How Oyebanji won and Opeyemi Bamidele, Adeyeye, Faparusi, Bamisile lost Abiodun Abayomi Oyebanji, popularly

How Oyebanji won and Opeyemi Bamidele, Adeyeye, Faparusi, Bamisile lost

Abiodun Abayomi Oyebanji, popularly known as BAO, emerged as the winner of Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary on Thursday, January 27 having polled 101,703 votes in the direct primary election that was boycotted at the dying minute by some aspirants.

The massive turnout of card-carrying members of the APC across the 177 wards of the state, the majority of whom rooted for Oyebanji, drowned the feeble protest staged by some aspirants.

While the aggrieved aspirants, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Hon Femi Bamisile, Hon Bamidele Faparusi, Engr Kayode Ojo, Otunba Demola Popoola and Oluwatoyin Oluwasola, were protesting at the state secretariat of the party in Ado-Ekiti, demanding the cancellation of the exercise, excited voters had almost concluded accreditation in most voting centres across the state, while some have concluded and merely waiting for the commencement of voting which was slated for 12 noon.

Whereas the protest by the aggrieved aspirants and a terse statement they jointly signed stating that the exercise had been suspended created initial confusion, orderliness was, however, restored when the election committee, led by Jigawa State Governor, Badaru

Abubakar, said it had no plan to cancel or postpone the exercise.

The voting exercise, conducted with party members, armed with their membership and voters cards, standing behind the banner of their favourite aspirants, was concluded in many wards within the space of two hours, leading to wide jubilation across the state as results began to filter in from ward to ward.

The official announcement by Badaru at the state secretariat around 9pm merely gave an official seal to the result. The final result as released saw Oyebanji scoring 101,703, Ojo (767), Bamidele (760), Adeyeye (691), Bamisile (400), Faparusi (376), Popoola (239) and Oluwasola (47).

The result, expectedly, is being greeted with mixed feelings. While a vast majority of the people see it as a reflection of Oyebanji’s soaring popularity and the importance of political structure in any political contest, some of the aspirants have rejected the outcome, alleging that it was fraught with irregularities. The question on many lips however remains: how do you manipulate a contest where voters cast their votes by lining up behind their favourite candidate?

In the Beginning

Oyebanji made a bold statement about his level of seriousness and preparation the day he picked the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms at the APC National Secretariat, Abuja on December 8, 2021, barely few days after he resigned as the Secretary to the State Government.

The star-studded team that accompanied him to the National Secretariat gave the event a carnival-like colour. The team include a serving Senator, four serving members of the House of Representatives, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, six members of the state house of Assembly, some members of the state executive council as well as a handful of former state executives of the party.

The optics, no doubt, sent jitters down the spines of a few the aspirants. But some of them responded with a tinge of bravado, submitting, rather philosophically, that the cloak does not make the monk.

If the Abuja event was dubbed a carnival, the reception organised by Oyebanji’s supporters upon his return to Ekiti after obtaining the form could be described as mother of all carnivals as the entire state was literally shut down by thousands of excited supporters who organised pockets of street parties and road shows across the 16 local government areas and the state capital to welcome the former SSG to the state. From that moment the beat changed and the dancing steps changed correspondently.

The BAO slogan became an anthem sung by the young and old just and the campaign became a movement. The former SSG rode on the back of that massive goodwill in all his visits to the wards and local government chapters of the party, culminating in massive endorsement ahead of the primary. It is on record that Oyebanji visited the wards and local government areas four times before the date of the primary.

Structure is Everything

One undeniable fact about the reality of political contest anywhere in the world is the political structure or machinery put in place for the exercise. In APC, the structure is built around the grassroots which controls over 65 percent of the delegates.

These include ward executives, local government executives, state executives and some serving and past state and national officers. The bulk of the structure is at the grassroots. You either build your structure or cultivate the existing culture or inherit an existing structure.

Having been part of the party’s structure since inception from the Alliance for Democracy (AD) days till date, and having served in two administrations, Oyebanji, no doubt enjoys a greater level of support from the party’s structure. He is seen more as part and parcel of the party’s machinery and one of the personalities that have helped sustain the party’s structure even during the difficult period the party was not in government.

Aside this, he enjoys huge following among the youth, who are major stakeholders of the party. He is also respected by the elders and women in the party. This put him at an advantage over others like Bamisile, Bamidele and Adeyeye, who had been in and out of the party to seek greener pastures in other political parties. The same way he is much more favoured over the likes of Ojo, Popoola and Oluwasola, who are new to the party.

While the focus of many of the aspirants was the perceived support Oyebanji enjoys from a former governor of Ekiti and current Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, and the incumbent governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, they perhaps underestimated the support he enjoys from one of the three serving senators, five House of Representatives members (Hon Yemi Adaramodu later declared support for him few days to the election), all members of the state House of Assembly and all local government chairmen and councillors elected on the party’s platform.

Although Fayemi and Adebayo, as fathers of the party, chose to be neutral, the other leaders openly expressed their preferences and worked for the emergence of their preferred aspirant. And these are leaders that are in total control of their respective wards, local government and constituencies.

What also worked against some of the aspirants is the fact some of them are the ring leaders of a tiny clique championing the sacking of the present ward, local government and state executives of the APC. The case is pending in the court. It is, therefore, no rocket science that the executives and their supporters would never support the aspiration of those who want them out by all means.

Some of the aspirants carried the moral burden of their cold war with the executives into the contest such that they could not, in good conscience, approach the leadership for support. This is one of the major considerations for their clamouring for the direct mode of primary. They had reasoned that through a direct primary, the influence of the executives would be whittled down considerably. That reasoning proved disastrous, a wrong calculation, as the structure remains a critical factor in both direct and indirect primary elections.

Campaign strategy

The campaign strategy adopted by each of the contestants also contributed in no small way to the outcome of the exercise. Many of the aspirants had built their strategy around the delegates with a simple mathematical consideration for what it would cost them to get the support of a certain percentage of the delegates. Based on this, many of them concentrated their energies on meeting with delegates.

They also tried to outshine one another on how much each person is able to spend on wooing the delegates. Only a few focused on other stakeholders of the APC who are not necessarily delegates. It is said that only Oyebanji and Bamisile extended their scope of consultations to other stakeholders – women, the youth, professional and trade groups, tribal and religious groups – within the party.

While the grassroots campaign and consultations by the two reverberated across Ekiti, some did not go that route, while Adeyeye, for instance, did not hold a single meeting with stakeholders outside his Ise –Orun Local Government. Many also distanced themselves from his meeting because of the controversies around SWAGA, a group he champions in the South-West.

Quitters Don’t Win

Renowned American televangelist and author, Robert Schuller, in his book, ‘Though Times never Last, Though People Do’, dwells much on the principle that winners don’t quit and quitters don’t ever win. Thus the final straw that broke the camel’s back for the APC aggrieved aspirants was boycotting the exercise hours after accreditation had started across the 177 wards in Ekiti.

Their decision to stage a protest at the party’s state secretariat in Ado-Ekiti after 9am, clearly an hour after accreditation had commenced in most polling centres across the state, created confusion in their camps and left their supporters without a clear cut direction.

Many analysts believe their decision to boycott the decision hours after the commencement of the voting exercise was ill-conceived and ill-timed. “That completely knocked them out of the contest, regardless of whatever claim they had to popularity”, noted Dr Olajuwon Enitan. Their boycott and directive to their supporters to disrupt the process led to a pocket of protests in 11 centres leading to cancellation of the exercise in those centres, which are mainly the home base of some of the aspirants.

Verdict

With 101, 703 votes in the kitty, Oyebanji was declared winner of the APC governorship primary by Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar-led committee. The Chairman of the seven-man committee, who said the election complied substantially with laid down guidelines, has since submitted the report of the election to the National Secretariat, Abuja. The APC Director of Organisation, Prof. Ussiju Medaner, received the report on behalf of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

Speaking to journalists on the outcome of the primary election, Badaru said: “We have submitted the results sheets and reports where elections were conducted – 166 wards. 11 wards were disrupted and we cancelled those areas.

“But in 166 wards, people actively participated. And I think you all have the videos of what transpired in all the 166 wards except the 11 wards.

“The committee landed on the 26th. I had meetings with all the aspirants and seven attended out of eight”.

Badaru called on aggrieved aspirants to support the APC and the candidate to win the forthcoming governorship election in Ekiti.

Moving forward

The euphoria of the electoral victory is gradually settling down and the reality of the outcome of the contest has become clear. Oyebanji, in his acceptance speech, has given a clear direction on the way forward.

He promised to run an issue-based campaign that would involve all the co-aspirants and all critical stakeholders of the APC. The candidate disclosed to newsmen that he has started reaching out to the aggrieved aspirants with a view to working out an amicable resolution of their grievances for the sake of the party.

Analysts are of the view that this is the way to go. They also urge the aggrieved aspirants to sheath their swords and join hands with the party and its flag bearer in running a good campaign that would ensure continuity of the APC-led government in the state.