Ekiti 2022: APC Drops Rancour, Braces for Victory

CICERO/Report

With 118 days to the governorship election in Ekiti State, the All Progressives Congress, having resolved the crises which bedeviled its primary, is looking forward to winning the poll, Ugo Aliogo writes

Four months from today, the Ekiti State 2022 election will hold. Already, there are apprehension and tension all over the state because the stakes are very high for all the sides. The All Progressives Congress (APC) which initially showed signs of distress and cracks following the primary has surprisingly pulled itself together and brazened for the big fight ahead.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), however, is already imploding, with the defection of former governor of the state and gubernatorial contender, Chief Segun Oni, to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

There are apprehensions that an aggrieved contender for the governorship position, Senator Biodun Olujinmi, who was visibly unhappy about the way the primary election went, has an axe to grind with the party.

The peace that has attended the APC primary in Ekiti is a significant attestation to the determination of the APC to retain the state. Incidentally, such cannot be said to be the case of Ekiti at the national level where contending forces have been at one another’s throats over who controls what in the party.

In neighbouring Osun State, the situation is even worse. Analysts will recommend the Ekiti model of party discipline and crisis management to other layers of the party and the opposition PDP.

For instance, while withdrawing from the PDP primary, a senator representing Ekiti South and governorship aspirant, Olujimi, blamed the party for what she called “stripping” her of delegates who would have voted for her in the election.

“I thought it was very unfair, it was unjust, it was disenfranchising me because of my gender or because the party feels I have not done enough for it. Going forward from there would mean that I am condoning what is wrong. So I thought my best was just to pull out and I pulled out. I did not step down. They can continue with it, I will also internalize the problem; there will be some introspection, then I will make a decision,” she said.

In the PDP election, there were rife allegations of vote-buying while delegates were alleged to have been “hijacked,” through camping them in hotels which were outside of the reach of other aspirants. Any aspirant who had delegates that were fewer, like Olujimi, was known to have lost from the beginning.

The Director-General of Chief Oni’s campaign, Yemi Arokodare, similarly alleged that the delegates’ register was mutilated and that delegates in the primary had their names missing. Till today, the PDP is still roiling in the mud of allegation and counter allegations while the APC seems to have moved to the critical phase of the general election.

The APC, however, seems to be moving beyond the crisis that erupted in the wake of the June 18 governorship election primary. For instance, a major contender for the governorship position in the party and Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, was the first aspirant to thaw the ice with a declaration that he would support Abiodun Oyebanji, the party’s candidate. In his own words emanating from a statement he signed, sheathing his swords and embracing Oyebanji, Senator Bamidele had said: “I have come to some irreversible conclusions and these are the messages I need to pass on to all and sundry today as I temporarily break my silence on the way forward. One is to say that I have chosen to drop the option of going to court to sue the party. The other is to make it crystal clear to everyone that both my supporters and I will not defect from APC.”

Before him, the South West Zonal Caretaker Publicity Secretary of the National Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC, Mr. Dapo Karounwi, had declared in a newspaper interview that his party would weather the storm and go into the election and win as a united family.

“I must state that APC is a party of reconciliation. For us in APC, reconciliation is always work in progress. Days ago, the national reconciliation committee that was set up to reconcile aggrieved members across the country submitted its interim report at the national headquarters of the party in Abuja. And it is an ongoing thing because for us in APC, reconciliation is inbuilt in our system and it is a continuous exercise. So, those who are aggrieved will naturally be reconciled; they are leaders of our party; respectable personalities that we are not ready to lose. Thank God that they have said that they are not ready to leave the party despite the fact that they are aggrieved. They know their party and they are committed to their party and they want to see the party winning the governorship election.

“Although they made some statements that I consider not too good, I don’t expect statements like that to come from leaders who have benefitted from the party. They were quoted to have said that they would stay in the party and teach the party a lesson it will not forget. Such statement from leaders who benefitted and are still benefitting from the party was not good enough. However, they might have said it out of anger and didn’t mean it, because they are credible leaders of our party. I am aware that Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji has been reaching out to them and extending hand of fellowship and reconciliation to them. I am aware too that some other leaders of our party have been reaching out to them and trying to rally them behind the candidate of the party. I can see that in the nearest future, these leaders are not ready to leave the party and they have made this abundantly clear. They are benefitting from the party and they would continue to benefit from the party. So, I really do hope that the reconciliation and healing process would soon be concluded.”

Oyebanji himself had extended the olive branch to his brothers with whom he contested the primary, stating that the APC was one huge family that would win together for a continuity of the Governor Kayode Fayemi’s government of purpose. Indeed, he expressed optimism that all the seven aggrieved former aspirants in the party would embrace reconciliation and work for APC victory in the poll that is slated for June this year. While hailing the National Assembly members and former aspirants, Senator Bamidele and Femi Bamisile for the decision of theirs not to seek legal redress, Oyebanji lauded the two leaders for what he called their efforts at “putting the interest of the party above other considerations and for demonstrating exemplary leadership qualities.” He also said that what made the decision significant was that it had “further confirmed their commitment to the growth and success of our dear party and this is highly commendable. I hope my other co-aspirants will follow suit in the interest of peace and unity.”

Going a step farther, Oyebanji predicated his optimism of being the next occupant of the Ayobo Government House on what he described as the stellar performance of Governor Fayemi, who will be handing over to a successor in October this year.

He had said: “Dr Fayemi is the leader of the party and whoever emerges the party’s flag bearer naturally becomes his candidate too. If any of my co-contestants had clinched the ticket, the person automatically becomes Fayemi’s and the party’s candidate for the June 18 gubernatorial election. Now back to my person. I was his Secretary to the State Government, so, there’s no way I can remove myself from his government and I’m going to benefit from his achievements. In that regard, the decision that will be taken on June 18 by the electorate will be a combination of the performance of Governor Kayode Fayemi and the expectation of the people about my person. The two will work together. If a government has done well and a candidate wants to run on the platform that produced the Governor, it is natural he will benefit from the performance of that government.

“I also think my people understand me very well and they know me and this is not the first time we have done things together to build Ekiti. They can attest to my competence, my character and my compassion for them. We will also be campaigning on the manifesto that has been developed. In the next few weeks, we are going to unfold the manifesto and make it very clear to the people but there’s no way Im going to run this campaign without reference to the sterling performance of Governor Kayode Fayemi. He is the APC leader in our dear state and I’m going to run on the APC platform, so the two will go hand in hand and because he has done well, his performance is going to assist my campaign.”

A stakeholder in Ekiti APC said under anonymity that “it has been easy to enthrone peace in the party in Ekiti because the leader of the party in the state, the governor, has largely refrained from inflaming passions. No one can quote him as having said anything against the unsuccessful aspirants, nor for the winner. This has tremendously helped the healing process and making reconciliation and victory further possible and achievable.”