After months of intense politicking, members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State will file out on Saturday to choose among 16 aspirants seeking to fly the party’s flag in the 16 November governorship election.

The dust of campaigns has settled and the aspirants have given their best in rallying supporters. Some travelled to all the 203 registration areas and the 18 local government areas of the state to woo party men and women to vote for them on Saturday.

Of the 16 aspirants that have been cleared for the primaries, some are serious contenders while others have been serial aspirants in previous governorship elections in the state.

The aspirants

The aspirants are incumbent governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa; former APC National Vice Chairman (South West) Isaac Kekemeke; Olusoji Ehinlanwo; former member of the State House of Assembly, Olugbenga Edema; businessman and serving senator, Jimoh Ibrahim; Judith Omogoroye; Felix Ohunyeye, a retired major-general; Jimi Odimayo; Morayo Lebi and Diran Iyantan.

Also cleared to contest in the primary are Ifeoluwa Oyedele, Funmilayo Waheed-Adekojo; Mayowa Akinfolarin; former Commissioner for Finance Adewale Akinterinwa; former governorship candidate Olusola Oke, and Francis Faduyile, who is an academic.

Aside from the incumbent governor, Mr Aiyedatiwa, and a few others, the aspirants are seasoned politicians and who have been angling to occupy the governorship position for a long time.

Olusola Oke, Jimoh Ibrahim, Morayo Lebi, Isaac Kekemeke and Ifeoluwa Oyedele had been major contenders in the past two governorship elections, which featured the late Oluwarotimi Akeredolu as the candidate of the party.

The aspirants boast of rich credentials in their respective fields of endeavour, just as their pockets are said to be relatively deep.

While Mr Oke is an experienced politician who has been running for governor from the era of Olusegun Mimiko, Mr Aiyedatiwa is riding on the wings of incumbency and the power of office.

The campaigns

Given the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 for early primaries, the campaigns have been both intensive and expensive. The aspirants claimed they toured all the wards and local government councils to deliver their campaign messages. They made promises and held rallies. The major candidates drew crowds when they visited communities and towns across the state.

The campaigns took off on a controversial note, from the claims of being announced as successors to Mr Akeredolu, put forward by Wale Akinterinwa and Mr Aiyedatiwa, both disciples of the Akeredolu political pedagogy, to the ’emilokan’ sloganeering of the Oke campaign train.

The content of their messages were largely promises of what they would do if elected as governor. They all claimed competence to occupy the position. But will that win them votes on Saturday?

Mr Aiyedatiwa has engaged in massive construction works within the state capital, Akure, and its suburbs since taking over after the death of Mr Akeredolu. These projects are seen by political observers as campaign statements to win the hearts of the people. Largely seen as a political underdog, the governor is not leaving anything to chance. His populist policies manifest in appointments of workers, promotions, payment of owed salaries, and granting endowments to agencies.

He has also, like other aspirants, reached out to the communities in wards and party units to gain their trust.

Although the aspirants are strong in their respective domains, analysts see the contest to be strictly between the governor and Mr Oke.

Endorsements

The build up to the primaries also witnessed endorsements by different groups, which raised the pitch of the contest to a new high.

Some elders of the party under the name of Ondo State APC Aborigines, with representatives from the 18 local government areas of the state, gave themselves the task of conducting a ‘screening’ of the aspirants based on criteria they contrived. After the process, they announced the governor as the preferred candidate.

According to the group, Mr Aiyedatiwa possessed the qualities required to effectively govern the state more than his rivals.

Expectedly, the other aspirants promptly rejected the conclusion of the elders, saying they had no mandate to select a preferred candidate on behalf of the party. Mr Oke, supported by others, cautioned the leaders of the group, accusing them of attempting to plunge the party into a crisis.

The politics of endorsement also negatively affected the state House of Assembly as members went separate ways in deciding whom among the aspirants should get the backing of the House.

During the governor’s official declaration of his intention to contest the primaries, the Speaker of the House, Olamide Oladiji, said 18 of the 26 members were in support of Mr Aiyedatiwa to pick the party’s ticket.

In protest, 13 members disowned him, alleging that the speaker’s endorsement of the governor was done without consultation with them. Their disagreement was followed by a no-confidence letter to the leadership of the party, accusing the speaker of disrespecting the House and the tenets of democracy.

The members, who signed the no-confidence letter were majority leader Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi; parliamentary secretary MoyinOlorun Ogunwumiju; chief whip Oluwarotimi Fasonu; minority leader Olajide Oguntodu; deputy minority leader, Raymond Daodu, Akinsurojui Nelson, Akomolafe Temitope, Ifabiyi Olatunji, Agbulu Akeem, Christopher Ayebusiwa, Atinuke Witherspoon, Biola Oladapo, and Afe Felix.

Mr Oladiji was severely rattled by the develooment until the intervention of the party leadership saved the day.

Other groupings, some of which were created for the purpose of the election, profiteered in the battle for endorsements.

A group, the South West Youth for Good Governance (SWYGG), was among the first to file their support for Mr Akinterinwa, saying he is the most qualified and suitable for the office of the governor of Ondo State.

For Mr Oke, it was the Omoluabi Coalition Group, OCG, that endorsed him. Tunji Balogun, the coalition’s DG, said he was the best candidate for the APC and had made indelible marks in the lives of many indigenes of the state.

Those who did not get any group’s endorsement were endorsed by their supporters in their localities.

All South contest

The fact that all the 16 aspirants in the fray are from the southern senatorial zone of the state made the contest even keener. Mr Oke waited for so long to fill the gap even when it was unlikely that the zone would be elected governor after Olusegun Agagu. Mr Ibrahim, as a serving senator, is drawing strength from his experience as a former governorship candidate and an incumbent senator.

The battle grounds are in the north and central zones. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the late Mr Akeredolu’s loyalists are torn between Messrs Oke and Akinterinwa. Mr Aiyedatiwa had sought to neutralise this opposition by choosing his deputy from Owo, the hometown of the Akeredolu loyalists.

A female APC supporter, Funke Adebowale, said the votes from the south would be shared by all the leading aspirants so that it would really not amount to much.

“Victory will not come from the south,” she said. “They know that they have to work hard to win in north and central. That is where the battle is.”

She added that Mr Akeredolu may have a leeway using his powers as governor and the reach of his commissioners and political appointees, which now cut across all the local government areas of the state.

A penchant for manipulations

The APC leadership adopted direct primaries for Saturday’s election. According to a party supporter, Sunday Ode, the direct primaries eliminated the manipulations of delegates’ list by powerful politicians. He, however, said a new challenge reared its head with the just concluded revalidation of membership.

There are fears that party bigwigs are using their influence to include new names on the membership list in order to favour their candidates.

A few days to the primaries, seven of the aspirants raised the alarm over plots to scuttle the primaries through fake registration of members.

The aspirants – Messrs Ibrahim, Oke, Akinterinwa, Iyantan, Faduyile, Edema and Odimayo – petitioned the national secretariat of the party to draw its attention to the alleged irregularities in the process of revalidation of members and the issuance of fake party slips ahead of the primaries.

They alleged that while the revalidation committee had ended its work and returned to Abuja, majority of their members were yet to get their membership cards revalidated.

Although they failed to mention any names of those involved, they alleged the irregularities were being perpetrated by one of the aspirants, warning that litigations could follow the exercise if the party leadership failed to arrest the situation.

The arrest of a former chairman of Ondo NURTW and others over the registration of members of the party gave credence to the outcry of the protesting aspirants.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, who confirmed the arrest On Wednesday in a statement, said, “On Wednesday, 17th April, 2024, the Police received an intel that one Mr Ariyo, a transporter in Ondo town was registering APC Party members at his residence ahead of the party primaries slated for 20th of April, 2024

“Police personnel from Yaba Divisional Headquarters led by an Assistant Superintendent of Police visited the house and recovered the following items from the scene:

a) APC party’s registration Booklets

b) List of names of purported party members of ward 7 Ondo.

c) 53 passport photographs of different individuals.

d) A jotter containing names.

e) 2 exercise books with names and phone numbers of people.

f) 2 slips of a registered form.

“Two suspects have been arrested and are assisting the Police with necessary information to apprehend others involved in this cynicism.”

Although there were allegations of attacks on supporters, there has been decorum in the campaigns so far.

Concerns were raised by Mr Akinterinwa and his campaign team, pointing fingers at the governor’s “thugs” in the attacks on his supporters in Ore and Owo. The governor’s campaign denied the allegations.

However, the Commissioner of Police, Abayomi Oladipo, admonished the aspirants to caution their supporters to eschew conflicts before, during and after the primaries.

While ordering a clamp down on troublemakers, he assured that the police would ensure safety and peaceful conduct of primaries on Saturday.

Victory aftermath

The APC governorship primaries in Ondo State have always been keenly contested. The primaries have also been characterised by allegations of manipulation of voter accreditation. Some aspirants have already expressed fears that the results may not be acceptable to them if their concerns are not addressed.

Will the defeated aspirants back whoever emerges as candidate on Saturday? Steve Otaloro, director of publicity of the party, said the party would ensure a peaceful conclusion of the primaries.

He urged the aspirants who raised concerns to channel their grievances appropriately so that the issues could be addressed amicably.

“We don’t want a situation where a candidate will emerge and others would not back him,” said Mr Otaloro.

“We must go into the election proper united and without rancour. That is our goal and we hope they (the aspirants) will keep this in mind.”

In view of the assurances of fair play from the party and its organising committee, members expect a strict adherence to the provisions of the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act. This, they believe, is the only way for the APC to avoid rancorous primaries.