As Osinbajo Ends Speculations, Zoning Still Troubling PDP

The contest for the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is gradually taking shape, just as the battle that is to come is already showing its dimensions. After months of consultations and even denials by some of his aides, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, finally threw his hat into the ring.

It was actually not news in the first place as the vice-president had been putting structures in place for his campaign as different groups have been operating for months, campaigning and asking him to run. And while these groups could not be directly linked to him, fact remained that Osinbajo never denied them. In fact, even before his official declaration, he had hosted some of these groups in his office.

The declaration by Osinbajo has expectedly pitted him against his erstwhile political mentor and boss, Senator Bola Tinubu, with supporters of both contestants, already throwing brickbats. The taste of what to come was, however, served when Tinubu hosted some APC governors and after the meeting, some newsmen accosted the APC National Leader, asking him about his take was as “his son” (referring to Osinbajo) had just declared to run for the presidency.

Tinubu had retorted that he had no son old enough to declare for the presidency. In the same vein, Tinubu’s supporters have been accusing the former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State of betraying Tinubu who, according to them, made him. The weeks ahead would likely see more attritional exchanges.
In the opposition PDP, the dominant issue is still that of zoning. And the party seems not have found a solution to it. Last week, some of the leading PDP presidential aspirants met to see if they could present a consensus candidate to fly the party’s flag at the presidential election next year. It seems there is no headway yet.

Same last week, former Senate President and former governor Kwara State, Bukola Saraki, alongside former Speaker of the House of Representatives and current governor of Sokoto State, Waziri Tambuwal, were in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, to meet the governor and they told newsmen that the consensus arrangement of the party was working.

Sources within the party said there was no way consensus would work unless the issue of zoning was resolved. All the aspirants, 14 in number as at the time of going to press, had not agreed on zoning with those from the North, insisting the ticket must be thrown open.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is not ready to step down so that the ticket would be zoned to the South. So, for consensus to work, there must be agreement on zoning and if there is no headway on that, then consensus seems dead on arrival.

The Father and Son Situation
After months of speculations and consultations, Vice-President Oluyemi Osinbajo, finally ended doubts and officially announced his intention to succeed his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari. Since January, there has been at least, four occasions, when words were rife that the number two man would announce his candidacy. But he finally laid this to rest by the rather austere manner with which he did it.

And take this to the bank: Osinbajo is immensely qualified to succeed Buhari, having served as the number two to the president for nearly seven years. Apart from this, in advanced democracies, he should be the first name among those to succeed the president even if his declaration speech was somehow lacking in vibe. In fact, he should have the first right of refusal.

But not in Nigeria. In fact, many, especially, those sympathetic to the strong man of Lagos politics and former governor of the state, Senator Bola Tinubu, believed he should not even run at all. To them, he betrayed his former boss (Osinbajo was Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice when Tinubu was governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007) and the man they believed facilitated his emergence as the running-mate to Buhari in 2015.

Sources have, however, told THISDAY that contrary to words making the rounds, Tinubu did not in any way see to the emergence of Osinbajo as the Vice-President. While this is subject of discussion for another day, the reaction from the camp of Tinubu has been roundly condemned as being unnecessary, cheap, timid, defeatist and unfairly critical of the Vice-President. In fact, some of Tinubu’s supporters have claimed that the fact that Osinbajo chose the Passion Week (week of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ) to declare his intention to run showed he was a ‘Judas’.
Sir Kayode Otitoju, logistics expert and leading senatorial aspirant for Ekiti North Senatorial District of Ekiti State, said it was wrong for anyone from Tinubu camp to describe Osinbajo as a betrayer. He said this is a democratic contest whereby everyone was free to try his or her luck.

Sources close to the Vice-President told THISDAY that there is a standing instruction from the Vice-President that none of his aides should attack Tinubu. While that is good but that is limited to his aides, there are those who would take it as a proxy war. And that is why the days ahead promise to be interesting.

Against all Odds, ‘Lagos 4 Lagos’ Gathers Momentum
When the man behind the ‘Lagos 4 Lagos’ movement opted to square up against the APC juggernaut in Lagos, many might have thought he was crazy for daring to challenge the political juggernaut called Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. But for Dr. Abdulazeez Olajide Adediran, the determination seems to be out of this world. For over six years, Adediran battled within the Lagos APC, challenging the political establishment within the party and questioning why members could not have an ambition and pursue such without waiting for green light from Tinubu before doing that.

Speaking to THISDAY last week, Adediran said he was not just trying to challenge the status quo in Lagos but had already done so. He explained that one thing about Lagos APC was that, as a member, you could not develop and build your own structure outside that of Tinubu. He claimed that was the offence he committed. In fact, his own group conducted its own parallel congress in the state last time out. Though as expected, officials that emerged from that congress were not recognised by the national secretariat of the party but Adediran believed a point had been made.

“We are not just trying to challenge the status quo; we have already challenged it. What we are trying to do in upsetting the status quo was starting early. We started seven years ago. What you are seeing now is not a job of two or three years. We have taken the battle to the stronghold of the status quo, which is the grassroots. They would have expected a young man like me to go and be slugging it out with them on the social media.

“But because we know the nitty-gritty of this game and that until there is an implosion within their stronghold, which is the grassroots, there is nothing we can do in upsetting the status quo. Having achieved that and knowing that that base is weakened, the next thing for us is to move such to where we know that if we combine forces together, we can take the state from them. This is why we chose the PDP,” Adediran told THISDAY, admitting that he was aware that it is structures that win elections.

When he announced his defection to the PDP earlier in the year, Adediran caused not a small stir, when about five serving and two former PDP governor graced the occasion. These included Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Governor Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Governor Ikpeazu of Abia State and Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, whom he said was “our leader in the South-west”. There were also Governor Diri of Bayelsa State and Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom. The two former governors were Peter Obi from Anambra and Olusegun Mimiko from Ondo State.
Asked how he was able to pull this off, Adediran said he did because those political heavyweights believed he was serious.

Fagade Challenges the Status Quo in Oyo
The jinx that no governor has ever done two terms in Oyo State since 1979, was finally broken by the late Isiaka Ajimobi, who emerged governor in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015. Current Governor Seyi Makinde of the PDP succeeded him in 2019 and is itching to have another go at the coveted seat come 2023. Good dreams but now, Makinde will have a certain Fagade Abisoye, whose ‘Oyo si maa dun’ (Oyo shall be sweet again) movement is making waves in the state. Fagade is also contesting for the governorship of the state on the platform of the ruling APC.

It must be noted, however, that Fagade is not a political neophyte as the first time he tried his luck to govern Oyo State was eleven years ago, when he contested on the platform of the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). And when asked why he floated the ‘Oyo Si maa Dun’ movement, he had this to say:

“The Foundation came into place as a medium to reach out to the masses especially, the less privileged in the Nigerian society and the people of Oyo State in particular. I have had reasons to be concerned about the general welfare of ordinary people on the streets, who suffer not because they are lazy or created to be poor but who are just victims of circumstance.

“Oyo Si Ma Dun Foundation is well structured to bring hope to the society and improve the lives of the common man through its numerous intervention programmes and outreaches. The concept or name Oyo Si Ma Dun came to me about 11 years ago when it dawned on me that if we did not get actively involved, we will lose our right to complain as citizens.

“I felt I should start with my state and create a political niche for myself. At that time, I came out under the progressive party called Alliance for Democracy (AD) and I was able to pay my dues. Since then, I have always been around to play the role of a key stakeholder and a mobiliser in the Progressive fold.”

Fagade is young. And that is instructive. Just like Makinde, if he makes it to the Agodi Government House in Ibadan, he would not be a recycled leader. He would be a breath of fresh air in a polluted political environment. To him, politics will remain dirty as long as Nigerians allow the dirtiest among them to continue to lord it over them.

“Politics will remain dirty as long as we continue to allow the worst of us to rule over the best of us. Good people need to stop staying aloof. I urge every competent and passionate patriot to be ready to take the battle to the doorsteps of dirty players in the political turf and challenge the status quo. We should get involved and show the stuff we are made of if we want to have a better society,” he said.

He explained that he was contesting because he wanted to make Oyo State truly the Pacesetter state. According to him, there were low-hanging fruits that he would first try to pluck before going for the high ones.

His word: “We are the pacesetter and all our missions would have their foundation on that. The greatest war anyone can fight is between your two ears. We have our short term goals, which are the low hanging fruits (tourism boost, basic infrastructures, youth development and engagement, security etc), long term goal is to build strong institutions that will solidly strengthen all the key sectors of our economy such as educational, health, judiciary, transportation and most importantly, the agricultural system.”

Will Kola Abiola Succeed Where His Dad Fell Short?
The heir apparent to both the late MKO Abiola’s political and business dynasties, Kolawole Abiola, last week threw his hat into the ring and informed the nation that he would be contesting the presidency.

Speaking during his declaration, Kola said, he was returning to politics after a 27-year hiatus. His words: “Today makes my formal in-road after 27 years back into politics.”
Kola has joined the People’s Redemption Party (PRP). And explaining the rationale behind his choice, Kola said he had to go back to the history books before deciding where to pitch his political tent.

“I came back into politics through the PRP for some good reasons. I have gone back to the history of Nigerian to look at the party that truly represents Nigeria. I have gone back and I have found out that the oldest living party is the PRP. It still holds those ideals of what Nigeria and democratic practice should be like. It is a party that started by the people and truly for the people. It is a party that has shown first, as its priority, internal democracy,” he explained.

He also disclosed that the first thing he wanted to do was to disrupt the political process and also disabuse the minds of the youth on godfatherism. He added that the way to do this was to give the true owners of Nigeria, that is those between the ages of 18 and 36, who make up to 70 per cent of the population, an “opportunity for their voices to be heard and their numbers to count.”

As ideal and lofty the thoughts of Kola Abiola were, the fact remains that platform matters in Nigerian politics. At about 60, he is immensely qualified to run for the highest office in the land. Perhaps, going by the platform he has chosen, 2023 might be coming too early. From all indications, no new political group or platform can challenge the two behemoths – APC and PDP – in 2023. Any ambition not on any of these two platforms has its fate clearly defined.  

Wait a minute, what of the ‘small matter’ of his kid sister, Hafsat, heading the campaign of the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, ahead of same 2023 presidential election? It promises to be interesting!