Ekiti 2014: The Die Is Cast

With the incumbent, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and his
one time buddy, Rep. Opeyemi Bamidele emerging
as the presumptive nominees of the APC and
Labour in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in
Ekiti State, respectively, intrigues continue to
shadow the process for the emergence of the
nominee of the PDP By Emmanuel Aziken, Political
Editor Any contest that involved the participation of
Mr. Ayodele Fayose was bound to sparkle. Hence
the sparks that are emanating in the quest to pick
the governorship candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, for the forthcoming
governorship election in Ekiti State. Mr. Fayose is
pitched in battle against 13 other aspirants who
have indicated interest in picking the party's ticket
for the governorship election due on June 21. Mr.
Fayose who governed the state, albeit
tempestuously 10 years ago, wants another term.
However, unlike when he governed the state and
had his way in almost all things -until President
Olusegun Obasanjo uprooted him- he

is now faced with mountainous challenges. Nearly
all the other candidates want him out of the
contest and had canvassed the adoption of a
consensus candidate as a way of sieving him out,
but Mr. Fayose has steadfastly objected to that,
and rightly so, because the consensus approach is
another form of imposition. Remarkably, Mr.
Fayose is backed by a number of party enthusiasts
at the grassroots who want him to go into the
primaries believing that he is the only one with
enough muscle to match the incumbent governor
of the state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi who is also
seeking a second term on the platform of the All
Progressives Congress, APC. After several
meetings in Abuja with the party's hierarchy the
consensus option for picking the PDP candidate
was jettisoned mainly because Mr. Fayose
objected to it. Consensus option The consensus
option had been recommended by President
Goodluck Jonathan and accepted by most of the
candidates, primarily because of concerns that a
primary could make the party enter the general
election as a divided house. Many of the aspirants
who had been steadfastly lobbying party grandees
in Abuja for favour were also supportive of the
consensus option as they believed that that was
the only route for them to fly the PDP ticket. But
Mr. Fayose whose turbulent record in office has
not been totally forgotten by some party elders and
as such did not have their ears had resorted to
massive mobilization on the ground. Given
Fayose's objections, the party was forced to move
into primaries which commenced last Wednesday
with ward congresses across the state. As
expected the congresses were trailed by violence
in some local government areas of the state.
Supporters of some candidates opposed to the
primaries and those supportive of the primaries
clashed in about five local government areas. The
political thugs who had laid siege on the party
secretariat as early as 24 hours before the
commencement of the congresses unfolded on
Wednesday when some thugs pounced on them.
The chairman of the PDP in Ado Local Government
Area, Kola Lawal disclosed that party officials were
about distributing the election materials to the
wards when the thugs swooped on the officials
and carted away the election materials. Each of the
177 wards in the state is expected to produce
three delegates that are expected to decide vote in
the primary coming up tomorrow. Meanwhile, the
process was earlier this week ensnared when one
of the candidates, Mr. Deji Ajayi, went to the courts
to remove Fayose from the contest. His contention
is that Fayose is not a valid member of the party
and as such is not entitled to participate in the
primaries. In a petition addressed to the party's
national chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu'azu, Ajayi
through his counsel, Mr Olasoji Olowolafe,
acknowledged that though Fayose commenced the
process of readmission into the party after his
impeachment, he affirmed that the party's National
Executive Committee, NEC had as at now not
deliberated on it. "Sir, the subject person, Mr. Ayo
Fayose who is not a party member has been
parading himself as an aspirant on the platform of
the Party for some time without going through and/
or fulfilling the Constitutional prerequisites to
becoming a member of the Party". "Sir, the subject
person was the Governor of Ekiti State between
2003 and 2006 when he was impeached by the
State House of Assembly and went on a self-
imposed exile. "Upon his return, he left the party
and joined the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP)
and campaigned across the State for that party's
candidate in the 2007 Gubernatorial election". "In
2013, he did not only join the Labour Party, he was
also the candidate of that Party for the Ekiti Central
Senatorial seat which he lost with a wide margin to
the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria. Sir,
it is a notorious fact that cannot be denied that the
subject person, with these antecedents lost his
membership of the party. "It is conceded that the
subject person has, to the general knowledge and
to the personal knowledge of our client, taken the
initial steps towards becoming a member of the
party in line with the provision of section 8(17) of
the Constitution of the party, however, no
recommendation has been made to the National
Working Committee for his readmission to the
party". "Sir, assuming without conceding that such
recommendation has been made to the National
Working Committee of the Party, such readmission
has not been ratified by the National Executive
Committee of the Party. With some plotting against
Fayose, the other major parties in the contest, the
All Progressives Congress, APC and the Labour
Party, LP this week also took significant steps. As
the PDP ward congress was going on in the state,
about 400 kilometers away in Abuja, Governor
Fayemi and a large entourage of APC stakeholders
including National Assembly and State House of
Assembly members followed him to pick the
party's nomination form at the party's national
secretariat. While Fayemi the APC's presumptive
gubernatorial nominee was picking his form, the
governor's one time buddy, Rep. Opeyemi
Bamidele was himself returning his own
nomination form at the Labour Party, LP national
secretariat in Abuja. Bamidele is the presumptive
nominee of the Labour Party in the unfolding
contest that is bound to excite the political
firmament.