2011 Nigeria Election: Political miscalculation in Ogun West

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These are hard times in Ogun State. The string of illegalities that had rocked the state to a level of condemnation and political irresponsibility has not abated. The latest is the political manipulation of Ogun West for governorship candidate.

It has been agreed and rightly too that after 34 years existence of the  State, Ogun West deserves a right to produce a governorship candidate for 2011 as the only zone that has not had such a privilege.

The weakness of Ogun West in political consideration in Ogun  is the apparent lack of unity in the restive enclave that has been exploited from time to time. It is again another season for political exploitation of the zone.

There are three senatorial districts in the state, namely Ogun East, Ogun West and Ogun Central. The occupation of the Government House in Abeokuta has always been on rotational basis. Unfortunately, anytime it comes to the turn of Ogun West manipulations are employed,  playing  on the  disunity and poverty of the area.

For this reason it was always possible to use some political hangers-on who are always rewarded with peanuts to scuttle the chances of their people. It is now time for the preparation for 2011 elections and to be fair to Ogun East and Central Senatorial districts, they have openly conceded that chance to Ogun West. However on a condition and rightly too, that such a candidate must be acceptable to all and sellable politically.

What happened in Ilaro on 26 September, 2010 is again another often repeated method of using very few selfish characters to frustrate the aspiration of the people.

The so-called Apex Committee that claimed to have been anointed to select a candidate for Ogun West is an organisation that belonged solely to Senator Ayo Otegbola to espouse his own political ambition. When was that committee given the mandate of the people to select a candidate for Ogun State or even Ogun West!

Those they claimed were big wigs that attended the selection not election were all apologies of the Chief Executive of the state. What is the capacity of the Multi Purpose Hall where the event took place that justified the claim of an attendance by a huge crowd?

Some members of the Association of Clubs and Societies (ACASO) were sighted at the venue and it is now public knowledge that they were coerced to attend. ACASO is not a partisan organisation and could not have gone to select a candidate for PDP.

The role they normally play is to encourage all political parties to select worthy candidates of Ogun West extraction for their respective parties. In Apex Committee's desperation to get credibility for its illegal action, they also tried to malign the image of traditional rulers and label them as politicians.

At Ilaro, out of over sixty Obas in Ogun West only two Obas from remote villages were sighted. However, Apex Committee has not stopped to let people know that the Obas were part of the panellists that selected their candidate. They even went further to name the Olota of Ota, a principal Oba as one of the panellists.

Senator Otegbola hails from the domain of the Olota and is a chief of the Olota.  As a politician, he knows that the easiest way to destroy a traditional ruler in Yorubaland is to accuse him of partisan politics. Is Senator Otegbola's claim a local coup attempt against the Olota or an insinuation to destroy him?

Something must have triggered the hurried nature of the meeting at Ilaro to select  Gboyega Isiaka as the candidate for Ogun West. It is well known to the generality of the public that all those screened by Otegbola were the candidates of one man and the only man who, in his widest imagination, thinks he should be the one to determine the destiny of Ogun.

It is now clear that the plan was to rubbish the rest of them in favour of Gboyega Isiaka through a dubious selection process. What caused the rush at Ilaro? Were they startled by the registration of other candidates for the election believed to be inimical to their plan of succession?  Since they came out with Isiaka, they have continued to make both futile and puerile efforts to explain their action when nobody requested for an explanation.

Is that not an admission that their move was unpopular with the people of the State? Is their candidate acceptable to the people of Ogun State knowing full well that the people of Ogun East and Ogun Central are stakeholders and will be interested in the person that will rule them from Ogun West?

Is there any common sense in what happened at Ilaro? The candidates were  allowed to pick up party nomination forms at a cost of N5.5m each at Abuja and after the selection at Ilaro, were told to step down for Isiaka thereby forfeiting their expenditure.

Is Apex Committee representing the National Executive Committee of the PDP or the State Executive of the party?  Is that in PDP constitution? It is the hallmark of a confused people who are hell bent on perpetuating illegalities. They should have, at least, done the 'arrangee' selection before collection of nomination forms and that could have saved the so-called candidates any financial embarrassment..

Let us examine the candidacy of Gboyega Isiaka in all its ramifications. Of recent, there had been write ups in some newspapers in a desperate attempt to sell Isiaka to the public. Nothing has been said about his quality and experience other than his academic qualifications in the financial discipline.

By Yemi Akinlade
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/10/2011-political-miscalculation-in-ogun-west/