Fayemi, Ojudu and attritional war in Ekiti APC

The feud between Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, has continued unabated with the duo firing salvos and tantrums at one another on a daily basis.

RASAQ IBRAHIM examines the implication of the brawl on the fortunes of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Ekiti ahead of the 2022 governorship poll.

Since the All Progressives Congress (APC) schemed a return to government in Ekiti state in 2018, the internal crisis besetting the state chapter has continued to linger and gain fiercer momentum, which might have a possible far reaching adverse effects on the quests of the leadership to sustain its stronghold on the state.

The major dramatis personae in the ongoing supremacy battle ahead of the 2022 governorship election are Governor Kayode Fayemi and the Special Adviser to President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu.

The duo were once close political allies, united as a fist and ready to crush any opposition until things fell apart.

Now, the political matrix has been altered and things are no longer at ease between both gladiators who are currently at loggerheads over political relevance.

The current crisis is a carry over from the dispute over the March 26, 2018 governorship where Fayemi emerged as the APC candidate.

The governor who was then the Minister of Mines and Steel Development joined the race a few weeks to the party’s primary and altered the political equations.

This development created a bad blood among the frontline aspirants like Chief Segun Oni, Ojudu, Hon. Femi Bamisile, Dr. Wole Oluyede, Hon. Oyetunde Ojo and Hon. Bimbo Daramola to the extent that some aspirants ganged up against Fayemi.

When the first primary was held, it was disrupted because Fayemi was coasting home to victory. The primary which was supervised by the then Nasarawa State governor, Tanko Almakura, was described as a show of shame as aspirants and their supporters openly chanted, ‘ole, ole’ (thief, thief) at Fayemi.

However, with the deployment of heavily armed security personnel to the venue of the second primary election, Fayemi trounced all the 33 aspirants in the keenly contested shadow election with a total of 941 votes.

Apparently, the outcome of the poll did not go down well with Ojudu and some other aspirants but the reconciliation efforts of both the party’s National leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the national secretariat were able to calm frayed nerves as they all jettisoned their differences and worked for Fayemi’s electoral success in the July 14 poll.

However, When Ekiti people thought the political differences would be resolved after the truimphant entry of APC into the Oke-bareke Government House, the ruling party was enmeshed with self-inflicted crisis.

Fayemi who could not trust the likes of Daramola, Ojudu , Oni and perceived them as more of enemies for political reasons tactically ostracized them from the running of APC.

The Governor though in a subtle manner tactically ensured that only his trusted allies fondly called ‘ Core Fayemi’s (Fayemi tokantokan), were given appointments.

And those elected to the state and the National Assemblies, without exception, were also his close allies with associates of his perceived enemies sidelined in the scheme of things.

Ever since , things are no longer at ease in the ruling APC as the presidential aide and other aggrieved leaders were only winking in the dark with no full grasp of how the party was being operated.

To wriggle out of this, these “enemies” had regrouped to take their own pound of flesh. In a deft political move, former Governor Segun Oni had quickly defected to the opposition PDP with his loyalists who could not bear the heat of the alleged marginalisation and high handedness.

In what seems to be a continuation of the egoistic battle, Ojudu and other leaders are currently challenging the legal validity of the ruling party executive members at the state, local government and ward levels in the state.

The suit seeking to upturn the structures was filed at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja by Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Dr. Wole Oluyede, Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, Chief Akin Akomolafe, Engr Ayo Ajibade, Akogun Bunmi Ogunleye, Otunba Ben Oguntuase and others against the APC, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Inspector General of Police, State Chairman of the party, Mr. Paul Omotosho and all members of the State Executive Committee.

The plaintiffs alleged that the ruling party did not conduct Ward, Local Government and State Congresses in Ekiti State and that they were handpicked by Governor Fayemi.

They prayed that the court should declare the process that produced the party’s executive at the Wards, Local Governments and State Executive Committee as null and void.

Commenting on the development, Ojudu explained that the executive members of Ekiti APC at the state, local government and ward levels were appointed at the private residence of the Minister of Trade and Investment Otunba Niyi Adebayo in Iyin Ekiti without a recourse to the party’s legal framework.

He justified the court action instituted against the process that produced the APC executive members at the state, local government and ward level in the state, saying the litigants had exhausted all the internal mechanism to resolve the matter.

Since this illegality was committed, Ojudu claimed that the litigants “have been calling on them to retrace their steps, be inclusive and let their action be guided by law.

But they said we should go to hell. We complained loudly and got lawyers to write to the APC National Headquarters.

“We exhausted all avenues to resolve the matter. But we were ignored. There was no congress. What happened was arranged.

It took us this long to go to court because our constitution prescribed some steps that should be taken before a matter affecting the party could be taken to court.

“We took our time to go through all the steps and this took a lot of time. Taking this action is also not about the governorship election.

It is a wake up call to Fayemi, the party and our leaders both at the local and national levels that things are not going well here.

“If he comes up in 2022 and brings a candidate, will it be the only one who will campaign for him then? If what is happening now continues, will you call me to come and campaign for a candidate brought up by him in 2022?”

He also alleged that Fayemi violated the APC constitution by appointing his political associations to serve in multiple offices simultaneously at state and federal levels while some party patriots in the office could not get anything.

He said there “are people who are commissioners who are holding board appointments at the national level. There are members of the House of Representatives, who were appointed to boards at the federal level.

“How can you give one person three appointments when we have our educated party members roaming the streets without one single appointment?

One individual will be a commissioner here, he will be on the board of two other agencies or departments in Abuja,” Ojudu explained.

He said: “Somebody will be elected to the House of Representatives. He will also be on a board of a major parastatal in Abuja.

You have the state party chairman who is also special adviser to the governor, a state executive position. This is illegal, our constitution does not allow it.

“What stops him from putting someone as chairman and putting another as special adviser? Imagine, a commissioner collecting money from two sets of appointments.

All these things are happening here and nobody is challenging it. Some of us cannot be in the party and allow this to continue.

“This is a democracy and not a dictatorship. When we brought him to power here we thought he was going to be a partner and not an overlord. We have learnt a very bitter lesson from the events of the past years.”

Ojudu urged the party leaders to correct some anomalies in Ekiti APC to prevent the party from losing the 2022 governorship election.

“We do not want to go to the election in 2022 and be damaged and be crippled and then carry the guilt of a government that has not performed here,” he said.

In a swift reaction, Governor Fayemi through his Senior Special Assistant on Party Matters, Mr. Sam Oluwalana, described the allegations of dictatorship and abuse of powers raised against him “as mere selfish and fault-finding claims.”

He said Fayemi has been carrying all the party members along and never violated the statute regarding appointments or favouring anyone at the expense of others.

Fayemi regretted that such would be a priority for a presidential aide in the midst of this global pandemic that Nigeria is trying to control, noting that Ojudu’s claims came at the wrong time when the state is battling with Covid-19 infection.

He noted that protecting the lives of Ekiti people was more important to him at this crucial time than to join issues with Ojudu on his political journey to perdition.

“We are focused on managing the pandemic which is threatening the peace and tranquillity of Ekiti State and may put the lives of the same electorate that Ojudu is worried will not vote for APC, at risk.”

The governor, however, maintained that the his administration “is very alive to its responsibilities to Ekiti people and prioritizing the future of Ekiti youth.

“Only the living vote; so we advise the insensitive senator to get his priorities right and join the state government efforts to defeat this pandemic, instead of being his true selfish self, caring only about electoral victories in the midst of a public health pandemic,” he added.

As if it was not enough, the ex-senator has worn the toga of opposition by ceaselessly throwing salvos at Governor Fayemi over alleged poor performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led-government in the state, which he said could spell doom for the party.

Ojudu lamented that there was lack of governance in the state, describing the Fayemi-led government’s performance as shoddy and fell short of expectation, adding that all the indicators of good governance in the last two years were in the negative mode.

The APC chieftain said there is no better indications of Fayemi’s monumental failure than the moribund educational system, comatose health, deplorable roads across the state, claiming that even states contending with security challenges fair better than Ekiti.

He emphasized the lack of measurable growth and development in critical areas of the state’s economy, including the areas of industrialization and youth empowerment, adding that Ekiti would have experience socio-economic growth and development if Governor Fayemi had dissipate his energy towards improving the people’s living conditions instead of waging war against perceived enemies within APC.

He added that Fayemi-led government had no prospect to impact positively on the people in terms of good governance, saying no meaningful and tangible achievement has been recorded since coming into power.

According to Ojudu, “where is the focus on the people now ? Is it roads the government is constructing ? Is it providing employment ? Is it providing foods ? Where is the governance ? I want you to do a search on google and tell me where the projects are.

“Take Borno state and also Ekiti State. Look at what Borno state Governor, Professor Zulum has done since he was sworn in till today and then take a look at what Ekiti state Governor has done since he was sworn in. Let us compare the two, when they tell you there is no money, is Zulum in charge of the Central Bank or he is receiving more than what Ekiti is being given?

“What is the population of Borno and what is the population of Ekiti State? You could take three Ekiti state out of Borno. Compare the ratio of the population of Borno to what is going there and the ratio of our population and what is coming here,” he said.

The APC chieftain also chided the governor for running the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), like his personal estate without recourse to critical party stakeholders and elders.

The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters who described the governor as a puppeteer, said Fayemi has not called any meeting of party leaders or caucus meeting since he was sworn in almost two years on.

“They have not call any meeting of leaders of the party. No meeting, no caucus, I don’t know how one man can run a show of the party . He is a puppeteer. He beats the drum and others just dance to it.

“Most of us have been observers; ex-senators, ex-House of Representatives members, ex-speaker of the House of Assembly, ex-members of the House of Assembly, leaders of repute. Nobody has been asked to come for any meeting.”

Countering Ojudu, the Governor who spoke through his Special Assistant on Media and Public Communication, Mr Segun Dipe, described ex-senator’s position as a ruse and calculate attempt to distract the ‘workaholic governor’.

Dipe said that contrary to what the senator said, there was governance in the state and the people of the state were already savouring the dividends of democracy.

According to Dipe, Ojudu was sounding like an outsider who had lost touch with what was happening in the state.

“Ojudu is sounding like people are claiming he is. He is guilty of what people is accusing people of. We believe his appointment can’t be divorced from being an Ekiti man. Yes, Senator Ojudu doesn’t come home and doesn’t recognize Ekiti at the moment.

“What you don’t understand you will always see fault in it. For now, he is excused from seeing the negative side because he is already a stranger and alien to the people and the party.”

– The Nation newspaper