Defections, Oyo APC, opposition and mixed gains

The recent mass movement of some political bigwigs and their supporters from the opposition parties to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has not only brightened the chances of the party to win future elections but has also changed political calculation in the state.

If the political turf is a football field, the star-studded APC in Oyo State should be looking up to receiving many gold medals, but managing these politicians and their ambitions to achieve a corporate goal has sent the party back to the drawing board.

Conversely, opposition parties especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that had been barely surviving since 2011 when it lost the control of the state to the APC, are waiting for a miracle to make them politically relevant again in the state.

The fanfare that greeted the official decampment of immediate past governor of the state, Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, his deputy while in office, Taofeek Arapaja and former Senate Leader, Chief Teslim Folarin, was unprecedented in the history of party politics in the state.

The vicinity of Mapo Hall where the event took place was crowded with scores of politicians from the PDP, Labour Party (LP) and Accord Party (AP) who followed their leaders to the APC.

Other notable politicians that joined the broom revolution in the state on that day included former Secretary to the State Government, Ayodele Adigun, the immediate past Oyo State PDP State Chairman, Yinka Taiwo and the only Oyo PDP lawmaker in the House of Representatives from Ogo Oluwa/Surulere constituency, Dokun Odebunmi.

Other defectors included, former Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Ashimiyu Alarape, a former member of the House of Representatives, Kamil Akinlabi; a former Chairman of Oluyole local council, Kehinde Olaosebikan, Senator Brimoh Yussuf, former PDP Woman Leader, Mrs. Olanrewaju Otiti, Folake Olunloyo, Rauf Olaniyan, Lukman Oorelope and Kemi Jaiyeoba among others.

With this development, the structure of the LP in Oyo State has collapsed and submerged into the APC while remnants of AP that did not follow former governor, Senator Rasheed Ladoja to the PDP, have found solace in the ruling party.

However, the recent political arrangement in the state that saw members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and mainstream AP merging with the PDP ought to give the party a new lease of life but internal crisis is still unsettling the platform with two persons, Alhaji Kunmi Mustapha and Chief Jacob Adetoro claiming to be the State Chairman of the party.

Indeed, efforts to unite members of the party remain unsuccessful as none of the parallel congresses held in the state is yet to be recognized by the national secretariat of the PDP.

But a party source on Tuesday told The Guardian that the national leadership of the party has recognized Mustapha as the state chairman and still looking forward for the approval of the other executive members.

That the Oyo PDP is in shambles was not in doubt. But its weakness to play the role of the opposition that is needed to put the state government on its toes has been a source of concern to political watchers who believe democracy thrives only where there is a strong opposition.

The state governor, Abiola Ajimobi, whose net caught many big fishes in opposition rough waters is indeed one of the most celebrated politicians in Nigeria because of his political sagacity to decimate the opposition and throw open the doors of his party for political heavy weights.

However, the coming of Alao-Akala and his political machinery to APC is already giving some leaders in Oyo North Senatorial district sleepless night. His political influence cut across all the major wards in the state but his total control of Ogbomosho was not in doubt. He is said to be having his eyes on the Senate.

Teslim Folarin is also a major player in Ibadan politics. Being a graduate and beneficiary of the late Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu’s school of politics, a large number of PDP members from that bloc followed him to the APC. Folarin is eyeing the governorship seat, so also is Arapaja but the duo may have to contend with Ajimobi who has openly pledged his support for Oke-Ogun people to produce the next governor.

Understanding the dynamics and change in the political calculation of the state, national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while receiving the defectors, assured them that the party is big enough to accommodate the ambitions of the bigwigs that joined the party and disclosed that APC has “a stainless kitchen large enough to accommodate as many cooks as possible.”

Allaying fears on how to manage the differences of the political heavyweights joining the party, Tinubu noted that the APC has a variety of menu in the political kitchen for the future of the country.

He said: “We have a stainless kitchen and we can accommodate as many cooks as possible and we have a variety of menu in the political kitchen where we plan for the future. We love those bigwigs and we can accommodate them all. It is in the same forest that you find a hippopotamus that you find an elephant and you will find a rabbit. In a political platform, you must look for the addition not the minus.”

Tinubu said with the caliber of people who have joined the party, it becomes obvious that all forms of opposition are dead in the state.

He said, “You can see that the opposition has finished in Oyo State. It is finished for them. Today is important for us because it is the birthday of Governor Ajimobi and things that have never happened in the history of Oyo state have started happening. Thank God for my friend Alao-Akala and the others for seeing the light. All of you that joined will also join in building the party. The APC house is great for all of us. We are proud of you for joining us. APC is the only progressive party in Nigeria and Africa.”

Alao-Akala who was given the opportunity to hand over the APC flags to the defectors, said all of them had served under him. He expressed happiness for having the opportunity to join the progressives to rebuild Nigeria. The former governor stressed that there was no PDP in the state and described Tinubu as a great leader.

Odebunmi also described the PDP as a dead party in the state while on his part, former state chairman of the party, Taiwo, said there was nobody in PDP again, stressing that all the members have decamped with him to the APC.

But in its reaction, the PDP said it pitied the defectors and described their action as a political miscalculation and journey to political oblivion. The party said if the defectors had thought it well they should have remembered how the APC had used and later “damaged many bigwigs that have helped them in the past.”

The party in a statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Diran Odeyemi, said that both Alao-Akala and Folarin would have realised their full potentials as politicians, if they had remained in the PDP.

He said, “It is a political miscalculation, if our respected leaders are going to where they did not belong and could not learn from the experiences of Ladoja, Professor Taoheed Adedoja and other APC big wigs in Oyo State who recently retraced their ways back to PDP after being used and dumped by APC.

“Going by the experiences of many political heavyweights that have left to join APC in the past, Alao-Akala and Folarin’s decision to join the party was nothing but a misstep, especially now that majority of Nigerians are waiting on the party to rescue them from the national calamity that befalls the nation owing to lack of capacity by the Federal Government to deal with myriad of challenges facing the country.”

The PDP said the defectors “have all to lose and nothing to gain from the fast sinking ship of APC,” predicting that they can not enjoy the kind of influence and privileges they had in PDP because “APC is good at celebrating defectors and dumping them after the ceremony.

A PDP chieftain in the state, Alhaji Adebisi Olopoenia described the defectors as spent forces with no political value. He challenged Ajimobi to visit their respective local councils to ascertain their worth.

Although he admitted that Alao-Akala is still a politician any party will want in its fold, Olopoenia disclosed that the former governor was no longer a member of the PDP since 2014 when he left the party for the LP.

He said, “We know ourselves in the PDP. Those who sang on Saturday were frustrated and rejected members of the party whose contributions based on 2015 general elections in the state affected the fortune of the PDP.

“PDP governorship candidate in the last election, Teslim Folarin polled 2,512 votes in Ona Ara local council where he comes from and just 31 votes in his polling booth as against AP’s 8,888 votes and SDP’s 7,434. The so called former party chairman, Yinka Taiwo got 1, 663 votes in Iseyin local council as against Accord’s 8,400. So there is no reason to lose sleep over such spent forces that no longer enjoy the support of their people.”

While the PDP is counting its losses and struggling to put its house in order, the APC is basking in the euphoria of shrinking the opposition in the state. But the political intrigues in the next few months, public acceptability of the platforms and the way their internal politics are handled, will determine how long the celebration would last. Certainly, it is not yet dancing time.