PDP rekindles strategy to outsmart ‘vulnerable’ ruling APC

As the governorship election in Ondo State approaches, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are closing ranks to ride on cracks in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), for another return to the Alagbaka Government House. But the PDP must first pass the smell-test at the primaries, ADEWALE MOMOH reports.

With the electoral activities in Ondo State gathering momentum ahead of the November 16, 2024 governorship election, the leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state have gone back to the drawing table on the strategy to wrestle power from All Progressives Congress (APC).

To them, the APC has never been this vulnerable since 2016 when PDP lost power in the state. Apart from the demise of the late governor of the state, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, which further polarised various tendencies in the party, the performance of the ruling party is also said not to be good enough for another term.

PDP leaders at a meeting held at the party secretariat in Abuja, however, did not close their eyes on the internal wrangling responsible for dwindling political fortunes in the state.

The party, which had also been able to hold on to some of its strongholds after the 2016 governorship election, was stripped of the remaining political positions it had hung on to during the 2023 general elections, when it lost two senators out of the three representing the state in the ninth senate.

Also in the House of Representatives, PDP also lost its major strongholds in the southern part of the state to the APC but managed to secure just one seat in the central senatorial district.

Similarly, internal crisis, as well as the defection of some of its high-profile members to the ruling APC, had no doubt dealt a heavy blow to the party.

While some of the defected members accused the late chairman of the party, Fatai Adams, of not properly running the party as a viable opposition party in the state, others alleged that former governorship candidate of the party, Eyitayo Jegede SAN, whose highest political position had been that of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, of causing division in the party.

Some of the aggrieved PDP members alleged that Jegede has not been giving due recognition to the leaders of the party and allegedly schemed out former governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, and former National Vice Chairman (South West), Dr Eddy Olafeso, among others, from the activities of the party.

For Ondo State PDP to regain its tenancy to Alagbaka Government House, some party members are pushing that the leadership baton ought to have been handed over to Mimiko after returning to the party from Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

His supporters are of the opinion that being two-term governor, as well as former minister and ex-Secretary to the Ondo State Government (SSG), he has the political experience to lead the party to victory in the forthcoming governorship election.

Infuriated by the docility of the party, the SWC on January 4, 2023, suspended Adams as chairman over alleged anti-party activities, as well as purported infiltration of the party by APC.

According to SWC members, the alleged action of Adams against the party was capable of bringing disrepute to PDP in the state, stressing that the suspension was in tandem with the constitution of the party and Tola Alabere was appointed as the acting chairman of the party.

While Adams was protesting his suspension, he gave up the ghost on February 13, 43 days after he was suspended from the party. However, with the primaries of the party beckoning, which has been slated for April 25, PDP is at a crossroad over the method of electing its governorship candidate for the election. While some leaders prefer consensus options, others are canvassing for indirect methods.

But the Abuja meeting of the party leaders said if the aspirants did not agree on a consensus option, they should prepare to test their acceptability among party delegates.

No fewer than eight aspirants have indicated their intention to contest for the party ticket. They are, Sola Ebiseeni, Agboola Ajayi, Bamidele Akingboye, Adeolu Akinwunmi, Abayomi Sheba, Bosun Arebuwa, John Ola Mafo, and Kolade Akinjo.

However, Ajayi, Akingboye, and Akinwunmi have moved a step further to purchase the N35m nomination forms. With the political antecedents of the aspirants, who are all from the southern senatorial district of the state, some party members have ruled out the possibility of consensus option.

Besides, the Electoral Act, Section 84(9) and (10) stipulated that “A political party that adopts a consensus candidate shall secure the written consent of all cleared aspirants for the position, indicating their voluntary withdrawal from the race and their endorsement of the consensus candidate; where a political party is unable to secure the written consent of all cleared aspirants for the purpose of a consensus candidate, it shall revert to the choice of direct or indirect primaries for the nomination of candidates for the aforesaid elective positions.”

It is believed that some leaders, including Mimiko, are tilting towards the Secretary-General of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Sola Ebiseni, as the consensus candidate of the party, a situation that some of the aspirants have disagreed with.

Ebiseni, who had at various times been a commissioner in the state, disclosed that any aspirant who will fly the flag of the PDP at the election will be determined by the party and will be accepted by party members, as well as the people of the state.

He said, “As we have predicted, about two weeks ago, we issued a statement that the PDP is set to produce the next governor of Ondo State. The first step that the leaders are selling to us as aspirants is to see the possibility of a consensus. That is what is being sold to us.”

Another top contender for the ticket of the party is the former deputy governor of the state, Agboola Ajayi, who will be taking another shot at the number one job in the state following his previous failed attempts.

Ajayi, a former council chairman and ex-member of the House of Representatives, contested for the ticket of the PDP in 2020 but lost to Jegede, who clinched the ticket of the party.

Within two weeks of losing the ticket, he decamped to ZLP, where he was handed the ticket of the party but lost the governorship election to his erstwhile boss, Akeredolu, after coming in a distant third.

After losing the election, he also returned to the PDP, where he contested in 2023 to represent Ondo South Senatorial District but lost to Senator Jimoh Ibrahim.

Ajayi’s supporters said he would not subscribe to the consensus mode of primary being dangled by the leaders of the party but will prefer the party’s traditional indirect or delegates mode of primaries.

Ajayi stated that the guidelines of the party will be duly considered in the emergence of the standard-bearer of the party ahead of the governorship election.

“In every contest, there is always a laid-down procedure, and you also know that PDP is an organised party, and I’m sure the party will go through it to the letter.

“We will see how we can arrive at a consensus, but in the event we will not be able to achieve that, then we go straight to the party’s guidelines, and whoever emerges, all of us have agreed to work together.

For Akingboye, “For the first time, all the aspirants in Ondo State PDP have all agreed to work together, but we still have some that are trying to prove stubborn, but I believe with our leader’s intervention, we will definitely work together.

“We are going to work on a consensus candidate, and that is what the party has agreed to. I also advised them that party supremacy is very important. One of the reasons we are focusing on a consensus candidate is to avoid wastage of resources.

The publicity secretary of the party, Kennedy Peretei, said that if the consensus plan to elect the candidate fails to materialise, the party will be left with no option but to organise a free, fair, and transparent primary.

He said this is part of the agreement reached by the party leaders that met in Abuja. Peretei disclosed that the meeting, which was convened by the National Working Committee (NWC), of the PDP and presided over by its acting national chairman, Umar Damagum also had in attendance, Southwest and Ondo State leadership of the party, including Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, former governor of Ondo State, Mimiko, Jegede, Ambassador Roland Omowa, Chief SegunAdegoke, Alabere, members of SWC, as well as all the governorship aspirants.

He said, “Leaders of the party have resolved to put the past behind them and work assiduously for victory at the polls,” adding that “for the first time in a long while, all tendencies in the party attended the meeting and expressed their willingness to work together in the interest of the party.”