Saturday 28 June 2014
Jonathan, PDP, APC change focus to Osun
Leon Usigbe of "Nigerian Tribune" writes on the thinking of President
Goodluck Jonathan and the national leadership of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over Osun State,
following the party’s victory in last Saturday’s Ekiti State
governorship election.
ALARM bells are tolling in the camp of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) following the loss of Ekiti
State to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in last
weekend’s governorship election in the state. The
incumbent governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, was seen as one
of the leading lights among the party’s state chief
executives and actually prides himself as one governor
who had been able to bring immense development to the
state within the resources available to him in the last few
years. His rejection at the poll by his people despite what
he sees as a satisfactory performance, will, therefore,
continue to confound him. But not so with President
Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP hierarchy who, for some
reason, were confident from the very start that Ekiti would
fall back to the hands of the party.
With 2015 general elections beckoning, the president was
intent on winning Ekiti State and he indicated in the run-up
to the election that APC might make all the noise but when
the time came, “they will know who is in charge.” That
disposition played out just before and after the conduct of
the exercise. He ensured a massive deployment of troops to
monitor the election. Ekiti people attest to the fact that the
huge presence of security personnel was beneficial to the
election which has been adjudged by local and
international observers as free, fair and credible.
Jonathan felt vindicated by the outcome of the election in
more than one way. First was the wisdom in his avowed
commitment to the conduct of free, fair and credible
elections in the country as previously exemplified by
governorship elections in Edo, Ondo and Anambra states
which were devoid of manipulation to favour any political
party. The will of the people was acknowledged to have
prevailed in all. Jonathan also felt vindicated because his
initial confidence in the wide acceptance of the PDP was
not misplaced. What he probably did not expect was the
landslide nature of Ayo Fayose’s victory at the poll which
brought to him in clear terms, the fact that the PDP, which
had been written off in the South-West by many pundits,
was, in fact, waxing stronger in the region. Therefore, the
president and the ruling party’s hierarchy, led by the
national chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, thought it was
imperative to pop champagne to the unexpected
demolition of the APC in Ekiti State with an eye for Osun
State in August and the entire geopolitical zone in 2015.
Mu’azu led the members of the PDP National Working
Committee (NWC) to the Presidential Villa last Sunday to
celebrate the victory with President Jonathan, who
reminded them that Ekiti had always been a PDP state and
he was poised to ensure that the success recorded in that
state was replicated in others. “We have shown clearly that
Ekiti is a PDP state. I am happy that Ekiti has made it very
clear that the present administration stands for free and fair
elections. We believe that we will even do more in other
states. I thank God for the Ekiti election. It has been
adjudged to be free, fair and credible by both local and
international observers. It was peaceful and when the
result was announced, nobody has been killed and no
house has been burnt down,”he said.
Jonathan tried to
downplay his
elation over the
Ekiti victory,
only saying that
he was not
necessarily
happy because
his party won but
that the election
passed off
peacefully
without major
incidents and
adjudged as free
and fair. He said:
“Yes, as a leader
of the party, I’m supposed to be happy. But it is beyond
that. I was told that there may be crisis in Ekiti, because the
report I got before the election, the feeling is that yes, one
party might win or lose, but there will be fire and
brimstone. I have to commend the Nigerian police and
other security agencies. And today, Ekiti is in a peaceful
state.”
The president has left no one in doubt as to how much he
wants Osun State retrieved from the grip of the APC and
with Ekiti State now in the bag, his attention is fully
focused on the August election. He is mobilising the party
machinery behind the idea and it is not unlikely that the
state will have a full dose of the medicine administered to
Ekiti in terms of troops deployment to fend off the
machinations of politicians with perceived negative
intentions.
With Mu’azu at the helm of the party’s affairs, Jonathan
believes more electoral successes are a foregone
conclusion. “You (Mu’azu) coming to have such an
interaction with me and the vice president is quite unique.
It has never happened. It shows clearly that the Game
Changer (nickname for Mu’azu) will change so many
games.”
APC leaders are alarmed as could be seen from the rushed
attempt by Senator Bola Tinubu; the party’s National
Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and Osun State
governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, to conscript former Osun
State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, into the APC army to
roll back PDP’s possible incursions into the state come
August. Immediately the Ekiti election results were
announced, jolted by the outcome, they bolted to Okuku,
Oyinlola’s hometown to try to convince him to formally
defect to the APC as a deliberate strategy to shore up the
party’s chances in the governorship election. “The APC
knows that you are the National Secretary of the Peoples
Democratic Party in the face of the law. But we want you to
be a part of our new movement,” Odigie-Oyegun pleaded
with him. Whether this will work is a matter of mere
conjecture but for now, it seems that the former governor
has decided to bide with the PDP and judging by what he
told the APC leaders, his focus is on his fight to reclaim his
national secretary position in the ruling party.
Jonathan and the PDP may not care much about what the
APC is doing now because they have momentum on their
side. The president believes the PDP is the best vehicle for
election victory in the country, especially as it has retained
its colour, motto and emblem over time and all it needs to
do is to “work hard and sell our programmes and
manifestos to Nigerians so that they accept us for what we
are and we have always said that we will not disappoint
Nigerians.”
But the incumbent governor, Rauf Aregbesola, warned
Jonathan and his security forces on Tuesday not to take
Osun for Ekiti.
“We are ready to co-operate with the security agents
before and during the governorship election. Any security
officer who, however, misbehaves will know that we are
children of Oduduwa,” he said.
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