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Tag: Guber Primaries

  • Osun APC Primary : Aregbesola’s faction raises alarm of violence and rigging

    Osun APC Primary : Aregbesola’s faction raises alarm of violence and rigging

    Ahead of the gubernatorial primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, a faction of the party loyal to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has raised an alarm over alleged plan by Governor Gboyega Oyetola to rig the election in his favour.
    A governorship aspirant of the party and former Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti who addressed a press conference in Osogbo yesterday faulted the Governor Oyetola’s membership of the National Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, (NCECPC) of APC till date.
    He said the failure of Governor Oyetola to resign from the committee was as a result of his influence which was said was against the party’s constitution, adding that the Governor would use the advantage over him in the primary election.
    He said “It is on record and has been decided in several law suits that it is not possible to be a judge in your own case. We note that it is the display of “they cannot do anything” that makes Governor Gboyega Oyetola to remain in membership of the National Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, (NCECPC) of APC till date. It is on record that we have advised him to resign but he has remained adamant and unperturbed.
    ” The reason, by our estimation is simple: Governor Oyetola has enjoyed the manifest misuse of the power of the committee to his own advantage since its evolution. It is sad that the NCECPC has decided all cases brought before it by us and other stakeholders in favour of Oyetola. We have it on good authority that there is understanding between members of the NCECPC that they would protect members interests at whatever point it is needed. And this has been the case in all of our efforts to seek justice in all disputation between us and governor.
    “In the spirit of fair play, objectivity and natural justice, Governor Oyetola is not supposed to remain in the membership of the NCECPC. What we are witnessing is a case of a thief adjudicating his own case. He can never convict himself. Governor Oyetola’s membership of the NCECPC is against the democratic norms. We dare say that this is capable of causing disquiet, more than we are facing in Osun APC now, if allowed to pass us bye.
    “The governorship primary cannot be fair, free, and equitable if Governor Oyetola is still a member of NCECPC. We note that like it happened in time of the congress, we are reliably informed that Governor Oyetola is the one who hand-picked the Chairman and members of the primary election committee. It is within human reasonability not to trust such handpicked committee by an interested party member. Such committee would never be fair to other contenders.
    “We therefore express absolute opposition to whatever committee that will conduct the primary election because they were chosen by Governor Oyetola. There can only be point of convergence for us if Governor Oyetola could resign his membership and the process of conducting the primary begins afresh.
    “The provision of Article 31(iii) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Constitution (2014) as Amended reads as follows:
    “Any party office holder interested in contesting for an elective office (whether party office or office in a general election) shall resign and leave office 30 days prior to the date of nomination or party primary for office he or she is seeking to contest”.
    “From the Constitutional provision quoted above, it is against the tenet and intendment of Article 31(iii) for Governor Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola to still remain and retain his membership of CECPC. A closer look at the provisions of the Constitution quoted above shows that the drafter of the APC Constitution has envisaged a situation as the one that is currently happening in Osun State.
    “We also note that the need to manipulate the primary process and outcome in favour of Governor Oyetola is responsible for drawing back the date of the primary from March 5 to February 19.
    “It is unfortunate that, with the background of the formation of APC with high moral ground in following the law, rules and regulations, the party will play the role of reversing itself in a serious matter like the date of primary already advertised for close to three months. It is unacceptable and shameful that the NCECPC will shift the goal post in the middle of the game. The date for Osun APC primary was fixed for March 5, 2022 but was hurriedly reversed to February 19, 2022. This is mind boggling and begs the question; why?
    “We have it on good authority that the NCECPC was influenced by Oyetola to reverse the date to have the primary before the National Convention coming up on February 26, 2022. It is believed that Oyetola is afraid of contesting a free and fair primary election to be conducted by an objective committee.
    However, the APC’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Mr Kunle Oyatomi while reacting to Adeoti’s allegations said the Governor is a peace loving person who would not encourage violence of any kind in an issue that involves members of his party.

    He said the the Osun Progressives (TOP) was only crying wolf where there was none, stressing that the only recognized leadership of the APC in the state is under the chairmanship of Prince Gboyega Famodun while Governor Oyetola is the leader of the party.

    He assured that the primary election would be free and fair, saying that the Governor or any leader of the party would not interfere in the exercise.

    Oyatomi who said there was no cause for alarm regarding the primary election called on members of the APC across the state to troop out in large number and assemble at their wards’ voting centres throughout the state from 8.00am on Saturday to participate fully in the party’s direct primary.

    The party spokesman said that the APC candidate for the July 16 governorship election will be elected by all card-carrying members of the party and urged the party members not to be scarred by rumours of violence and attack.

    He urged members of the party to comport themselves orderly, peaceful and responsibly for the process to be a successful one.

  • Waow! The 'Eko for show' guber primaries, Ehichioya Ezomon

    Waow! The 'Eko for show' guber primaries, Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon

    A man shouldn’t embark on a race he knows he won’t be able to finish. That’s what Governor Akinwunmi Ambode did these past weeks. He left till the very end a decision that could have saved face, and avoided unnecessary bad blood. His restitution, by conceding defeat at the primaries, congratulating Jide Sanwo-Olu and urging support for his election, was too little, too late.

    When Sanwo-Olu sprang like a bolt from the blue, Lagosians, and the larger Nigerian society thought it was a huge September joke. But when those that matter in Lagos APC started to declare their support, and lined behind him, the populace began to take notice.

    And it didn’t take time for Governor Ambode to realise that his second term ambition was cut out for him, as the decks seemed stacked against him. Thus, he needed to appease the “powers” that brought him to his present station in life.

    With bended knees, he moved round Lagos, and from there to Osogbo, to Abuja and back to Lagos. No headway, while the support for Sanwo-Olu grew in leaps and bounds, developing into a movement capable of quaking the state’s political terrain. That’s when the governor should have quit the race.

    However, many concerned Nigerians held out hope that an Ambode second term was still achievable. One was among those optimists, who decided to write the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to have a rethink about replacing him with Sanwo-Olu.

    Dated September 25, and routed through one of Tinubu’s aides, Oshodi, who acknowledged receipt of the missive, my plea was to find a common ground, a “compromise” that would ensure continuity of Ambode’s administration till 2023. Below is an abridged version of the letter.

    “Coming down to the issue of the Governorship Primaries in Lagos, many people expected that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode would get the APC ticket on a platter. But as recent events have shown, that may not be possible. The Mandate Group and allied bodies that you head or have influence over have all the aces, which they want or have vowed to play for Mr. Sanwo-Olu.

    “Nonetheless, due to current fluidity in the polity, taking the Osun governorship poll as one of such uncertainties, you may have to realign your position in the Lagos primaries. Look thoroughly at Governor Ambode, and you would see a crest-fallen… and sober personality different from his usual boisterous attitude.

    “So, for the Lagos APC to go into the 2019 elections as one family, may I suggest that a “COMPROMISE” be worked out in which Ambode will get the guber ticket, while Sanwo-Olu will pair as his running mate… In this agreement, Sanwo-Olu will not just be a Deputy Governor, but should be assigned major portfolios that impact on the good people of Lagos, and the APC members in particular.

    “Sir, I know you have the power, and the political will to bring into fruition my suggestion(s) above. The arrangement can be effected in the next 24 hours, before the primaries. Do not throw away the baby (Ambode) with the bathwater… Give him a second chance to prove his remorseful self for all Lagosians to see. There’s always a tomorrow, and other avenues to hold a political recalcitrant to account!”

    I wouldn’t know if the Asiwaju gave any cognisance to this “letter” pleading Ambode’s cause, as events moved in rapidity in the next few days, culminating in the governor addressing a press conference to lay very damaging allegations against Sanwo-Olu and the leadership of the APC in Lagos.

    Perhaps, Ambode had concluded he stood no chance. If it were a battle of the brawn, he could come tops. But this is politics, which is like magic – an advanced trick. The more you look, the less you see! And only the adept can master its intricacies to get results.

    So, the governor played his last card. He issued a threat to unleash security agents on “trouble makers,” who may want to disrupt the primaries. Waow! A ruling government couldn’t be more brazen against opposition elements!

    The operative words in the definition of “waow” by the Urban Dictionary are amusement, embarrassing, stupid, amazing and dumb – all perfectly capturing Governor Ambode’s press conference on the Lagos APC primaries that finally held and dumped him from contesting in the 2019 elections.

    Yet, the victim of his “attacks,” Sanwo-Olu, assumed the position of a pacifist, refusing to go into the gutter with the governor. According to him: “Many things he (Ambode) said were beneath the dignity of our people and the exalted office he now holds. Perhaps, the tension and anxiety of the moment got the better of him.

    “If given a chance at cooler reflection of what he said, I am sure he would regret his descent into such low conduct. In this vein, I forgive him and hope he regains his balance and proper comportment no matter the outcome of tomorrow’s contest.”

    Sanwo-Olu’s demeanour reminds one of the immortal words of former United States First Lady, Michele Obama, in a speech endorsing the presidential nomination of the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 25, 2016.

    The essence of Mrs. Obama’s “rousing and emotional appeal” to Democrats was that when others lose their heads, we should keep ours, which lesson, she said, she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, instilled in their daughters. She said: “… we explain (to them) that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is: when they go low, we go high.”

    The upper Sunday, Asiwaju Tinubu, who had remained taciturn in the brewing controversy, declared his backing for Sanwo-Olu, in whom he said he had found a worthy successor to Ambode that he accused specifically of deviating from the 20-year-old Lagos State Development Master Plan.

    That was the end of the game for the governor. The rest is history, from which other politically-ambitious persons should learn from – perhaps, a lesson that Ambode learned quite late!

    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.