The gubernatorial election in Ekiti State has been won and lost. While the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is savouring its huge success, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is sulking. It is expected. But pundits believe that the broom party orchestrated its misfortune in more ways than one.
Some commentators say that the trouncing last Saturday of Governor Kayode Fayemi was a foretaste of what is to come in future elections.
The APC unwittingly dug its grave when it imposed Fayemi on the party in Ekiti during the selection process. There were no primaries. Without providing a level playing field for all the aspirants on its platform, the powers that be in the party adopted the incumbent governor, shutting out other contenders. Had the right process been employed in the selection of the flag bearer, Bamidele Opeyemi, a member of the House of Representatives, who eventually ran on the platform of Labour Party (LP), would not have dumped the APC. When Opeyemi protested the undemocratic process, the party leadership told him to use the exit door.
Some pundits say that the sad showing of APC at the election signaled a dangerous voyage in 2015. It is being rumoured that APC in Osun is afraid, and that fearfulness has overtaken the leadership of the party at the national level. However, some analysts said that the incumbent governor in Osun State may likely not suffer the same fate as Fayemi at the gubernatorial election billed for August 9, 2014. Those who hug this view explained that whereas Fayemi’s performance in the nearly four years has been a subject of controversy, Rauf Aregbesola has been able to do things that are both tangible and verifiable.
A commentator, who spoke with BusinessDay said that Feyemi’s defeat showed the governor was not really on ground.
“One thing is clear about Fayemi’s poor showing at the election, it means he has been playing politics without doing the job. We hear him speak good English, giving fine lectures on what an ideal and people-oriented leadership should be, but he was not doing it. It beats me how a sitting governor in Nigeria, who has everything at his disposal, will lose election with that scandalous margin to a person they had demonised so much. Thank goodness that the APC was humble enough acknowledged that the election went well without rigging; otherwise we would have been told that Fayemi lost because of the Federal might. It now means that the party took many things for granted,” the commentator said, pleading anonymity.
Implications for APC
The outcome of the election must have by now reminded the leadership of the APC of the need to go back to the drawing board if it hopes to make any mark in future elections.
Many of the party’s activities since inauguration last year have been seen by many Nigerians as undemocratic. Many citizens have had the cause to question the difference between the ruling PDP and the broom party. Although the APC has claimed that its yet-to-be-announced manifesto contains good thoughts for the Nigerian people, pundits say that with the manifestations of those in control of the party, good thoughts written on paper may not translate into reality at the end of the day. Those who hold this view point to the good policies that are being rolled out by successive administrations in the country without being well implemented. According to them, “the problem of Nigeria is not absence of good policies, but absence of good implementers”.
Analysts are quick to point to the congresses of APC across the country, including Lagos, where leaders emerged in processes that were allegedly not transparent. In some states, the results of such congresses have led to the exodus of many members to other parties. In Edo, the state House of Assembly is still boiling over the alleged hijack and the pre-determined outcomes of the exercise in the state.
The recent national convention held in Abuja has been described as a sham by some members of the party. Last week, one of the contenders for the post of the national chairman, Tom Ikimi, in a paid advertorial, took the party to the cleaners, saying that it is undemocratic in all its ways.
Ikimi was one of the aspirants that were either forced to step down or stay away from the event that was held at the Eagles Square by the owners of the party for an anointed candidate.
Implications for PDP
Before the election, sources close to the Presidency had informed the BusinessDay that Aso Rock was determined to give the APC a run for their money in a transparent manner. It was said that the Presidency and the PDP had decided to take over all the South West states under APC beginning with Ekiti. The PDP government, it was gathered, had decided to end the reign of Bola Tinubu on the political turf by simply stripping him bare of all the states that are under his thumb. The outcome of the Ekiti election, pundits say, is sure to embolden the PDP to sharpen its arsenals of war for the Osun battle. The implication for the PDP is that with a good candidate, APC may never win a credible election in the country. Despite the dwindling fortunes of the PDP at the centre, Nigerians have yet to see in APC a better alternative.
The losers: Tinubu, Fayemi, Odigie-Oyegun
Arguably, the biggest loser in all of this is Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has been basking in the euphoria of being in control of five states in the South West. His ability to keep the states under his control has made him one of the power brokers in the country. The Federal Government also reckons with him by virtue of the enormous influence he wields, politically. By the defeat of Fayemi, Tinubu’s “presidential” welcome to Ekiti would have ended as he would no longer be accorded such a rousing welcome he enjoyed in Fayemi government any time he visits the state henceforth, except if he decamps to PDP today. Moreover, whatever material gain he may have been deriving from the APC government under Fayemi would have ceased. Again, from now till the Osun election, Asiwaju will need to wear his thinking cap to ensure that he does not suffer a second loss.
Fayemi: One of the biggest losers is Fayemi. Although he still has the opportunity to go back to his profession, the incumbent, who has been in control of the resources of the state for close to four years, will be leaving office as an unfulfilled man. Why? Fayemi has been planning for the next four years. During his electioneering campaign, he had told the people of Ekiti State that he had many projects to complete in the next leg of his administration. Until, Saturday, the man never believed he was not returning to his seat at Ado-Ekiti. Again, despite the claim of Ekiti being a poor state, Fayemi by virtue of his position, has had his personal needs met unlike millions of other indigenes of the state. By losing the election, he will now go back to experience what any other indigene of the state experiences. He will now be “fending” for himself. His camaraderie with his colleague governors will be ending soon.
John Odigie-Oyegun: The new national chairman of APC is one of the biggest losers. Here is a man who just mounted the saddle a few days ago; if Fayemi had won the election Saturday, Odigie-Oyegun would have been a regular caller in Ekiti. He would have been treated as a very, very important person (VVIP) any time he visited the state. But all that privilege has been lost.
Big gainers: Jonathan, Fayose, PDP and Ekiti people
President Goodluck Jonathan whose government is being criticised at on a daily basis by the APC appears to be the greatest beneficiary from the development. The President, who has been in a mourning mood over the repeated cases of wanton killings of innocent citizens in the North and particularly the abduction of over 200 school girls in Chibok, Borno State, was in Ekiti State a few days to the election. He promised them a new lease of life if they should cast their votes for Fayose. The result of the election shows that the people listened very well and decided to send the broom party packing. It has reassured the president that it is not all about sad stories afterall.
Fayose: He has every cause to be grateful to the people of Ekiti State who cast their votes for him. Before the election, Fayose was being tagged a thug who was not capable of leading a state that has the highest number of educated Nigerians. But how he won the election has kept many people tongue-tied. The victory, pundits say, has afforded Fayose the opportunity to right his wrongs, and to move the state forward beyond the expectation of members of the opposition. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that Fayose scored 203, 090 number of votes to beat the candidate of the Fayemi, who scored 120, 433; while the candidate of the Labour Party, Bamidele Michael Opeyemi scored 18,135 votes to come third.
PDP: The result may have provided the PDP the impetus to go for other elections. It has demystified the APC. If Fayose had lost, the umbrella party may have considered South West impregnable, but now, it is likely to redouble its efforts in subsequent fights to wrest the remaining states from the broom party.
Again, the people of Ekiti State are also gainers because if Fayemi could be voted out the way he did, it means that the people were just tolerating him. Analysts said that Fayose was able to win because of his grassroots politics. “Nigerians are tied of leaders who are detached from the people, who only come to the people when they need them for votes. But what I hear about Fayose gladdens my heart. People say he visits the poor in Ekiti and eats with the downtrodden. Some people even describe his style as the ‘amala politics’ of the late Adedibu of Ibadan. I am really happy for the people of Ekiti. It is a wakeup call for the APC,” a school proprietor in Lagos said.
Zebulon Agomuo
