PEN-TA-GUN: Akanji Eru -

Governor Abiola Ajimobi, whose oriki is Akanji, has done it again. He has become an anjonu with seven eyes that nobody can confront. He achieved another first last week. He IMPOSED his loyalists as candidates of the Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the May 12, 2018 council election.

The funniest part was that nobody has spoken against that unconstitutional practice. He made sure the chairman of the party, Chief Akin Oke and secretary, Hon. Mojeed Olaoya were there to legalise the illegality. ‎Olaoya happily reeled out the names of the IMPOSED chairmanship candidates at the event which took place at Lafia Hotel, Ibadan.

I had thought that the bragging of some aspirants who took to the party’s Oke-Ado secretariat would work. Few days after the party announced its decision to conduct primaries to select candidates for the election, the governor cut short his journey. He returned home from Daura where he and his colleagues had gone to see President Muhammadu Buhari. He was said to have summoned Chief Oke to a meeting at the Government House. Many people waited for the outcome of the meeting. The Ogbomoso-born party leader came out of the meeting, smiling. Nobody got the import of the smile, not even the SENACO faction of the party.

And last Thursday, less than 24 hours to the Lafia meeting, messages were sent to all the council areas. All the Excos members from all the council areas and 5 each from all the wards were to meet ‎governor. Most of the council areas, especially those from Okeogun zone, were said to have boycotted the meeting. They knew the game plan. They were aware that the 18 council chairmen from Okeogun cannot win through primaries, except they are imposed. Their prediction was right. The 18 annointed candidates have a ‘Mama.

And in order to let the people know that the ‘meeting’ was actually a ‘primary election, the communications team of the governor, in a release made available to journalists, reads: “Candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the proposed May 12 election into the 33 Local Government and 35 Local Council Development Areas of Oyo State were elected through INDIRECT PARTIES on Friday.

Only time will tell. Just like I posited in one of my intervention series, it would have been good for Ajimobi to continue with his caretaker style of running councils than this IMPOSITION. It can only last FOUR MONTHS for things to dawn on him. I pray he doesn’t have himself to blame. I cannot pretend not to know the reason why he decided to opt for imposition. It is simple. None of his preferred choices would make it if primaries had held. And as the 2019 election draws near, he wants to have more delegates. In fact, nobody was ready to collect money from him. How Ajimobi arrived at IMPOSITION which he called CONSENSUS baffles me. For consensus to take place, all those who obtained nomination forms should have agreed. Major stakeholders, including elected representatives must be involved. This is not fair at all. So for the close to 7 years that Ajimobi has been in the saddle, he cannot boast of absolute control of the party. That, to me, is shameful. Some people may want to blame Chief Oke. He is ‘unblameable’‎. If they had rallied round him before now, things wouldn’t have degenerated to this level. Only the court of law can correct this anomally. More than 50 per cent of the IMPOSED candidates did not even obtain nomination forms. His SENACO faction is now more DIVIDED with the imposition.

In fact, the entire process is a rape on democracy.

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Read the statement by the governor’s media team‎.

The emphasis (in capital letters) are mine.

“Addressing DELEGATES at the event, the governor said that the CONSENSUS ARRANGEMENT was adopted in line with Section 20A, Subsection 1,2,3 and 4 of the party’s constitution.

He said that the section empowers PARTY’S LEADERS and STAKEHOLDERS across the state to deliberate and reach a consensus on how to pick candidates for elections, in order to avoid what he called bad blood within the party’s hierarchy.

The governor explained that the desire of the party’s leadership to forestall rancour and the determination to go into the election as a united entity informed the adoption of the consensus arrangement.

“Let us thank God for the peaceful outing. You will see that most election primaries have always been very rancorous, but in our own case, it was very peaceful and was conducted in line with the constitution of our party.

“Particularly, if you look at page 74, Sections 1,2,3,4 of our constitution it was clearly stated that once you have elected members from the wards to the various levels of the party organs, you can have them as a collegiate group.

“They can then become delegates that will participate and vote at a designated location for candidates of their choice; and that is what we have done today.

“We have been able to bring together all elected party members, National and State Assembly members representing the state, including leaders from the local government and ward levels. We all agreed to have consensus candidates.”

I wouldn’t want to call Ajimobi a liar as our culture forbids a young person to refer to an adult in such manner. However, Ajimobi should be bold enough to tell the whole world the names of those party leaders and stakeholders he consulted. I am very sure most of them would have supported primaries instead of IMPOSTION.

Ajimobi is fearful. Is he not Akanji Eru that his loyalists call him? Ladoja cannot say anything against him; he has his dossiers! He has answers for every criticism. He will give you as you give him. Some people once shouted Sheu as he was entering his jeep. He told his driver to stop. And he replied: “Eyin na, Musa Yar’Adua”; a direct reference to late Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua.

But what is my own in all these? While‎ I await for the aspirants to go to court, to seek redress, I will like to urge the governor to watch his back. He should remember the Gbenga Daniels, Babangida Aliyu, Emmanuel Uduaghan of this world. Should I congratulate the IMPOSED candidates? Never! That will not come from me. Enjoy it while the offer lasts.

PEN-TA-GUN, Sikiru Akinola’s opinion on political events in Oyo State is published on Monday. He can be reached via sikiruakinola86@gmail.com.‎