Ondo 2016 guber: Unmasking critical stakeholders

As the race for Ondo State governor’s seat, scheduled to climax on November 26, gathers momentum with the approach of political parties’ primary elections, analysts are already identifying critical stakeholders who would determine the swing of the pendulum.

While these stakeholders who form a large percentage of the voting population are mostly non-partisan, they are the targets of campaigns by politicians in their quest to take political control of the state.

Among this critical population are members of the public service who, because the local economy is driven mainly by inflow of wages from government, are a powerful segment whose satisfaction must be taken into consideration by the government in power and wooed with pledges of better life by governorship aspirants.

This segment of the population appear to be the most important in determining the fortune of an aspirant as they are the barometer of public discontent and occupiers of the top seat, do everything possible, including pocketing their leaders, to maintain a level of acceptance among the workers.

Part of the schedule of duty of a Special Assistant to the governor on Labour Matters is ensuring that only those that would dance to the government tune were elected as leaders of workers’ union, artisans’ associations and students’ bodies.

Passing a vote of no confidence against a governor, which civil servants are always ready to do when they have unresolved issues bordering on their remuneration, had been the waterloo of many occupants of the top seat.

Besides, senior civil servants are always instruments in the hands of an aggressive opposition to penetrate the government to retrieve damaging confidential information and classified documents that could be used to bring a government down.

Towards the 2007 governorship election a top government official was stupefied when a letter from an anti-graft agency addressed to the Commissioner for Finance, inviting the commissioner for questioning on certain transactions, was leaked to the public within minutes of its delivery.

During the governor Adebayo Adefarati administration, it was common knowledge that minutes of the State Executive Council’s weekly meetings were being faxed to the opposition on regular basis leaking official secrets some of which were used to negatively affect the governor’s reputation.

In Ondo State, it is not unusual to see a divided Civil Service anytime a governorship election is approaching and after the exercise, which is always preceded by nocturnal meetings with those eyeing the seat, those who play the double-game are unmasked as the new governor is sworn-in with positions of Head of Service and Permanent Secretaries.

Another segment of the voting population that is critical to determining the outcome of a gubernatorial election is the clergy, some of whom, during the dark days of the military, left the pulpit and took up the gauntlet of pro-democracy activism.

Their involvement in politics has been so deep that politicians, apart from seeking their support on spiritual matters, engaged them as spokesmen to campaign to their congregations during worship sessions.

Also on the list are the artisan groups, comprising members of vocational associations of low-income earners who were made active in local politics through a strategy of reaching the grassroots employed by incumbent governor, Olusegun Mimiko in 2007.

The artisan groups have become so powerful that politicians now meet with their leaders and woo them with all sorts of incentives like provision of loans for members and donations of vehicles, on which the names of the donors were boldly written for the public to know who the benefactor was.

At the approach of any major election in the current Mimiko administration, windows of financial assistance were opened for the artisans to secure loans while their public endorsement and that of the workers union were sought.

Another group is the traditional rulers, generally regarded as custodians of the people’s culture. They influence the outcome of a governorship election because of their closeness to the grassroots and influence over their subjects. Politicians always make it a point of duty to first pay homage at the palaces before going to campaign grounds as a mark of respect for the crown.

While they wear the royal garb of being the fathers of all who were not supposed to be partisan, a number of them had actually shown open preference for particular candidates.

A prominent monarch in the Central senatorial district, while receiving a governorship candidate in the build up to the 2003 elections, sent a strong but coded signal to his subjects when he curiously carried an umbrella in public glare. The umbrella was the symbol of the visiting candidate’s party.

During the post-election litigations that overturned the victory of late governor Olusegun Agagu between 2007 and 2009, the name of a prominent monarch from the North senatorial district was listed among persons whose abodes, (in his own case, the palace) were used to carry out manipulation of ballot papers.

The academics, comprising lecturers and administrators of higher institutions of state-owned institutions are also considered as a critical segment of the voting population that must be appeased by those seeking the top job. Although they are a vocal few, many of whom may not have registered to vote, they have enough fire power to either destabilize a sitting governor or soften the ground for an aspiring candidate that catches their fancy.

At the two hotbeds of the activities of these partisan academics, the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) and the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo (RUGIPO), their involvement in politics have led to the sack of many lecturers who were perceived by government to be working against state interests.

There were also tales of discriminations, withholding of promotions and denials of rights and privileges for those who were seen as being vocal against an incumbent governor, from these institutions.

Closely linked to the actions of the academics are the influence of youths, in and out of the ivory towers, on the fortunes of a sitting governor and the aspiring one. Government has however found a way around possible opposition from the youths, particularly students’ associations, by meddling in their affairs, determining those who emerged as their officials and lining their pockets with huge amounts of money.

Therefore for any candidate to be victorious in the coming election he/she must be able to secure the assurance and confidence of these critical segments of the voting population and this is expected to grow out of experience in administration of the state, involvement in government activities and politics as well as a high level of commitment and personal integrity.

Besides, he/she must be able to have a strategy that would address the myriads of problems that the state and its people are facing in the social and economic fronts.

Apart from these individual groups’ interest, the expectations of these segments are generally on finding solutions to these problems.Indeed the economy of the state has nose-dived in the last few years as a result of the vagaries of national economy and alleged mismanagement on the part of the state government.

Unlike the other states in the southwest geo-political zone, critics argued that Ondo should not be counted among those suffering from economic hardship because apart from inheriting N36 billion from its predecessor in office, Mimiko’s administration receives monthly accruals from the 13 percent Oil Mineral Derivation Fund, making it the only state in the region to have that benefit.

Although a few roads have been rehabilitated and some strides taken in the health and education sectors, it is glaring that the state is suffering from infrastructure decay and lack of municipal facilities.

For more than two years, most communities in the South senatorial districts have been without electricity supply while pipe-borne water has become a luxury across the state.