Oyebanji, Kolawole, Oni, Others Battle For Soul Of Ekiti

The political drumbeat in Ekiti State, the fabled “Fountain of Knowledge”, is fast assuming a deafening dimension. The deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for parties to come up with their candidates for the June 18, 2022 governorship election has expired. In all, the electoral umpire has announced that 16 out of the 18 registered political parties will participate in the election and it has drawn up a list of candidates that will fly the flags of the parties.

Out of the 16 candidates listed by INEC, only two are females. One of the two female candidates, Christiana Olatawura, appeared on the list as the governorship candidate of the Action Peoples Party (APP), while the second, Elebute-Halle Kemi, is of the Action Democratic Party (ADP)

Watchers of political developments in Ekiti States have expressed the opinion that only four candidates, out of the 16 on the list, are in real contention for the topmost job in Ekiti. The others, they conclude, are as numb, dumb and mute as the political parties they represent, many of which are hardly known by the electorate.

To pundits, the June 18 contest will obviously be a big battle between the governing All Progressives Party (APC), represented by the immediate past Secretary to the Ekiti State Government, Biodun Oyebanji; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with a former Chairman of the party in the state, Bisi Kolawole, as its arrowhead; The African Democratic Congress (ADC), led by Dr Wole Oluyede; and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) led by a former Governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni.

It is gathered that the APC and its standard bearer, Oyebanji, are wrapping their victory joker in the power of incumbency and the fact that they have the government support which has been obvious in the deployment of state resources and manpower to provide colourful outings that can bequeath a soft landing to victory for their candidate. The process that led to Oyebanji’s emergence, his low political participation and experience, as well as some miscarriages in the allocation of positions in a government yet to be approved by the people, is seen as a barrier to the electoral success of the Ikogosi-born lecturer turned politician.

It was gathered that in the process leading to Oyebanji’s emergence, Governor Kayode Fayemi, had his own preferred candidate in the current Attorney-General of Ekiti State, Wale Fapohunda, who had all along been his ‘political son’ just as Oyebanji is the ‘political son’ to one-time governor of Ekiti State and current Minister of Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo.

A prominent APC leader said, on the condition of anonymity, that Oyebanji was stubbornly supported by Erelu Bisi Fayemi who found the former SSG more suitable and thus worked through influential politicians in the circle of government to ensure his endorsement.

Sources informed THEWILL that the choice of Oyebanji may not have gone down well with Dr Fayemi, who ordinarily would have loved to hand over to his preferred loyalist. Despite the fact that the alleged manipulation of the APC primary election to favour the SSG was obvious, party leaders believe that with the enormous clout Fayemi planned to wrap around Oyebanji, victory is certain in the forthcoming election.

Oyebanji’s loyalists moved into action shortly after the primary election and approached those who were aggrieved at the outcome and still leaking their wounds and promised them a juicy political future, including retention of office for those who resigned from government to contest in the election. However, promises for the latter may not endure for long with the recent signing of the Electoral Act which, among others, stipulates that primary election to the National Assembly must hold between April and June 3, 2022.

Oyebanji is from the Central Senatorial District of the state, a district which has led for 12 of the 23 democratic years of Ekiti State. The northern zone will cover for the remaining 11 years with the completion of Fayemi’s second term in October. This has spurred an intense agitation for a shift of power to the southern part of the state, which has never produced any governor, in the coming election.

But to pacify the Southern District, APC has made overtures to them by picking Oyebanji’s deputy from Ikere -Ekiti, a major town in the Southern Senatorial District, in the person of Mrs Monisola Christiana Afuye.

It was however gathered that the people of the South are not well disposed to the post of a Deputy, hence the rejection that allegedly came from Ikere, the hometown of the chosen deputy, is said to be overwhelming.

A town that produced the likes of Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN and top APC members who are close to the current government, like Muyiwa Olumilua, Wale Adebola, Engr

Fakoyede and the incumbent Speaker of the State House of Assembly Rt. Hon Funminiyi Afuye and a host of top politicians and intellectuals, is said to be feeling slighted that the position of Deputy Governor is what they could be offered.

Many politicians and top monarchs from the South, are said to have vowed that the South will not settle for a second fiddle in the next dispensation, promising to use all legal means possible to ensure that power shifts to the zone for the first time.

Bisi Kolawole of the PDP is from Efon in the Central District of Ekiti State. Kolawole is the political son of former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose. He was the state chairman of his party. The emergence of Kolawole as governorship candidate of the PDP was deemed controversial by Segun Oni, who felt shortchanged by the process that produced the former. In terms of clout and popularity, Kolawole seems to score low points. But the Efon-born politician is relying heavily on the popularity of Fayose, which is unquestionable.

Talk of a governor who has made himself very available to the people of Ekiti, there is none like Fayose. He is seen by many as a man of the people, a friend of the oppressed and an outspoken governor, daring, combative and absolutely on the side of the people.

To some Ekiti people, particularly the illiterate and the lowly, which formed the bulk of the electorate, Fayose is the ideal governor; he can walk the street bare footed, drink local gin with Okada riders, eat on the streets and always do the unthinkable.

But many see Fayose’s high-handedness and his choice of puppets for manipulation as obstacles that may cripple his ambition and affect Kolawole’s chances of success in the forthcoming election.

It would also be recalled that the PDP has suffered a huge downsize in followership with the exit of former Governor

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“Watchers of political developments in Ekiti States have expressed the opinion that only four candidates, out of the 16 on the list, are in real contention for the topmost job in Ekiti