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Plotting Ajimobi’s Second Term
This Day – 05 Jun 2013
Ajimobi ... hoping to break the jinx
There is growing fascination for the re-election of the Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, in 2015. From mere endorsement, the re-election fever has shifted to the conferment of chieftaincy titles on the governor and his wife, Florence. Tunde Sanni reports on the new development which is linked to the transformation agenda of the governor and wonders if it would be a factor when the opposition merger eventually scales through
It is just mid way into a four year tenure yet the euphoria of a re-election for the Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has enveloped the atmosphere. Prior to this time, various groups within the ruling party have been falling on themselves to impress the Governor in canvassing for another term for him. But none could be as precious to him as the endorsement by the Alaafin of Oyo and Chairman of the State Council of Chiefs, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi last month.
The endorsement from the Alaafin might have come as a surprise to the Governor’s birthplace, Ibadan whose traditional ruler, High Chiefs and other leading lights of the ancient city were putting heads together to confer the title of Are Atuluse and Yeye Atunluse of Ibadanland on the governor and his wife, Florence. The umbrella body for Ibadan indigenes, the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), also claimed that it was instrumental to the conferment of chieftaincy titles on the Governor and his wife by the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Samuel Odulana.
A statement issued from the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, said that the conferment of the chieftaincy titles was in recognition of the achievements recorded by the governor in his two-year reign and Olubadan’s appreciation of the governor’s developmental strides as an Ibadan man, adding that the title was in further appreciation of the Olubadan, the Olubadan-in-Council and the entire sons and daughters of Ibadan to Governor Ajimobi for the unprecedented infrastructural transformation that is taking place in Ibadan, the state capital.
But the National President of the CCII, Alhaji Adebayo Oyero, in a media chat where he unveiled the new national executive committee of the council, stated that the chieftaincy titles was the product of an improved relationship between the palace and the government which the council facilitated. "It is a show of cordial relationship between the palace and the government which we are ready to sustain.
The chieftaincy title, THISDAY learnt, was not the first to be conferred on governors who were son of the soil by any successive Olubadan. Former Olubadan of Ibadanland, the late Oba Yinusa Bankole Ogundipe on January 20, 2001 conferred the chieftaincy titles of Aare ati Iyalode Atayese of Ibadanland on a former governor of the state, the late Alhaji Lam Adesina and his wife, Saratu. Remarkably, the conferment came two years into the four year tenure of the Adesina administration.
The title was however significant, coming shortly after the parting of ways of Ajimobi with the Accord Party and its leader, Senator Rasheed Ladoja. Ladoja is also a high chief and interestingly, a member of the Olubadan-in-Council which must have met to approve the chieftaincy title for the governor. But it could not be confirmed as at press time whether Ladoja was a signatory to the approval of the title on the governor and his wife.
It is public knowledge that the former governor has been strident in his verbal attack on the governor’s transformation agenda, to the extent that he took the fight to his facebook wall where he upbraided Ajimobi and held that his transformation agenda has further pushed the people of the ancient town down the poverty line.
In one of the posts on March 22, Ladoja through his chief media aide, Bashiru Latinwo had noted in response to a media statement from Adedayo that Ladoja has once awarded pass mark to the Ajimobi administration, noting that the Accord Party had refrained from joining issues with the government, but on matters that affect the lives of ordinary people in the state “we take exception to the deceitful game of employing propaganda and outright blackmail to suppress sane views.”
The vitriolic attacks from the Ladoja camp were inconsistent with the chieftaincy title on the governor by the supreme authority in Ibadanland which was meant to appreciate his transformation agenda in the last two years.
An Ibadan-based socio-cultural group, Oyo Development Initiative (ODI), through its Coordinator, Dr. Adesola Okanlawon, remarked that bestowing on Ajimobi, the Atunluse title, was a vote of no confidence on Ladoja and his Accord Party faithful who have made it a daily campaign to whip sentiments against the government, ostensibly for political advantage. The people need no further confirmation that the Olubadan and his esteemed council are very pleased with the Ajimobi government for his transformation agenda.
“There is no Ibadan man and by extension, Oyo State indigene that is not proud to have hailed from the Pacesetter State, with the immeasurable transformation that is happening in the state today. Our people are asking some fundamental questions, one of which is that, what were Ladoja and Adebayo Alao-Akala doing while in office? What did they do with our huge earnings other than turning the state into a theatre of war and bloodshed?
“By the time Ajimobi came on board, Oyo State was still the dirty metropolitan village that was bequeathed onto him by both Ladoja and Akala. Through his financial management wizardry, wide travel and greater love for the state, he has been able to transform the state into something that everybody can be proud of,” the group said.
The political group was only re-echoing the Governor’s maiden speech on May 29, 2011. The governor at the occasion has declared that “we are going to address the challenges of our state capital, with utmost urgency, by initiating necessary processes to earn the ancient city the status of a mega city. We are going to partner with the private sector, international development partners and donor agencies, as well as other major cities around the world to transform the state capital to the city of our dream.
“We will return to the long abandoned initiative of city-twining for exchange of ideas on urban development and renewal and exploitation of opportunities in education, business, health service delivery, youth empowerment, with other major cities of the world,” he declared in 2011.
Late last month, the Ibadan Elders Forum, the political wing of Ibadan elders of thought who apart from passing a vote of confidence on the Governor for the restoration of peace in the state and for his administration’s urban renewal programme, also hailed his numerous developmental programmes.
The elders in a letter dated 30th April, 2013, addressed to the governor and signed by Ambassador Olusola Sanu and Chief Ona Ajibola, the Chairman and Secretary of the Forum respectively, said the vote of confidence was sequel to the decision taken at a meeting of the forum held in Ibadan on April 18, 2013.
“Before your assumption of office, Oyo State faced serious security problems unleashed by armed robbers, political thugs as well as NURTW factions struggling for ascendancy. You have now changed the violent situation to a peaceful one. You have restored peace and made good use of law enforcement agencies to ensure same. The notoriety of the NURTW factions has been checked and by so doing, you have ensured that miscreants are now allowed in any guise to make Oyo State a haven for their nefarious activities.
“Apart from the construction of a flyover at Mokola, you have rehabilitated/constructed or are rehabilitating/constructing many roads and bridges across the nooks and crannies of Oyo State. Drains were cleared, rivers, canals and streams were dredged to prevent flood. Much work has been done to improve the environment and people have been mobilised in various forms to partner government to make the environment beautiful, clean and healthy. Positive impacts have been made in the sectors of health, education, agriculture, manpower development and skills acquisition.”
The elders stated further that Ajimobi’s efforts had given Ibadan, and indeed, the entire state a facelift, saying, “there is general cleanliness which all can attest to. You have taken a bold step politically and you have executed your vision with courage.”
The ruling party was also happy with the chieftaincy title and in a statement from its state Publicity Secretary, Dauda Kolawole, said the honour was not only well deserved but a further acknowledgement of the Governor’s outstanding performance in reshaping and transforming Oyo State.
“The honour represents a shared vision for success; it signifies an unwavering commitment of Governor Abiola Ajimobi to the provision of good governance and service delivery to the people of Oyo State.”
According to the party, the last two years has shown a great deal of demographic and attitudinal changes across the state as well as rapid socio-economic development which have returned the state to its past pace setting status.
“This has confirmed Senator Abiola Ajimobi as the true servant of the people who must be allowed to continue the good work, irrespective of the antics of the enemies of progress,” it said.
While reminding the people of the state of Oyo before the advent of the Ajimobi government, the party noted the unfortunate rating of the capital as the dirtiest city in Nigeria had successfully been written off by the government’s giant strides and therefore urged the people to see what it called the temporary pains of infrastructural and urban renewal as a sacrifice they would have to pay for a greater state that they and their children’s children would be proud of.
Some observers however reckon that given the vigour and spate of endorsement, the campaign for re-election may have been too early as it is meant to jump the gun.
Feelers from the All Peoples Congress (APC) in the state indicated that some political gladiators are ready to give the governor a run for his money in the quest to pick the APC gubernatorial ticket. There is also the fear that the endorsement might have shut the doors to other political parties and their gubernatorial aspirants from Ibadanland which checks by THISDAY revealed may produce an unprecedented number of gubernatorial aspirants in the 2015 polls.
Even within the ruling party, the fate of the deputy governor, Otunba Moses Alake, still hangs in the balance as the Governor’s wife now takes the lead on protocol list in the state. The deputy governor always cut the picture of a politician on the watch-list at public functions where the Governor and his wife are present. The fight for his recognition on the protocol list ahead of Florence which was dominant sometime has been dropped for obvious political reasons.
2015 may seem far away but for sympathisers of the Governor, it seems like tomorrow even as they cannot wait to see Ajimobi break the jinx of re-election.
2015: Oyo PDP Shops for Ibadan Guber Candidate
THIS DAY – 03 Jun 2013
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PDP
By Tunde Sanni in Ibadan

The leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State are now shopping for a gubernatorial candidate of Ibadan origin for the 2015 polls.
Sources close to the party elders confided in THISDAY that the elders position was informed by the insistence of the other parties to field a gubernatorial candidate from Ibadanland.
Already, the party leaders in Oke Ogun area of the state have dissociated itself from a recent media publication insinuating its backing for the rumoured bid of the former governor of the state, Mr. Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, to re-contest the state’s gubernatorial election in 2015.
The Oke-Ogun elders pointed out that the recent media report attributed to one Alhaji Yusuf Sarafadeen Alani popularly known as Ali Wajud to the effect that the PDP in Oke Ogun had been “begging and persuading Alao-Akala to take another shot at the governorship seat remained the imagination of sponsor of the report.
A leader of the party from Kishi, Mr. Zacheus Adeniji, said the party was stoutly opposed to the moves by anybody within it to canvass for the return of Alao-Akala as governor of the state in 2015.
While insisting that the alleged clamour was in the imagination of the author or sponsor of the report, apparently for selfish or parochial interest, he urged the spokesman of Oke-Ogun to “desist henceforth from using the collective name of Oke Ogun PDP in further advancing his own personal cause from his acclaimed benefactor Alao-Akala, having earlier bagged a top SURE-P position from his association with the former governor.
The PDP in Oke Ogun then warned party members to be cautious of their campaign for 2015 general election which it claimed was still far away, concluding that “2015 belongs to the Almighty God and that there is also the need for us to get to the stream before crossing the bridge.”
According to the PDP chieftain, the topmost priority of the party in Oke Ogun and the state for now was the determination to reconcile all the aggrieved party members and bring everyone together in the mainstream, a move which is already yielding positive dividends.
The party maintained that no diversionary tactics whatsoever would be allowed to truncate its noble mission in building a solid and enduring atmosphere for all stakeholders to thrive as a big family in the journey towards 2015.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) Ms Jumoke Akinjide, has expressed support for the ongoing rapprochement between Senator Rashidi Ladoja of Accord Party and Alao-Alaka, as “a step in the right direction.”
The minister in a statement at the weekend said that her position has consistently been to encourage the return of Senator Ladoja, a founding Board of Trustees member and former PDP governor, to the PDP.
The minister commended efforts by the PDP Governors’ Forum, Governor Ibrahim Shema-led Committee, and the reconciliation of the South-west Zonal PDP led by Dr. Yomi Finnih to find lasting solutions to the current disunity in the state PDP.
Akinjide’s view is that no one can hijack the party machinery; rather, every loyal party member must unite to form a cohesive and inclusive state party executive.
Part of the reconciliation process, according to the minister should include a “truth and reconciliation” process, whereby those who worked against the PDP from within during the 2011 elections admit their errors and anti-party misdeeds and pledge full loyalty to the party henceforth rather than narrow self interest.
Akinjide urged the PDP to unite and provide the people of the state with a more democratic and compassionate alternative to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)-led state government.
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