The ADC was a kaleidoscope of interests and forces. One thing, however, bound us together; Ajimobi dynasty must end. All were agreed that, given our antecedents and where we were coming from, there must be a LEVEL PLAYING GROUND.
PREAMBLE:
The essence of forming or joining a political party is to win elections. Election/selection of party flag bearers by whatever means should be to present candidates with the aim of winning elections. It is therefore imperative that the ultimate aim, electoral victory, should not be sacrificed on the altar of candidacy.
The ADC in Oyo State seems to have degenerated to the level of placing the issue of who clinches party tickets above electoral victory.
WHERE WE CAME FROM:
Pre-2011, the PDP was a major force in Oyo State. Towards the 2011 elections, the division of the party due to personal interests of major players within the party led to so many factions in the party. Leaders who should have been the rallying point then were in the news as having worked for the opposition. The party lost. We all lost.
2015 was worse. The party completely splintered. Ours loses became the gains of APC, Accord party, Labor Party, and SDP. And broken pieces of China from the parent party accounted for two-thirds of the votes cast. Yet they lost to a party with less than a third of the votes, the people lost again. Emperor Koseleri was made possible by the disharmony and selfishness of our leaders. Yes, our leaders. IT HAS BEEN A BITTER EXPERIENCE.
Everybody looked forward to 2019 believing we have learned our lessons. We waited patiently enduring the hardship visited on us by our gap-toothed transducer. We looked up to our leaders and elder statesmen.
Late in 2017, it looked like our dreams were, at last, going to come true. The euphoria was short-lived as selfishness, deception, insincerity, mutual distrust and desperado styles were thrown into the brew. It boiled over and spilt. The party split again. The catchword was IMPUNITY. We were happy we had emptied the party. Those still in the party were glad we left.
At that same time, the Unity Forum left APC shouting “No to impunity” We came together in ADC.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The ADC was a kaleidoscope of interests and forces. One thing, however, bound us together; Ajimobi dynasty must end. All were agreed that, given our antecedents and where we were coming from, there must be a LEVEL PLAYING GROUND.
The first sign that all might not be so well was in the formation of State Exco of the party when the hydra-headed monster of brinkmanship reared its head. Group considerations became more important than the overall interests of the party. Some people suddenly remembered who their leaders were and the leaders too were quick to point who their loyalists were. The same impunity fire we ran away from in PDP and APC started smouldering again. Leaders became lords of their individual manors. ADC didn’t matter anymore. Their personal and group interests became Paramount.
HERE WE ARE:
With the level playing ground promised, nobody expected anything short of primary elections. Everybody would have gone home shaking hands. All and sundry would have worked together with the candidates for the party’s success at the polls. If that had happened, we would’ve sent the ruling despot scampering.
Unfortunately, our leaders had a different agenda.
The first stage was dilly-dallying and secrecy on the affairs of the party. Party faithful were no more in the know of the affairs of the party. Rumour mills started grinding. All we heard were one-sided and sometimes fake news from “loyalists” who supposedly read the body language of their principals.
Then came the issue of nominations which was badly mismanaged. Foot Dragging gave room for the interference of the NWC, promising automatic tickets for return honourable members. The leaders, despite knowing this, never discouraged other aspirants in those constituencies from collecting nomination forms. This is insincere and unfair.
In constituencies where the issue of automatic tickets was non-existent, a different form of the problem was created; not by the party faithful, or the aspirants but sadly by the party “Leadership”. Aspirants, buoyed by the assurance of a level playing ground, went to town lobbying and canvassing support of party members. Working in the dark, they never knew our leaders had a different agenda.
No more information came about the place, time and mode of the much-awaited primaries.
In the long run, names started surfacing and disappearing from a phantom list nobody has seen. Suddenly it became an issue of consensus. One wonders who and who sat to decide on consensus, and where and when it was held. The whole party was left guessing and at the whims and caprices of the “Leadership”. One even wonders who the”Leadership” is/are.
The governorship race is the icing on the cake. When the aspirants were buying forms and junketting from Oluyole to Kishi, canvassing all through the 33 local governments, someone should have told them not to bother. They should have been informed there will be no primaries. The “leadership’s” position was hidden to them. “Leadership” left them working and deliberately waited until the last minute to spring up a surprise.
First came the “JAMB” examination (Hitherto unknown in politics). The results were never made public. This gave room for conjectures, rumours and outright lies.
On one lovely Sunday morning, aspirants were asked to report at Premier Hotel by 9 am and Party members at Watershed by 11 am. We were all hopeful that at last, the D-DAY has come. Alas, it was not to be. Aborted again, not by the party faithful, not by the aspirants, but again by the party “Leadership”.
The long wait at Premier Hotel, reconvening at Pentonrise and the late evening declaration at Watershed produced only one information for the party; all the assignments and leaders have agreed to send a name tentatively to beat the INEC deadline and all the aspirants and leaders will convoke a meeting and give us a candidate.
After that day, it was a blackout.
Next thing was a fait-accompli by the “Leadership” in exclusion of 12 of the 13 aspirants. When it first sneaked in on social media, everyone felt it was one lurid joke. Then it came on print and electronic media. That was when people know a COUP has occurred. Like all coups, the planning and actualisation were clandestine, and the results undemocratic.
As at today, nobody knows exactly the real list of who has been “allotted” what ticket in the party. This is not limited to any particular group. It cuts across the board. This state of affairs is unwholesome and disturbing too. Even after the “allocation” of tickets, party “Leadership” has not deemed it fit to meet and placate the aggrieved. Maybe what we the party members feel don’t really matter to our Lord(s) and Master(s).
IMPLICATIONS AND INDICATIONS:
From the above, one can rightly imply as follows:
1. Our leaders have not learned from the mistakes that made us fail in the past.
2. Their personal interests, nuances and grouses are more important to them than the overall interests of the party.
3. The “Leadership” of the party is only interested in using this opportunity for vendetta and setting old scores.
4. It is more important to the “Leadership” to secure candidacy for their cronies and loyalists than to win elections, sad I say.
5. The false impression that the “Leadership” can go on without the party members to win elections is a sordid misadventure guaranteed to fall.
WAY OUT:
The party “Leadership’ should as a matter of urgency convoke a meeting of aspirants and leaders at three levels, placate aggrieved persons, jointly agree on the choice of candidates, make such agreements public and convey same to INEC, NWC etc.
1. STATE level for a gubernatorial candidate.
2. SENATORIAL level for National Assembly candidates.
3. LOCAL level for State Assembly candidates.
FINAL NOTE:
This represents a bird’s eye view of the opinions of the majority of party faithful, our teeming supporters and the voting populace. It is not intended to promote or demean any aspirant or leader.
The driving tonic remains the desire to see ADC arise and Shine to obliterate the dark days of Ajimobi.
Long live Oyo State
Long live ADC
Long live Nigeria.
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Femi Ladapo writes from Ibadan North East
