Hakeem Gbadamosi writes on the fate of the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress and its candidate in the coming off-cycle guber election in the state, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, following the crisis that erupted over the outcome of the party’s primary.
THE ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State may not have seen the end of the raging cold war within the party and among the stakeholders despite the frenetic efforts being made by leadership of the party. However, if the predictions of analysts are anything to go by, greater damage awaits the party if the fire of the crisis is not quenched immediately. In other words, more crisis is likely going to engulf the party in the state if the reconciliation machinery put in place by the leadership of the party failed to achieve its purpose.
The rage that followed the APC primary that produced the candidate for the off-cycle governorship election scheduled to take place in November exposed the divisions within the party with all the aspirants initially pitching their tents against the winner of the contest and the party’s standard-bearer, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
Aiyedatiwa was declared the party’s candidate by the Kogi State governor, Usman Ododo – led electoral committee, after polling 48,569 votes to beat his closest rival, Mayowa Akinfolarin, who polled 15,343 votes, while Olusola Oke came third with 14,865 votes.
The initial outcry by at least 15 of the 16 aspirants, who participated in the APC primary, was to complain against the conduct of the election. Their claim was that there was no primary election across the 18 local government areas of the state. While some of the aspirants alleged that the APC primary election did not follow the party’s procedure, others said outright that there was no election.
No fewer than six of the aspirants: Senator Jimoh Ibrahim; Olusola Oke; Folakemi Omogoroye; Olugbenga Edema; Jimi Odimayo, and Wale Akinterinwa, had petitioned the election appeal committee to protest the outcome of the primary which they described as a sham while calling for cancellation of the result.
But sensing imminent crisis, the National Chairman of APC, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, immediately summoned the aspirants and appealed to them to accept the outcome of the election in good faith. Ganduje pleaded with them to join forces with the candidate and work for the party’s victory in the November 16 governorship election.
The APC national chairman has said during the meeting: “The purpose of this meeting is to appeal to us all not to dwell on what happened during the primary, or what is correct or what is not.
“Dwelling on that will lead to paralysis and the controversy will not favour us, considering the galaxy of politicians here, because I know we have lawyers, engineers and other professionals here.
“We are mere stakeholders, but the state belongs to you all and I know that our desire is for our party to continue to be a ruling party in Ondo State.”
Though a greater number of the aspirants bowed to party supremacy, reluctantly accepting the decision of the party on the primary, Senator Ibrahim on his own part disagreed. Querying the primary’s outcome, he approached a Federal High Court in Abuja to seek the nullification of the election and consequently, Aiyedatiwa’s candidacy.
Ibrahim, in the suit FHC/ABJ/CS/588/2024, told the court that the April 20 primary election that produced Aiyedatiwa was marred with a lot of irregularities, alleging that the primary was unlawful.
According to him, Sections 221, and 228 of the 1999 Constitution and 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 were grossly violated in the conduct of the primary election. He alleged that some delegates who could have voted for him during the primary election were not accredited to vote thereby making the primary election liable to be set aside and nullified.
Ibrahim, who sought for an order of perpetual injunction restraining Aiyedatiwa from parading himself as the APC governorship candidate, prayed the court to bar the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting Aiyedatiwa as Ondo State APC governorship candidate in the November 16 gubernatorial election.
Ibrahim also asked the court to set aside the purported primary election and compel the APC to conduct a fresh one in compliance with Sections 221, and 228 of the 1999 Constitution and 84 of the Electoral Act 2022.
He prayed the court to delist the names of the APC and Aiyedatiwa from the political parties and candidates that would participate in the gubernatorial poll, and also requested that the APC and Aiyedatiwa be relieved of all rights except a fresh primary election is lawfully conducted to nominate a candidate for the governorship election.
Ibrahim’s action had caught the leadership of the party, who had embarked on peace mission, unawares. They were confronted with the certified true copy reports of the INEC from about 12 of the 18 local government areas of the state, claiming election never held.
Although the peace committee put in place by the party had swung into action, appealing to Ibrahim, the impasse has so far remained unresolved. The Ondo senator has stuck to his gun of seeking redress for alleged electoral injustice. A top APC chieftain in the state disclosed that Aiyedatiwa had visited Ibrahim severally, but said the rapprochements were yet to yield positive fruits.
According to the chieftain, the party should make more efforts to appeal to Ibrahim in the overall interest of the party. The party chieftain feared the current imbroglio could cause the party severe injury later if not immediately. “The party should appeal to Jimoh because most of these aspirants have been cheated. But Jimoh should be persuaded to drop the suit against the party, or else, we might not be in the ballot.
“The case against the party and its candidate is a bad one. I am optimistic that Jimoh will listen at the end of the day because the Presidency is talking and appealing to him to withdraw the case or the party might risk not participating in the November election.”
The chieftain, however, stressed the need for the party leadership to pacify other aspirants too, saying though they might not have come out openly to support Jimoh, their body language indicates they are not also against him.
“If the party fails to reach true truce, these aspirants can work against the party in the November governorship election. We should not forget that these aspirants are political leaders who command respect of the grassroots,” he explained.
But a new twist was introduced into the crisis last Wednesday when Senator Ibrahim was suspended as a member of the party from his Igbotako ward II, by the ward executive who, as reasons for their actions, accused him of engaging in anti-party activities.
The suspension was contained in a communique issued at the end of the meeting of the party and signed by the ward chairman and secretary, Mr Adetokunbo Adetola and Sola Omotoye respectively as well as 27 others. In the communique, they claimed that Ibrahim’s actions violated the constitution of the party, particularly his decision to sue the party, which they alleged to be an anti-party decision.
The communique read: “During our meeting, we deliberated extensively on various issues affecting the progress and development of our party, notably indiscipline and insubordination among some members.
“As such, we have resolved to take appropriate disciplinary action against him as outlined in the party’s constitution.
Senator Jimoh Folorunso Ibrahim is hereby suspended from the All Progressives Congress (APC) with immediate effect for acts of insubordination and anti-party activities in accordance with Article 21, Section A of APC Constitution”
But in a counter-move, a parallel executive members in the same ward announced that they had passed a vote of confidence in Ibrahim, describing the suspension by the initial exco as null, void and of no effect.
In a letter signed by 55 members of the party consisting of Local Government and Ward executives, the people declared their unflinching support for Senator Ibrahim and throwing their weights behind his decision to seek redress in court over the primary. They maintained that just as Ibrahim had claimed no election took place in the state during the party’s primary.
They stated that “we are surprised to see votes allotted to contestants by the Ododo-led Committee. We hereby pass a vote of absolute ‘Confidence’ [in] n our leader Senator Jimoh Ibrahim PhD, CFR.”
But apparently, to douse the rising tension and not exacerbate the crisis further, leadership of the party in the state had deftly countered the parallel ward leaders by denying knowledge of the altercations in Ibrahim’s ward. The state APC publicity secretary, Alex Kalejaye, said the action of the party executives in Igbotako ward had not been communicated to the party’s secretariat.
Appeal and Entreaties…
It is not just the party’s leadership that has been shopping about for peace. Some of the contestants in the now contentious primary have also joined the peace train. Seven of them, last Thursday, urged Ibrahim and other aggrieved aspirants, especially Ibrahim, to discontinue the action and embrace peace in the interest of the party.
The seven aspirants, Morayo Lebi; Prof.Dayo Faduyile; Soji Ehinlanwo; Prince Diran Iyantan; Hon Mayowa Akinfolarin; Dr Funmilayo Waheed- Adekojo and Hon Jimi Odimayo, had called on all aggrieved members of the party to come together to forge a strong front.
The aspirants stated that “the party position that His Excellency Lucky Aiyedatiwa is our gubernatorial candidate… should be sacrosanct to us all even when some of us have expressed some reservations.
“We therefore call on our supporters and all stakeholders to put aside personal interests and allow the overriding interest of the party to take precedence.
“Victory for our party in the upcoming November governorship election is of paramount importance.
“We therefore call on all party men and women to rally behind our party’s candidate – His Excellency Lucky Aiyedatiwa – henceforth in order to achieve outstanding victory.
“We hereby appeal to other aspirants and members of our great party, who are aggrieved to put aside their grievances in the larger interest of the party.
“We need everyone on board in the collective march towards victory. We endorse genuine reconciliation efforts as proposed by our party.”
However, a party member pointed out that with the orchestrated suspension of Ibrahim by a section of the party, the road to reconciliation embarked on by the 10-man committee put in place by the party might meet a brick wall unless Ibrahim has a rethink on Aiyedatiwa and APC.
But political analysts in the state noted that the path to the next governorship election poses significant challenges for the APC and Aiyedatiwa due to the influence held by some of the aggrieved aspirants within the party’s support base.
One of the analysts said unless the national and state leaders of the party commence the groundwork for genuine reconciliation, by accommodating all interest groups, and ‘beg’ the bigwigs, including reimbursing them for the expenses incurred during the election, the road to the governorship election might be rough for APC and will require miracles to secure victory in the gubernatorial elections.
A prominent member of the party in the state, however, said with the controversies and lawsuits surrounding the primary elections, the APC must re-strategise to overcome some obstacles, saying the task before Aiyedatiwa is enormous.
According to him, Aiyedatiwa needs to pacify the political group of the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu. He said “this is one of the greatest challenges ahead of Aiyedatiwa. He needs to talk to some leaders of the group, especially Wale Akinterinwa, Olusola Oke and Senator Jimoh Ibrahim to realise his ambition.
“Winning over such influential figures, who also enjoy support from Rotimi Akeredolu’s base and other groups outside the APC, will require careful persuasion and acknowledgement of their importance and political grassroots influence.”
He, however, attributed the crisis within APC to lack of internal party democracy, saying this is the key to representative democracy in general. He noted that internal party democracy creates a level playing field for stakeholders to actively participate in the primary of any election but said “this is missing in APC “
While some argued that the influence of President Bola Tinubu is needed to douse the tension in the party, this, however, remains the last resort and Tinubu is said to be in talks with Jimoh Ibrahim to persuade him to withdraw the suit in court, as the prayers of Ibrahim before the court can deny the party to be in the ballot.
A source disclosed that as part of efforts to pacify Ibrahim, the APC leadership in the state may choose to give Ibrahim the second term ticket to the Senate as part of negotiations to ensure peace return to the party.
However, political watchers in the state believe that for peace, unity and stability, other aggrieved aspirants of APC should be adequately compensated, as this will go a long way for the party to win the November 16 governorship for the party. But this can only be realised if Aiyedatiwa’s group is ready to accommodate and be magnanimous in victory.
But with less than 24 hours to deadline of the submission of the names of all candidates contesting in the November governorship election in the state, will the Ondo APC again survive this onslaught?