Argument over Zoning Resonates in Ekiti
The issue of zoning is gradually building up among politicians in Ekiti State ahead of the 2018 governorship election, writes Victor Ogunje
Since the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost control of Ekiti State after the 2014 governorship election, the Governor Ayodele Fayose-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government has worked rigorously to take full control of the state’s politics and its seems to be gaining more grounds. The challenge before the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership in the state has therefore been how to bring the party back to reckoning by reclaiming the state from PDP.
The opposition leaders are not oblivious of the fact that with Fayose in the saddle, the party faces a daunting and herculean task to bounce back. This is why the leaders are thinking outside the box to put the APC in a position to undo the PDP.
In scheming to defeat Fayose, some of his records in Ekiti State must have been highlighted to underscore his strength. For instance, he has unmatched records in the politics of the state. He trounced two incumbent governors, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Dr. Kayode Fayemi at two different polls to emerge governor twice.
This record paints an aura of an enigma around him Again, he plays grass root politics. His followers consider him as the most astute and shrewd politician in the state.
However, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s victory in neighboring Ondo State has reinforced in APC handlers in Ekiti that the party could replicate such feat in the PDP controlled state. Ondo too was under the PDP control before APC snatched it through Akeredolu.
So, amidst the fear that defeating Fayose could be an uphill task, taking cognisance of his acceptability, the APC has identified proper planning and unity of purpose among members as some of the key factors needed to dislodge him.
On planning, an issue that has characterised every APC forum summoned at the behest of party leaders is either to zone the governorship ticket to the South or to liberalise the process to accommodate all aspirants from other districts. The debate has become intense and there has been no meeting point.
Fact is that the party is faced with the challenge of uniting the diverse political interests within its fold as accentuated in the battle of wit among the gladiators: the Minister of Solid Minerals, Fayemi, the APC Deputy National Chairman,
Chief Segun Oni, the Special Adviser on Political matters to the President, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, and former member of the House of Representatives, Hon Opeyemi Bamidele.
A major snag presently shaking the party’s foundation like a tremor is the zoning template being proposed by party chieftains from the Ekiti South Senatorial District.
The call for zoning from the South has unified all the governorship aspirants of that extraction like former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Femi Bamisile, former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Bamidele Faparusi, Senator Gbenga Aluko, an Australian based medical doctor, Dr. Wole Oluyede , Mr. Diran Adesua and Hon Funminiyi Afuye among others. Many leaders in the zone, even across party lines are also striving hard to ensure that their demand is accepted.
Their argument is that it would be unfair and a disservice to the people of the area to be shut out of power for 18 years without being allowed to have a shot at Oke Bareke Government House. Also, feelers from Fayose’s camp reveal that the governor is considering zoning as one of the potent weapons to be deployed to overrun APC in the election. A top official of the party said: “Yes, I can tell you that Governor Fayose once had preference for someone from Ekiti Central, especially Ado Ekiti, but now he has changed his mind. I can authoritatively tell you that the South senatorial district agenda is gradually gaining ground in PDP. It will be a major factor to consider in picking our candidate. “The people of Ikere Ekiti had openly told the governor that they will only support a candidate of southern extraction”.
As justifiable as their claim might be, it as nothing more than mere ranting to other aspirants from the other zones. While former governor Oni has not openly spoken against zoning, many of his close associates have argued that the agitation would spell doom for the party if adopted.
A member of the seventh House of Representatives, Hon Bimbo Daramola, describes the agitation as illegal and that it portrays those canvassing for it as political lightweights, who are jittery about going into the political contest.
Daramola, who was the Director General of the Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation during the 2014 poll, said the arrangement is a constitutional infraction, which has no recognition by the 1999 constitution as amended and the APC’s constitution. “The issue of zoning is arrant nonsense. In a civilised clime, what the people always clamour for is good standard of living as reflected in the economy and not
where the person who governs comes from. In the last governorship election, Governor Fayose, who came from
the Central that had produced himself and Otunba Niyi Adebayo defeated someone from the North. So, the idea of where you came from is inconsequential to our people, provided they have implicit confidence in your personality and ability to deliver”, he said.
Daramola advised the Chief John OdigieOyegun-led National Working Committee (NWC) against breaching the party’s constitution by supporting zoning in the party. In his view, this could create unnecessary cleavage and plunge the party into litigation.
“Nobody can abridge the rights of any citizen to contest for political positions provided he met the constitutional requirements stipulated in the 1999 constitution. APC must allow all interested aspirants to go into the primaries and whoever wins will be supported by the party”, Daramola added.
Most disturbing for APC is a subtle blackmail being allegedly deployed by some leaders of the party, claiming that the district has no credible aspirant that can withstand Fayose’s political machinery. This statement elicited reactions from Hon Faparusi, who, during his visit to the state secretariat of the party in December last year as well as and during a call at the APC leaders’ meeting held at Chief George Akosile’s residence in Igbara Odo recently, expressed strong disapproval of the campaign that the zone has no credible people that can do the state proud.
“I want to plead with you our leaders to help in amplifying the advocacy for zoning to make it sink deeper into the minds of the party leaders, both at the state and national levels. Since the people of the south rallied support for the North’s agenda prior to the 2007 elections, time has come for the two other zones to reciprocate the gesture,” Faparusi said.
Another Chieftain of the party and former commissioner in the state, Hon Funminiyi Afuye, while justifying his district’s position said: “Though, I agree that whoever emerges will be governor of all Ekiti people, but that agitation then led to the emergence of Dr. Kayode Fayemi from the then Action Congress of Nigeria and Mr. Segun Oni in the PDP. The two of them were from the North and what the South is requesting for is not out of place”.
A frontline member of the APC from the south district, Chief Dolamu Adeniyi, lambasted the critics of zoning, describing them as self-centered and egocentric individuals, who only profit from lopsidedness within the system. He said it stands logic on its head for anybody in his right senses to brand the district as lacking the people with potentials to lead Ekiti.
Adeniyi said: “All the aspirants that had signified intentions so far from the South are well qualified to occupy the coveted seat. They said many of them were mere local champions. This, I believe was a product of ignorance on the parts of these people.
“In case these critics didn’t know, Dr Oluyede is based in Australia where he practices as a medical doctor. He has traveled far and wide across the world. He has essentially remained a Nigerian and an Ekiti man, religiously preserving and nurturing his roots. Ekiti has always been central to his intellectual, material and social investments, part of the reasons for which he was called to service.
“He was a member of the “Ekiti Knowledge Zone” – a think-tank set up by the Fayemi administration to harness the brightest of the land, to come together to develop a knowledge economy for Ekiti State.
“For Dr. Oluyede, enhancing and developing the community is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. This has motivated a history of giving back to the people. He has provided generous donations to schools and religious centres across the state, and awarded numerous scholarships to Ekiti Indigenes to study in Nigeria, Canada, Australia and the USA. More so, his unrelenting sense of care for the elderly, women and the youth of Ekiti, has been expressed through a number of noteworthy schemes and empowerment programmes.
“Given the opportunity, he will use his wealth of experience and international connections to better the lots of Ekiti people as governor of the state and he remains the best, if you look at all the aspirants that have signified their intention in all the parties”.
But as the issue continues to shake the party, the Chief Jide Awe-led State Working Committee (SWC) has not made any categorical statement to confirm or deny whether zoning will form part of the criteria for selecting the party’s governorship candidate.