As soon as Senator Iyiola Omisore sauntered into the Magistrate’s Court room in Abuja on November 15, 2007 the late Chief Lamidi Adedibu, who was then sweating profusely in the dock, looked up excitedly. He was surprised to see the senator, who had joined others to witness the arraignment of Adedibu by the Police for breach of the peace. The Garrison Commander, as he was then popularly called, swiftly acknowledged the senator as he said in Yoruba, “His Excellency in-waiting, eyin naa wa”(You are here too). Omisore, wearing his cushioning pad-like heavy cap, smiled. His countenance showed that he savoured the Adedibu’s acknowledgement worthily that he was indeed the governor in-waiting to take over from Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola in Osun State in 2011. The senator believed so as he also described himself as “the awaiting governor of Osun State” on his face book page.
Such was the assurance among members of the Peoples Democratic Party not only in Osun State, but in all the six states in the South-West, except Lagos. For the members of the PDP, aided by the likes of Adedibu, the votes of the electorate were extraneous. What mattered most was the party’s ticket. They can then wait for their inauguration. The event that happened in 2003 to Omisore was a living testimony. Omisore was detained at the Agodi Prisons in Ibadan on the order of a state High Court over his trial for the alleged murder of the former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige (SAN). It was while he was in this captivity that he was declared elected as senator representing Osun East Senatorial District even when he did not have a single contact with the voters. The former deputy governor, who was later discharged and acquitted, afterwards became the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation. It was because of “success” like this that makes the fight for the party’s ticket fierce and at times, brutal in some cases in the zone.
In Ogun State, the people of the state were yet to know those responsible for the killing of Ayo Arojo, who was once a front runner for the party’s governorship ticket. Also, one Age Omo-Lemomu, an indigene of Sagamu disappeared mysteriously in a manner that still left his family members wondering what could have happened to their bread winner. Members of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the state are still waiting to know the circumstances that led to the death of Wale Bajomo and the motive behind the killing of Dipo Dina. Did these two gentlemen posed a challenge to the rigging machines of the PDP in the state in particular and the zone in general?
The guarantee that the party’s ticket was tantamount to victory probably made the powers that be imposed the removed Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Segun Oni, on other aspirants on the platform of the party when it was clear that Oni was a mere spectator among the arrays of aspirants in the state. During the party’s governorship primaries, Oni merely struggled to come fourth. The protest that trailed his emergence and his rejection at the poll did not indicate anything to those who wanted him as governor by all means. But like a vapour, the PDP’s conquest did not last as Oni and those who helped him rig the election in the state have all become part of history.
The judgment of the Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan on Friday has further exposed the PDP’s unpopularity in the zone. Though the sacked governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, was able to hold on illegally to power for almost four years, the tenacity of the ACN and its governorship candidate in the state, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, eventually paid off. Today, Aregbesola, who Oyinlola and his party tried unsuccessfully to blackmail as presenting a forged police report before the lower tribunal, is occupying the former governor’s seat at the Government House. Oyinlola, on the other hand might soon found his ass blown open that could at the end, see him battling to defend his integrity while in government.
Despite his popularity in Ondo State, the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo colluded with Dr. Olusegun Agagu to deny Governor Segun Mimiko the party’s ticket. Mimiko was even threatened with arrest by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission by Obasanjo and his co-voyager under the PDP’s umbrella if he dared to contest under another party’s ticket to challenge Agagu, whose popularity had waned noticeably. Like Oyinlola and Oni, Agagu was of the opinion that the people’s votes would be worthless before the rampaging rigging machines of his party. Impunity like this had also made governorship aspirants on the platform of the party in Oyo and Ogun States now fighting dirty to retain the party’s ticket in the 2011 election. In Osun State, before the bubble burst, Omisore was on the threshold of being imposed on the party and its supporters by Oyinlola and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade. This has made other notable aspirants on the platform of the party to raise a petition to the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, saying that if the senator was fielded, the ghost of Ige, whom they claimed was still loved in the zone could haunt the party. They hinged their action on the political rivalry that existed between the late minister and Omisore.
The letter reads, “Despite your (Nwodo) avowed effort at ensuring discipline and internal democracy in our party, the situation in Osun State PDP remains very unwholesome. This is because the EXCO has already picked its governorship candidate in person of Senator Iyiola Omisore.
“It may interest you that 19 governorship aspirants have not only signified their intention, but have paid the N3m each, as demanded by the state party executive. The state party executive has insisted on fielding him because as they claimed, he (Omisore) has money. Sir, it is an open secret in Osun State that Omisore is of no electoral value in the state. This is because of his bitter political rivalry with the late Attorney-General of the Federation, chief Bola Ige. There is ample evidence to show that the late Chief is still loved not only in Osun State, but also in the entire South-West. Fielding Omisore would re-open old wounds of the feud which existed between him and Bola Ige.” Those who signed the letter are Alhaji R.A Salawu, Chief S.B.Daodu, Chief S.O.Alabi, Chief Obembe, Prince Osuolale Oyetunde and Prof. Pade Aderibigbe.
In Ogun State, the same scenario is playing out where leaders of the party in Yewa have rejected Alhaji Gboyega Isiaka as the party’s candidate for the 2011 governorship. The leaders, under the aegis of Concerned Eminent Citizens of the state in a petition sent to the leadership of the national leadership of the PDP in Abuja, accused the state governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel of trying to impose the aspirant on the people of the state. In the petition, the 21 elders who signed the petition warned that the party could lose the election in the state with the alleged imposition. Daniel, who has washed his hands off the alleged imposition of Isiaka, insisted that all the aspirants in the state would still go through primaries. But if the experiences recorded in Nigerian politics is anything to go by, then the result of the yet to be conducted primaries is likely to be ready now. Apart from the in-fighting in the Daniel camp, our correspondent gathered that the opposing camp led by Obasanjo is also throwing its weight behind Gen. Adetunji Olurin (retd.). Obasanjo’s support for Olurin is said to have been based on the claim by Daniel that someone from Yewa will succeed him.
In Oyo State, several grudges by those who are opposing the state governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala are not getting the attention of Nwodo–led National Working Committee of the party. Alao-Akala on the other hand has also refused to dialogue with those opposed to him. Opposition against him is being led by his former boss and ex- governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja. Other members of the Ladoja camp are the Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin; Senator Lekan Balogun and some loyalists of the late Adedibu. Impunity like this, according to a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, could lead to the complete loss of the zone to rival political party. While reacting to sacking of Oyinlola by the appeal court, he said, “We must stop imposing candidates on the party.”
But the comment of a former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, seemed to have foreclosed the Fani-Kayode presupposition. Babatope, who served in the inglorious government of the late maximum ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha said, “The Court of Appeal judgment on the Osun State now affirms my belief that a political abracadabra is now going on in Nigeria. It is now the more you look, the less you see. What happened to the PDP in Osun State is only a temporary slip and never a fall; we will return by the grace of God.” Time will tell if the loses will be ephemeral or permanent. For now, the party seems to be facing popularity contest in the zone. It appears not to be winning.
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