It is still a little over a year before Governor Abiola Ajimobi can renew his mandate to govern Oyo State for a second term. It is a mission that has never been achieved before. Can he?
With the recent positive assessment of the first term of Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State by some of the powerful forces that determine success of elections in the state, it seems history is in the making for the Pacesetter State.
The state, since inception has not been governed twice by any governor irrespective of his gratifying performance. Recently, both the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and the business tycoon, Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Arisekola-Alao spoke glowingly in support of the governor.
It is not a hidden fact that the two eminent personalities are some of the forces to reckon with in any election in the state, though, their inputs are not seen physically.
Support of the monarchs
Any government in power that fails or trivializes their influence has already prepared its grave.
The previous administrations of Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, late Lamidi Adesina are ready examples that come to mind.
Alaafin and Arisekola are two inseparable twins. Anybody who wants to see the other side of Alhaji Arisekola should offend Alaafin.
Akala did not know then that he had stirred the hornet’s nest when he engaged the monarch.
So, whenever they are in support of any government or they speak positively about it, it is tantamount to the voices of the gods and the people. It is a wonder that by now Governor Ajimobi’s administration is still enjoying the support of the monarch just about a year to the end of his tenure.
At an empowerment programme organized by the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Monsurat Sunmonu that took place in Oyo town, Oba Adeyemi scored Governor Ajimobi higher than his predecessors in office.
According to the monarch, the governor has shown that he takes advice and honours elders and the Yoruba tradition.
Besides, Oba Adeyemi said the governor had fulfilled his campaign promises.
Some of the achievements that the monarch listed included the construction of a flyover at Mokola, Ibadan, beautification of the environment, restoration of peace and huge road construction.
To wrap it up, he noted that the governor could not be compared with any in terms of humility and his sterling performance.
In his own words, Alhaji Arisekola-Alao commended the governor for transforming the state within a short period adding it would serve the interest of the entire state to give Ajimobi another four-year mandate in 2015.
The comments by the duo are a pointer to the fact the incumbent governor could break the jinx that the state doesn’t elect a governor twice.
He could be the first governor to attain the feat especially with the messy nature of the crisis within the PDP in the state. The once-popular party is still trying to get its acts together since its defeat in 2011 by the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Though, the party is trying to stage a comeback with the recent apology of former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala to Oba Adeyemi for the wrongs done to him and gradual settlement of rivalry among factions in the party, getting it right in the 2015 elections will be like a camel passing through the eye of a needle.
There could be a replay of the scenario which characterized the 2011 elections when the Accord Party and PDP in their squabble allowed the APC to snatch the governorship.
The two opposition parties in the state, after trying to form alliance against the ruling party, have parted ways due to some irreconcilable differences.
While Ladoja has declared he cannot work with the PDP in the election, Akala too, openly said he would never join the Accord Party. Like two parallel lines that cannot meet, they are operating at both opposite ends. But, Accord seems to be playing the role of the real opposition more than the PDP given the loud silence of the former ruling party.
Former Oyo governors Ladoja and Akala
Accord for example capitalized on public displeasure over the recent demolition of structures at Oja Oba as parts of Ajimobi’s beautification programme, when it through its Publicity Secretary, Dr. Nureni Adeniran sympathized with the affected traders and the people of the state over the perceived callousness of the state administration.
Also, it bore its fangs menacingly at one of its lawmakers in the Oyo State House of Assembly, Mr. Ibrahim Bolomope, who defected to the APC.
The lawmaker who is representing Egbeda State Constituency said he did so to settle his troubled conscience. The defection, if not corrected, will surely have effects on the 2015 election.
With the defection, Accord which had seven members in the House of Assembly now has five members. One of its members had defected earlier before Bolomope. APC has 17 members while PDP has 10.
Registering its annoyance, the party’s state Chairman and Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Bashir Lawal and Dr. Adeniran cried foul.
Adeniran said, “Bolomope was elected as house of Assembly lawmaker on the platform of Accord. The people of Egbeda Constituency are however saying that since he has defected to another party, they will appreciate it if his seat at the Assembly can be declared vacant by the court.
Adeniran further alleged “For him now to be talking of conscience is curious, because he never showed that he had one when the government was sacking teachers and bulldozing away the people’s means of livelihood, a step that affected so many people in his Egbeda Constituency despite repeated calls on him by the party to react”.
“As a former state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), one would have thought that he would be at the vanguard of those protecting the interest of workers in the state, but, unfortunately, he was not seen then to be counted and this puts question mark on his claim of being pricked by conscience, he has none”, the party argued.
Not even the ruling APC is immuned from the crises raging in the major parties in the state.
Enormity of the crisis
To show the enormity of the crisis in the APC, Ajimobi recently had to appeal to aggrieved loyalists of late Alhaji Lamidi Adesina and Senator Olufemi Lanlehin to close ranks with other members of the party to prevent it from losing the 2015 elections.
Both supporters of Lanlehin popularly called SENACO and Adesina’s tagged LAMISTS are at war with the governor for alleged marginalisation in the distribution of political offices in the state. The brick-wall had existed even before the death of Adesina just a little over a year ago.
While warning the party members of the likelihood of the opposition party to capitalize on the disagreements, Ajimobi, urged them to abandon factions and empower the party. Seizing the moral ground, Ajimobi had said: “Be united so that we can continue to be in power as progressives.
In-fighting among us can retard progress. Great Alhaji Lam Adesina, when we were all scrambling for nomination of the ACN, always told me not to mind the scramblers; that I was his choice. So who can be more of a Lamist than me? Why then would anyone who claims to be a supporter of Alhaji Lam not support his son whom he fought tooth and nail to ensure that he is in office?” he asked.
Residents and political observers in the state are waiting anxiously to see how Ajimobi will escape falling into the same pits which the previous governors fell into.
Vanguard
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