"Ondo Election": 24 hrs Preview To The D-Day

"Ondo Election": 24 hrs Preview To The D-Day

GBENGA ADENIJI X-rays the campaign activities of the three major contestants in tomorrow’s governorship election in Ondo State

The word of an unknown author that ‘during a campaign the air is full of speeches-and vice versa’ aptly captures what oozed out of the political scene of Ondo State this week.

Before electioneering was rounded off on Tuesday, candidates of the Labour Party, Action Congress of Nigeria and the Peoples Democratic Party- the three major contestants in tomorrow’s governorship election-sought votes from the voters and lashed out at one another.

Incumbent Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the LP leaves no one in doubt with his belief that he is the people’s choice. To him, he has been committed to his electoral promises; hence, his two challengers should forget the dream of unseating him. However, PDP’s Chief Olusola Oke and ACN’s Oluwarotimi Akeredolu have also not minced words in their stance that the Sunshine State needs a new person to propel it to greater heights. Each of the duo sees himself as the right man for the job.

All the three candidates have their backers.  A former National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Oke has the backing of the Federal Government-controlling party. On his part, ex-National President of the Nigeria Bar Association, Akeredolu enjoys the support of ACN governors in the South-West as well as that of the party’s national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Mimiko rests on his performance in office in the last three-and-a-half years and acceptance by the people of the state. The desire of the ACN to dislodge Mimiko from the Alagbaka Government House is premised on a purported refusal of the governor to join the party, after being allegedly helped by its leaders to reclaim his mandate from the state PDP after the 2007 general elections. Interestingly, the trio are said to be the best of friends before politics pitted them against one another. Besides, they attended the same University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University. While Mimiko studied Health Science, obtaining a degree in Surgery in 1980, Akeredolu and Oke studied Law in 1977 and 1986 respectively. Fallout of the rallies of the three main political parties-LP, ACN and the PDP- out of the 13 that registered for the election, suggested that the die is cast for tomorrow’s epic political battle.

Oke, who said during his campaign in Akure, the state capital, that his goal was to “rescue the state from waste and corruption”, added that what it had experienced in the last three-and-a-half years under the Mimiko administration “is punishment and pain”. He had said, “Today we have sealed our pact with the people. Before the President of this nation, dignitaries in Nigeria and in my state we have shown readiness to take my people out of gutless hypocrisy and decadence to which they have been consigned in the last three-and-a-half years. Our hands are already on the plough and there is no looking back. We need to get into prosperity. That is why we need so badly a good government we can trust. By the grace of God, my party will produce that government.” Describing the Mimiko administration as ‘an error of history’ that he said the people would correct at the poll tomorrow, Oke stated that a government must not ally itself with power against the powerless.

Tinubu, the ACN leader, at a Redemption Rally in Akure on Monday, claimed that he supported Mimiko with millions of pounds in cash during legal battle to reclaim his mandate. The former governor of Lagos State said Mimiko was not being truthful when he claimed that he did not receive money from him in the course of the legal proceedings. Tinubu, who quoted passages from the Holy Bible during his speech, insisted that he gave money and vehicles to assist him.

He stated, “Mimiko claimed that I did not spend money when he had problems with his mandate, this is not true. It is a lie. He came to me and begged me to support him, rolling on the ground. He said Wole Olanipekun was there when we were planning the strategy, this is not correct. Rotimi Akeredolu was among the lawyers we organised for him. He collected money from me. I spent millions of pounds sterling but he betrayed me. It was Yemi Osibajo, who travelled to Israel and other countries to arrange the experts that helped him prosecute the case. People warned me not to help him because of his antecedents of being a serial traitor. He betrayed Adebayo Adefarati, Olusegun Agagu, and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo among others, but I still helped him. Mimiko has called me a godfather, yes, I am a positive godfather and even, godfatherism is biblical and that is why Christians refer to God as their father.” Noting that he is a godfather for progress in Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Lagos, Edo and Ogun, Tinubu faulted the mega school concept of the Mimiko administration, saying the schools were not befitting of a low populated state like Ondo. The ACN chief said the state would lose much if the people refused to vote in the party.

However, Mimiko on Tuesday in Akure at a rally featuring leadership of his party, Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, said both the people and his performance would decide the election. He added that it would not border on any issue of betrayal. He said, “The election is not going to be about the imagination of a man that feels he was betrayed. We will leave that for now. It is about the people. The people will decide Saturday’s election. Rascality must be differentiated from progressivism. I have no doubt in my mind that the people of Ondo State will vote for our party that day.”

Mimiko also noted that his opponents faulted the fountain project embarked upon by his administration. He said, “They do not know that the fountain only recycles water. We only need to replace it once in a year. They did not do physics in school. I thought it is only geometry they did not do. Nursing mothers from Osun and Ekiti states benefit largely from our Mother and Child health programme which the opposition fault.” Debunking claim that his administration had not inaugurated any road, the governor said he had constructed first-class roads imbued with inner roads, walkways, car parks and setbacks than any past government in the state.

Besides, there have been accusations and counter-accusations from the campaign teams of the three parties in the week. For instance, the Mimiko Campaign Organisation once alleged that it had uncovered a plot by the ACN to hire fake corps members to rig the election. MCO, in a statement by its Director of Publicity and Media Relations, Mr. Olabisi Kolawole, said, “The opposition party has recruited mercenaries to be clothed in the National Youth Service Corps uniforms to rig the election,”

Reacting, the Director, Media and Publicity, Akeredolu Campaign Organisation, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, described the allegation as false. Ajanaku claimed that the onus was on LP to explain to the public what “its top member caught with an Independent National Electoral Commission official in Ondo town was doing with 10 ballot boxes.” He further alleged that it was the LP, which had been bringing thugs into the state in order to rig election because, according to him, its government had failed to perform. He said, “We don’t have control over the corps members so we could not have recruited them to rig the poll. We won elections in Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti and Edo, so we will win in Ondo State without rigging.”

As a way of pledging the neutrality of INEC, its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Wednesday in Akure at a stakeholders’ meeting, said the commission was committed to credible poll. Jega, who advised voters to be patient and vigilant, added that INEC had introduced a process that would make every genuine voter’s vote count.

He said, “We have done everything possible to ensure a credible poll. We will not allow anybody to do the wrong thing and anybody who does anything contrary will have him or herself to blame. Political parties must have credible party agents. If they have competent, credible party agents who have integrity, there is no way election results can change.” In addition, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, assured of a violence-free election.

Now, all eyes are on the state concerning the election, which observers think may offer a new definition for the country’s politics. If anything, the Jega-led INEC must use the opportunity to reaffirm itself as an unbiased umpire dedicated to delivering free and fair elections. Nevertheless, for Mimiko, Oke and Akeredolu, their fate in tomorrow’s election lies in the thumbs of the people of the state.