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With engaging campaign kick-offs, the road to 2019 is definitely a rough one, writes Olawale Olaleye
The two leading political parties – the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), last week, opened the floor for the 2019 campaigns with the launch of their respective presidential campaigns. The APC tagged its policy document ‘Next Level’, a choice campaign theme that is already generating controversy over alleged intellectual theft, whilst the PDP said its compendium of ideas was designed to get the country working again. He was quick to also add that he spent 18 months with experts, putting the ideas together.
To that extent, both the official and unofficial foot soldiers of the two parties had immediately gone to work. Mostly, President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministers had taken to town to charge the people to re-elect the president, citing different reasons. In the same breath, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s people had warned of the implication of re-electing a government it glibly dismissed as incompetent.
With such disagreeable campaign tones, which had rather aggravated the otherwise unsavory rivalry before the electioneering was officially declared open by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) – it goes without saying that the road to 2019 is definitely an undulating one.
It was therefore understandable when INEC warned as quickly as possible against any contravention of the Electoral Act and its election regulations, vowing to strictly monitor campaigns by political parties. INEC National Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this during a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
However, two things exacerbated the tenor of campaigns that began in the week under review. First was the statement by a former United Kingdom Secretary of State for International Development and member of the UK Parliament, Priti Patel, that the penchant of the APC-led federal government to disobey court orders was responsible for the country’s economic woes
Although Buhari didn’t like the tone of that statement and had immediately dismissed it as wicked, the PDP immediately latched on to it, claiming the statement vindicated its position on the Buhari administration.
The other issue is the recent killing of nearly 120 soldiers by Boko Haram in Melete, Borno State, a development that is already generating intense ill-feeling about the government of the day especially, when the situation seemed to confirm insinuation that the government might have been lying about the situation report on the fight against insurgency.
Indeed, the Senate, as a result of this unwholesome situation, adjourned plenary, describing the situation as unacceptable. In the same spirit, the US government also cautioned against a crisis-ridden election and enjoined actors to eschew hate speeches as they walk deeper into the campaign depth.
Nevertheless, the president met with some South-east governors and the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu in the week, about the development of their zone, the meeting however added nothing to the state of campaigns and so the fever had since begun to spread across the different states of the federation.
KWARA Offa Robbery on the Dial
Whist the dust raised by last week’s byeelection into a federal constituency was yet to settle in the state, the pending Offa robbery case reared its ugly head again in Kwara, however, on a different scale.
The police leadership had come out to announce the passing on of the principal suspect in the April bank heist, Michael Adikwu, which claimed over 30 people, months after Senate President Bukola Saraki had raised the alarm that the chap had been killed.
Interestingly, the police had come out to dismiss the possibility of the demise of the chap affecting the prosecution of the case, shamefully so. But the truth is that while the opposition may want to make the Offa robbery an issue in the election, the police cannot say with such confidence that the passing of the prime suspect would be of no consequence.
The assumption that he was killed is more grounded than the story being dished out. Whatever it is, all eyes are on Kwara in next year’s election and it is because of the place of Saraki in the scheme of things.
ONDO It’s Getting Hot in Here
In Ondo, the crisis plaguing the APC is far from being over and it is the bitter fallout of the primary elections in the state. Last week, a group, Concerned APC leaders called on the national leadership of the party to dissolve the state executive led by Mr. Ade Adetimehin, over alleged anti-party.
Alleging that the state executive of the party was undermining the APC national leadership, the group said the Adetimehin-led state executive had been indirectly encouraging aspirants to approach the court over the outcome of the party primaries in the state. The group was led by a former deputy governor in the state, Alhaji Ali Olanusi.
It was no wonder that Hon. Olemija Stephen, representing Akoko North-East/West of Ondo State, reportedly dumped the ruling party in the week.
In another breath, aggrieved lawmakers of the state House of Assembly, who effected the removal of Speaker Bamidele Oloyeloogun, and his Deputy, Hon Ogundeji Iroju, recently rejected the lifting of their purported suspension by the Assembly. This followed their insistence that Oloyeloogun and his deputy remained sacked and do not have the right to preside over the functions of the assembly.
Interestingly, the decision to lift the suspension was sequel to the intervention of the stakeholders and notable leaders within and outside the state in resolving the crisis. Ondo definitely has a lot on its hand in next year’s election, even though it won’t be holding a governorship election.
AKWA IBOM A Foretaste of 2019
Week in, week out, Akwa Ibom is proving to be one of the states to really watch out for in 2019. With the alleged plot to take over the state by the APC, recent developments may be playing to vindicate the PDP. The police, which sealed off the state House of Assembly penultimate week, lifted their siege last week.
This has not however deterred the PDP from crying out that there were alleged attempts by the APC in collusion with security agencies to make the state ungovernable ahead of the 2019 general election. The party said the strategy was to make it possible for the APC-led federal government to declare a state of emergency and pave the way for easy manipulations of election results in 2019.
But while the PDP was struggling to assert itself in its domain, some of the other dynamics do not show a party comfortable in power. That some of the governor’s aides have continued to resign are clear indications that the office of the governor might be under huge threat. But the jury is still out as far as Akwa Ibom politics is concerned.
ENUGU A Needless Billboard Battle
In what is best described as a declining electoral culture, the two main parties in Enugu State resorted to billboard battle in the week, such that signaled avoidable violence in the lead up to next year’s election. First, the APC had accused the PDP of intolerance by not letting it erect billboard, an allegation that the ruling PDP in the state denied.
However, PDP Chairman in the state, Hon. Augustine Nnamani, took the issue a notch higher , when he addressed newsmen over alleged destruction of the PDP-led government’s billboards at the entrance of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, welcoming the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to the state. But the APC had immediately denied this, saying it was all lies.
Yet, the PDP scored another big one at the weekend, when Steve Oruruo, spokesperson for the APC governorship candidate, Senator Ayogu Eze, defected to the party. This has further swelled the ranks of the party and reaffirmed the imposing stature of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of the state.
LAGOS A Peculiar Presidential Campaign
In Lagos, while the APC governorship candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu is practically running a one-man show at the expense of PDP’s lazy campaign approach, the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, last week injected fresh breath into the mix, when he inaugurated 5,000 participants into a dedicated campaign team in the state to champion Buhari’s re-election.
The event, which took place yesterday in Ikeja, had in attendance participants drawn from the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas across 347 wards in the state with a mandate to build formidable political support base in their respective areas of control.
Fashola’s initiative has been commended largely as a product of good thinking especially, when it appears that the current structure in the state is neck deep in the governorship electioneering, thus, assuming the Buhari election would naturally assume its place in the scheme might be delusional hence the initiative to contain possible tacky loose ends.
BENUE The Logic in Ortom’s Advocacy
After months of dueling with the Benue State Government over the enactment of anti-open grazing law, which had cost the state many deaths, the federal government, recently, set up a presidential committee on farmersherders crisis, a move Governor Samuel Ortom has described as a step in the right direction.
Ortom, who spoke while receiving members of the committee led by General Musa Ibrahim of the Nigerian Army Defence headquarters, Abuja, at Benue Peoples’ House, Makurdi, said the committee was a better initiative than the earlier utterances by the Minister of Defence on the Benue State killings, which to a large extent, injured the sensibilities of people of the state.
Now that common sense has finally prevailed in the state, it is important that going forward, both the federal and the state governments appreciate the fact that their roles are complementary. It is therefore the view in some quarters that with this development, Benue may not only experience a peaceful election, but may savour an atmosphere of peace for a while.