwise why the desperation to become governor in this manner, they should let people make their choice between the contenders.
“This is political abomination, it is not supposed to happen in modern time for a party that professes change, this is disheartening.
“You can imagine if Rivers state, Governor Wike, Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom and other PDP Governors also mobilise such large entourage to converge in Ekiti for the election. It means the desperation will become so much that there will be tension in the state. I expect the president who is supposed to represent change to deviate from this political culture. If it was done in the past it should not be done in the present. This raw show of force is not democratic,” he said.
But Ezenwa Nwagwu, chairman Partners for Electoral Reforms, a civil society organisation, told BusinessDay that there is nothing wrong in the APC setting up such council for the election as long as they will not compromise the election process because it is a party affair. “If the APC set up the council and include its members who are in government I don’t see how that is undemocratic. APC can appoint those in government to its election committee.
“If the Federal Government set a committee of that nature then that is an abuse of office. The party has interest in winning the election so it will throw everything it has. But I agree that it is uncalled for and it is unnecessary to constitute a 77-man council. However, it is now for us as citizens to ensure that they don’t abuse their office in the cause of dong that,” he said.
A public affairs analyst and a chieftain of the PDP, Katch Ononuju, said that despite what appears desperation of the APC government, PDP might still carry the day in the Ekiti election because Governor Fayose has a lot of popularity in the state.
He said that APC stalwart, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not likely to give support to Fayemi because since the former Minister of Solid Minerals came to the centre, he allegedly teamed up with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) faction of the APC coalition to sideline Tinubu’s faction of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). He added that Fayose has courted friendship with the Tinubu faction, which is desperate not to be swallowed up by the CPC faction.
“The PDP is likely to go into alliance with the Bola Tinubu faction of the ACN. Since Fayemi came to the centre, he has teamed up with the CPC faction against the ACN. What you are seeing is desperation to unleash their alliance members and those who will work to get Ekiti. But that day will come and the people on ground might defeat them. The 77 members of the APC campaign council are mostly not from Ekiti State and all politics are local.
“It is likely that day will come and only the indigenes, the local players will be there and these 77 men and women will just be in their hotel rooms without any serious impact. The fact that the APC failed to coalesce into a national political party simply means that the interest of the factions that formed the coalition must be protected by its members. Nobody wants to be swallowed by another faction.
“Fayemi wants to drag the ACN faction into the pockets of the CPC and that is what the ACN seems to be resisting. Tinubu’s wife once complained that after helping the APC win the 2015 elections, her husband was thrashed and thrown into the dustbin. It is now that Buhari wants to contest another election that he wants to use Tinubu again. So history will see if Tinubu will allow himself to be used and dumped two straight times,” he said.
Innocent Odoh and James Kwen, Abuja
