Fellow Nigerians, please let me say categorically
that I don’t subscribe to the sentiments of those who
think APC is in trouble just because the party
recently lost one of the States it controlled in its
stronghold of South West. My thesis is very simple.
The APC stands to gain from that shock treatment if
its leaders are serious about remaining relevant in our
political landscape. I have read many commentaries
about what went wrong for APC in Ekiti State. Some
are right, most are wrong.
While Governor Kayode Fayemi must naturally carry
most of the blame, it is pertinent to note that the
voting pattern in Ekiti was not a vote for PDP. It was
an endorsement of Fayose’s sagacity as a street kid.
Ekiti is still largely rural and the people love it when
you can lower your nose a bit no matter how educated
you are. They want you to savour your bowl of
pounded yam and speak your dialect with
impeccability. Fayose was the ace for PDP and not
the other way round despite the Federal power of
intimidation.
We must drum it into the ears of those Agidigbo
drummers of PDP who won’t let us rest about their
conquest in Ekiti, that it was a straight contest
between the personalities of Kayode Fayemi and
Peter Fayose, and nothing to do with the fortunes of
their party having changed. Fayose is a popular
politician who was impeached under controversial
circumstances. Unlike others who simply vamoosed
after losing power, Fayose never lost his spirit. He
is a dogged fighter and a rolling-stone who
crisscrossed different political parties before returning
to his original turf of PDP. That strategy kept him
engaged and he was able to build a humongous
network in the process. He was smart to be in the
same camp with Fayemi at a time.
Fayose understood the aphorisms: the enemy of your
enemy is your friend and that he who fights and runs
to the other camp may still return stronger one day.
The idea was also to use that to buy sometime and
legitimacy. The masterstroke was that no one in the
Fayemi camp could have legitimately called Fayose a
criminal or any such unprintable nomenclature because
he was with them and they had accepted him warts
and all. Nigerian politics has not yet advanced to the
level of principle and ideology; individual performance
and achievement, may be!
All Fayose wanted at the time was to be a Senator.
But he couldn’t realise his dream and he was forced
to move on. That is one of the hard lessons APC
must learn urgently; that life is give and take. You
can’t invite people on board and treat them like
animals of no consequence. The use and dump tactics
of Nigerian politicians always come back to haunt
them. APC failed to realise that you must always
keep your friends close and your foes even closer.
They would need to employ relationship managers at
the rate they are going. ACN has metamorphosed
from being LTD to a PLC, and the terms of reference
must be different. Had they managed to keep Fayose
in their fold, perhaps he would have deferred his
Governorship ambition.
The same could be said of Honourable Opeyemi
Bamidele who used to be one of Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu’s closest foot soldiers. The inability of the
party to keep Opeyemi under lock and key was the
beginning of trouble for APC. The Bible is very clear
on this; a house divided against itself shall fall. It
was obvious Opeyemi stood no chance of winning but
he was ready to be the loose-cannon and play the
devil’s foil. Opeyemi may not have wasted substantial
votes of APC but he provided the perfect platform
and alibi for PDP to crawl into the cracked walls of
APC like lizards often do. If the foundation of APC
was stronger in Ekiti it would have been more difficult
for Fayose to use cudgels to demolish their house like
a pack of cards.
Ask most Ekiti voters and they will tell you that they
would have voted for Fayose whatever Party he had
contested for. They will also tell you that they still
have no faith in PDP but that Fayose had redeemed
the Party somewhat. The PDP will be deluding itself
if it considers the victory of its flagbearer in Ekiti
State somehow translates into a victory for its failed
policies and directionless leadership. Nigerians are
more discerning.
Let’s now move beyond Ekiti and focus on the future
of opposition in Nigeria. Despite the teething
problems APC is experiencing, I believe Nigerians
will support them ultimately. It is in the nature of man
to fear change or even resist it. But PDP has
wobbled and fumbled for too long that any alternative
becomes palatable. We have seen similar situations
all over the world where seemingly impregnable
parties were kicked out of power become the people
were just tired and totally bored with the shenanigans
of their reckless leaders. It is in the character of
human beings to crave what they have not tried.
Barack Obama was lucky to arrive at that point when
the Americans saw no redeeming grace in George
Bush Jnr and his gang producing better governance
in America. Their volcanic anger beclouded whatever
prejudice they might have had against a Black
candidate.
All it takes for APC to turn its current misfortune
and the debacle in Ekiti around is for its leaders to
rise up to the challenge and stop fighting like babies
whose lollipops have been confiscated. Nigeria is
bigger than their personal interests or vaunting
ambitions. There is no better time for the opposition to
take power in Nigeria. Only they can use their own
hands to throw this great opportunity into the ocean
of stupidity. I will now go on to illustrate what APC
needs to do quickly to become more acceptable to
most Nigerians yearning for change.
Perception is very key in politics and life in general.
The impression of many people today is that there is
no difference between PDP and APC. They wonder
why they should migrate from one evil to another.
APC has not done enough to disabuse the minds of
such people. As a matter of fact, APC missed the
boat when it failed to rejuvenate itself during the
recent national convention which was nearly aborted
due to all manner of in-fighting and intrigue. Not just
that, APC came out as a very conservative and
unambitious party by not putting forward its brightest
stars as national officers. The Party did not take
advantage of its youths. APC should have borrowed
a leaf from the British Labour Party which had been
out in the cold until new whiz kids like Tony Blair
emerged on centre stage. New Labour has continued
its stride through the Milibands and the Conservative
Party is not left out with a charismatic leader like
David Cameron. The youth and charm of Nick Clegg,
the British Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the
Liberal Democrats is also remarkable.
Those who packaged the present concoction for APC
did not do well at all. It created doubts in the minds of
admirers like us about the sincerity of the Party that
claims to represent change. What we saw on display
was the antithesis of transformation. What they
dumped on Nigeria was uninspiring and lacklustre.
We must tell the leadership the home truth because
they raised our hopes to high heavens only to play
into the hands of their detractors. If this trend
persists, APC is likely to come up with candidates
far worse than what we think we have at the moment.
That would be tragic.
APC seems unwilling to try new skills. They are
behaving like soccer teams who play Brazilian style
of football against Brazil. Nothing could be more
foolhardy. The strength of APC should be in its
ability to take on new challenges and launch fresh
offensives. The attempt to play politics the way it has
always been in Nigeria can only end up disastrously.
APC will never win at the centre if it does not show
sufficient evidence of what differentiates it from PDP.
Our people want to see a metamorphosis in policies,
principles, direction and above all, leadership.
APC must bury its many hatchets and reconcile with
everyone who has a positive and refreshing attitude
to politics in order to present a common front. I’m
baffled that Tinubu and Tom Ikimi’s personal
altercations are turning sour for the Party by the
way they are washing their dirty linen in public. Tom
Ikimi was one of the ACN leaders who midwifed APC.
Yet the same APC has suddenly realised how close
Ikimi was to General Sani Abacha. If I were a
copywriter for PDP I will have more than enough
scripts to pen out of the present verbiage being
churned out against one of their own.
The same thing is going on in Ogun State where
Governoir Ibikunle Amosun and former Governor
Olusegun Osoba are locked in a gladiatorial war of
attrition. The story is not different in Borno and Ekiti
where some party leaders are missed at supposed
shabby treatment. The shame of all this is that these
battles are private and are not rooted in
developmental quests. It is not a good sign for APC.
It is as if PDP has succeeded in injecting its own
poison of indiscipline into APC. Only a bewitched
party would start its journey on such chaotic note.
APC must kill all sentiments and return to the path
of sanity. Its leaders must be prepared to sacrifice
individual ambitions and support their best materials
to succeed. The next Presidential election is not going
to be easy. The Party stands no chance unless it
fields a Presidential candidate and Vice who can
ignite the passion of novelty and freshness in our
youths. Its general candidates at the other polls must
also fire the same imagination and innovation. The
traditional voters are too few and totally rigid to give
APC the required figures to win at the polls. The
Party should search far and wide for accomplished
and respectable Nigerians and give us a semi-
shadow cabinet to look forward to. With the right
balance, APC will be able to galvanise first time
voters into coming out en masse. Over 70 percent of
them are still floating and undecided at this moment.
If APC makes the mistake of fielding its usually
predictable leaders, things are likely to end up the
same way they’ve always been in the past. The
impression that the Party is limited to, and owned by,
a few people should be erased speedily. It hurts so
many of their sympathisers that the Party is handled
like a private company of few shareholders. This is
why many of its former godsons are beginning to
rebel. They are frustrated that they have no say in a
Party they love so much. They are embarrassed at
the abuse of democracy by those who ought to be the
custodians of egalitarianism. Everyone is worried that
Nigeria may be saddled with another four years of
gross incompetence of the ruling government and they
hold APC absolutely responsible for this tragic
possibility.
The leadership of APC needs to wake up immediately
from its self-induced coma for the sake of future
generations. The party appears inebriated by the
initial support it received when it was conceived as an
amalgamation of positive, powerful, fresh and old
politicians. APC needs something similar to smelling
salts to wake it up from its deep slumber. The Party
must not take Nigerians for granted. Nigerians have
been patient and tolerant enough.
It is hard to imagine where Nigeria is headed with the
present mess. It is harder to accept another four
years of no light, no water, no education, no
infrastructure, no security, no jobs and no finesse
plus the complete collapse of our core values. Simply
put, we’ve never had it so bad. In its present
limitations, APC represents the only option we can
explore because PDP has been in power for far too
long to change its way of doing things. The fall of
PDP may finally convince our leaders that failure
would not always be tolerated and promoted.
That is the hope and attraction that APC holds out
to many of us.

Number of times Photographer Dele Mumudo mentioned PDP : 24

The APC exists for the sake of the PDP alone.

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So according to Dele Momodu, the Ekiti election was a personality clash between Fayose and Fayemi, and has nothing to do with political parties? But the same Fayose contested for a senatorial post in the 2011 elections under the platform of Labour Party and lost SUCCESSFULLY. So what changed between the elections in 2011 and 2014?

APC liars and propagandists, telling lies since 1804!

Good

Obiagelli:
lie small small na, we all can count.

Obiagelli:
shouldn't you spend more time learning how to count.

Google chrome search count don't lie

supporter of APC

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Obiagelli:
in your mind Ekiti voted the PDP?

lord have mercy!

your APE-P1SS-SH1T Governor has already conceded defeat.

I guess nah only election that APC won that is perfect

Obiagelli:
in your mind Ekiti voted the PDP? Except you are politically naive, you will know that people tend to vote parties in senatorial elections except in a few instances

Both the political party and the person contributed to the victory. QED!

If Fayose had contested on another platform, say the Labour Party, he would have lost successfully to the incumbent. This is a FACT

Obiagelli:
add comprehension to you counting lessons.

You out of every single person on the planet alongside your supporter of APC hierarchy are the ones that need to comprehend that your APE-P1SS-SH1T is dead in the SW

Sincere 9gerian:
Both the political party and the person contributed to the victory. QED!

If Fayose had contested on another platform, say the Labour Party, he would have lost successfully to the incumbent. This is a FACT

You can also add that the People of Ekiti rejected both the Person and Political affiliation of the incumbent Governor Fayemi.

APC lost both ways.

And there is the arrogating personality of that thief Tinubu to add

Obiagelli:
Fayose/pdp = 80/20%. The pdp would have lost woefully without Fayose.

Fayemi lost: 50% APC 10% Himself and 40% Frogmaster Tinubu

tit for tat

Obiagelli:
Fayose/pdp = 80/20%. The pdp would have lost woefully without Fayose.

And how did you arrive at that? I guess you used Tinubu's Software?

Obiagelli: it could be good that APC lost a small state and should be a wake up call for them, they were seriously loosing focus. I also believe the convention (days before election) took a lot of focus off the Ekiti election and the presidency thwarted their last minute efforts at campaigns.
It's time for the APC to get down to business and basics.

Ekiti is now a "small state"? See insult! But it seems you and Gbawe didn't realise it was a "small state" until the results of the election started pouring in from the various polling stations. Prior to the day of the election, you told all who care to listen that Ekiti was no-go area for the PDP

APC should wait for another 25years for them to win the Presidency. At present they are not matured enough. Infact Labour party and NCP seems to have better direction than APC. They can best be described as gang members aspiring for power at all cost.

Obiagelli: it could be good that APC lost a small state and should be a wake up call for them, they were seriously loosing focus. I also believe the convention (days before election) took a lot of focus off the Ekiti election and the presidency thwarted their last minute efforts at campaigns.
It's time for the APC to get down to business and basics.

Watch Lagos reject your nonsense party. Lagosians are sick and tired of Tinubu's overbearing influence and greed. Most passive would be voters will stream out en-masse to vote out APC.

Osun state will be an easy walk for the PDP as your candidate and current incumbent is a write off. The people of Ekiti waited patiently for the polls to air their grieviences as for Osun the storm has been gathering against that ram who has polarized the state along religious line

YOU JUST WAIT AND SEE.

Obiagelli:
you used gej's reasoning to come up with yours?

good to see you are no longer referring to the President as a slow-poke or clueless fellow.

Obiagelli: it could be good that APC lost a small state and should be a wake up call for them, they were seriously loosing focus. I also believe the convention (days before election) took a lot of focus off the Ekiti election and the presidency thwarted their last minute efforts at campaigns.
It's time for the APC to get down to business and basics.

I totally agree with you

Obiagelli:
Ekiti election about tinubu? Lol. Add logic to your lessons.

Tinubu hand picked all serving SW governors under the APC.

If you can not see how this is affecting your supporter of APC party in the SW then you are an ABoki at best

berem: I totally agree with you

she don land...

everybody behave or she will get her Mods to delete posts and ban for life

Obiagelli:

small state in numbers, true that the results were shocking but i was never impressed with Fayemi and same goes for oyo state. BUT for presidential election, my brother don't fool yourself.

You still believe Nigerians are daft to vote Buhari?

Le Ostrich:

she don land...

everybody behave or she will get her Mods to delete posts and ban for life

seriously,don't you get tired of quoting and mentioning my name?
What a jerk!!

Le Ostrich:

Tinubu hand picked all serving SW governors under the APC.

If you can not see how this is affecting your supporter of APC party in the SW then you are an ABoki at best

bros ,u get time ooo. Let anyone who still believes that apc still has the people support as they had it then believe whatever .their eyes will clear and open wide in 2015. One tthing is certain apc will still drop one or 2 states in the south west . I know for sure kwara and oyo will be cleared by pdp let's see what happens in osun,ogun and lagos

berem: seriously,don't you get tired of quoting and mentioning my name?
What a jerk!!

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