By Ehichioya Ezomon
When concerned members were wondering if the All Progressives Congress was absolutely ready for the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti, the party National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, visited the state last Monday, to allay their fears.
Those worries stemmed from the apparent lukewarm to electoral contest by the chapter of the APC, which consecutively boycotted council elections in 2015 and 2017, citing likelihood of bias by the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (EKSIEC).
With those boycotts, the APC has ignorantly allowed the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti to fortify its stronghold at the grassroots critical to mobilizing for elections into state and national positions.
What’s more! The state PDP has logged in years of campaigning in readiness for the July poll. Practically on daily basis, Governor Ayodele Fayose and his “anointed candidate” and Deputy Governor, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, would mobilize well-choreographed crowds of party members to any events – public or private, and turned them into campaign activities.
But what about the APC, its aspirants and followers? They are almost nowhere to be found in the field, with only occasional one-off “launching ceremonies” by the aspirants at the party headquarters in Ado-Ekiti. Other jostlings are simply media photo-ups at their “country-homes.” And this is happening barely weeks to the pivotal governorship election!
It’s amid this despondency that Odigie-Oyegun “suddenly” showed up in Ado-Ekiti, to kick-off a nationwide membership drive, which is indicative of the existence of a lacuna requiring urgent and decisive action(s) to ameliorate in the party.
Accompanied by some members of the National and State Working Committees (NWCs), and the Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Odigie-Oyegun had audience at the party secretariat and Eagle Hall in the capital city, where the governorship aspirants “mobilized thousands of members to receive the team.”
He told the expectant members that his visit was not happenstance, but to show the readiness of the APC to win the governorship poll in the state. “Ekiti is facing an important election that will happen in this nation,” he said. “God has put it in our hand; God has put it on your laps and God has chosen Ekiti to be a major factor in the politics of this country in July 2018.
“We, in the National Executive, have decided that the coming election in Ekiti is one we will work as hard as possible to win. No stone will be left unturned: it is a must-win election… We are going to mobilise the entire country, the entire APC structure, to ensure that you are not alone and that all the resources you need for the election are made available to you. At the end of July, Ekiti will be APC.”
This solidarity message would gladden the hearts of the APC members and sympathizers in Ekiti. But the more reassuring, especially to the governorship aspirants, was Odigie-Oyegun’s promise that the party would allow a level-playing ground at the primaries.
The pledge came in the wake of “rumours” that the hierarchy of the APC had “anointed” a candidate, like what obtains in the PDP, which has set other aspirants against Governor Fayose for unilaterally choosing his deputy as the party’s candidate for the poll.
Odigie-Oyegun said: “I want to assure that in Ekiti State, we will have free, fair and credible primary. We will provide security at the primary. It will be an open event and will be covered and recorded on television from the beginning to the end. There will be proper identification of delegates to prevent impersonation.
“At the voting point, party chairmen of the local government (chapters) and wards will stand at a distance away, but they will ensure that those who will vote are bona fide delegates. Anybody found impersonating will be handed over to the police. A formidable group of (APC) governors will be mobilized to superintend, guide and ensure that the election is totally free and fair.”
These declarative statements, beyond the realm of a gentleman’s agreement, are like a jolt to rouse the Ekiti APC, and which, hopefully, the national headquarters of the party would implement to the letter, to stem a possible downside at the election.
Yet, realizing the need to regain lost ground, due to APC’s boycott of the Ekiti council elections twice, Chief Odigie-Oyegun issued a “code of conduct” that mandates: Aspirants to sign an undertaking to maintain decorum; not to campaign as if there is no tomorrow, or with enmity, to avoid discord in the party; not to behave as bad losers; to collapse their structures into the person that is chosen at the primary; and to eschew division and factionalisation in the party.
Even so, the APC chair reminded members that President Muhammadu Buhari’s avowal to offer voters a level-playing field, and not compromise free and fair election, “means (that) whether we are in power at the federal level or not, we must all work hard to deserve the victory that belongs to us.”
What else do the Ekiti APC want, especially the aspirants: Chief Segun Oni, Dr. Wole Oluyede, Mr. Kola Alabi, Mr. Victor Kolade, Dr. Bayo Orire, Senator Gbenga Aluko, Captain Sunday Adebomi, Dr. Mojisola Kolade, Chief Diran Adesua, Mr. Bimbo Daramola, Senator Ayo Arise, Dr. Wole Oluleye and Dr. Makanjuola Owolabi, who were present at the membership drive flag-off in Ado-Ekiti?
Will the losers at the primaries take their defeat in stride and good faith, and work with the winner for the good of the APC? Surely, the July 14, 2018 governorship ball is in their court to play to score, or flunk and remain in the political wilderness till 2022!
* Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.