The Guardian
In the forthcoming June 18 gubernatorial contest in Ekiti State, Bisi Kolawole would be at the red corner, while the immediate past Secretary to Ekiti State Government (SSG), Biodun Oyebanji, takes the blue spot.
Conversely, while Oyebanji has incumbent Governor John Olukayode Fayemi as his technical adviser, Kolawale would depend on the immediate past governor, Peter Ayodele Fayose, as his corner man.
Both men emerged as standard bearers of their parties through contentious primaries, which belie the determination of their ‘trainers’ to settle old scores outside the ring of electoral combat.
Governor Fayemi mounted the saddle for the second term after vanquishing Fayose’s candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola Eleka, in the 2018 governorship. Prior to that contest, Fayose had robbed Fayemi of the opportunity to serve his second term as governor, by stopping him with the legendary 16-0 technical knockout at the 2014 governorship poll.
Primary Gymnastics
IT would be recalled that during the 2014 encounter, Fayose of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leveraged his famed stomach infrastructure on the federal might cover to defeat the incumbent, which was the second time he was kicking out an incumbent Ekiti State governor to mount the saddle.
However, in the 2022 edition of the chequered political supremacy battle between the two young Ekiti leaders, Fayemi holds the ace. His party, the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), is in power at the centre, just as he holds more than a watching brief as the incumbent.
The historical jostle by Fayemi and Fayose repeated itself also as their parties-APC and PDP-held their straw polls to nominate candidates for the main governorship election.
For instance, prior to the emergence of Oyebanji as APC flag bearer last Thursday, seven well-heeled aspirants announced their withdrawal in protest. The protesting aspirants included, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Dayo Adeyeye, Demola Popoola, Femi Bamisile, Kayode Mojo, Afolabi Oluwasola and Bamidele Fapurusi.
The furious aspirants not only prayed the APC national leadership to cancel the Ekiti State governorship primary, but they also alleged that Fayemi filled the list of delegates to the primary with his loyalists, ostensibly to favour his former SSG, Oyebanji.
The protest by the G7 seemed to replay the similar exercise by APC in last year’s Anambra State governorship primary, when the Managing Director of Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Dr. George Moghalu, led other 13 aspirants to raise placards against the exercise.
And, like in the Anambra instance, time is also against those protesting the governorship primary, because going by the timetable of activities released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political parties are expected to round off their primaries today, January 29, 2022.
But quite unlike the Anambra episode, Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Badaru, went ahead to ensure that the delegates cast their ballots for their preferred candidates, thus leaving holes on the protesters’ argument.
At the end of balloting, Governor Badaru declared that Oyebanji polled 101,703 votes to beat Kayode (767), Opeyemi Bamidele (760) and Adeyeye (691), even as others trailed in similar manner.
Announcing Oyebanji as winner, Badaru disclosed that the mode of balloting was earlier agreed on by all the aspirants during a meeting on the eve of the primary, just as he maintained that primary was “transparent and devoid of any manipulation.”
Also, prior to the PDP governorship primary election, which had Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel, as committee chairman, Senator Biodun Olujimi excused herself from the exercise citing “gender bias.”
Similar development played out in the build-up to the 2018 governorship, when the outgoing governor, Fayose, threw his weight behind his then deputy, Olusola Eleka. Adeyeye complained of interference and quit PDP, a move that earned him a ministerial appointment by the governing APC.
Apart from Olujimi, former Governor Olusegun Oni, whom Fayemi succeeded after three years of legal battle over the 2007 governorship poll, also protested against what he called imposition of Kolawole by Fayose.
It would be recalled that towards the tail of end of his tenure, Fayose paid a visit to Oni, which sparked rumours of a possible attempt to lure the former governor back to PDP from APC with the promise of PDP governorship ticket.
However, some analysts wondered how Oni would believe that Oshokomole, who was impeached in 2006 to pave way for him (Oni), would be altruistic enough to gift him with PDP ticket.
At the end of the PDP governorship primary last Wednesday, the truth must have dawned on the Civil Engineer and gentleman politician, Oni, when he was able to earn only 330 votes to trail behind the former Ekiti State chairman and Fayose’s man, Kolawole.
Governor Emmanuel, who declared Kolawole as the winner for the primary election, said Bisi Kolawole polled 671 to beat other five aspirants including Oni and the 2018 flag bearer, Eleka, who scored 330 and 93 votes respectively.
The vote tally showed that Olusola, who was supported by Fayose paid for his fight with the godfather of Ekiti PDP. While some party chieftain argued that Senator Olujimi, who was Fayose’s deputy in 2003, chickened out to avoid ignoble defeat, the 52,10 and six votes garnered by Wale Aribisala, Kayode Adaramodu and Deji Ogunsakin in that order, show that Fayose still casts his shadow over the party in the state.
That could explain Senator Olujimi’s allegation that the process…
