A couple of weeks ago, the Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), announced its decision to zone the party’s ticket for the contest of the 2011 governorship election to the Ife/Ijesa axis of the state. The measure, observers noted, was a mere formality, as there appeared to be consensus that the division, which makes up the Osun East Senatorial District should be allowed to produce the state governor, being the only section yet to do so among the three districts since the creation of the state in 1991.

The other two senatorial districts- West and Central, had ruled the state through Bisi Akande and the incumbent Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
The action of the party has technically eliminated two top contenders in the race, who hail from outside of the favoured enclave- Oyinlola’s former Chief of Staff, Peter Babalola, {a.k.a. Peter Power}and secretary to his government, Fatai Akinbade.
Babalola’s camp is said to be in disarray over the new development, but the members and their idol are reportedly not considering suggestion to dump PDP and pursue their ambition on the platform of another political party.

Sources told Daily Sun that the group was shopping for a governorship candidate it could work with from the preferred zone. Such candidate would definitely not be Senator Iyiola Omisore. Babalola had not yet forgiven Omisore for alleged betrayal which cost him {Babalola} the party’s mandate for the governorship in 2003.
Babalola had unofficially obtained the party’s blessing to fly its flag in the 2003 governorship election. He was allegedly persuaded to relinquish it to Omisore by party elders led by the late Chief Sunday M. Afolabi, when Omisore defected from the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to the PDP.

The calculation was that, the then AD deputy governor of the state would help PDP win the state with his knowledge of AD’s secrets and strategies. However, when an Omisore candidature became uncertain, the senator reportedly arranged to cede the ticket to Olagunsoye Oyinlola, instead of Peter, apparently for fear that the latter may be a stumbling block to early realisation of his ambition to rule the state. There has since been no love lost between the two men.

The Akinbade camp’s response to the party’s zoning policy forks left and right. While some members of the group want their leader to cross carpet and contest the governorship on the platform of the Labour Party’s (LP) others, whose stand seems to be prevailing, felt he should stay in the PDP and negotiate for the deputy governorship.
They are basking in the euphoria that Akinbade as deputy is as good as being the de facto governor. The aspirant will be quitting Oyinlola’s government next year after doing over six years as SSG.

Before then, he had been commissioner under the military regime and chairman of the state PDP. Akinbade seemed to have wound down the tempo of his campaign. He is said to be searching for a suitable candidate with whom he could be a running mate. He too has ruled out Omisore.

The Ooni factor
As it were, although the governorship appears ready for pick by aspirants from the Ife/Ijesa zone in principle. The major decider of who occupies the Government House in 2011 may, however, be the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II. Sources alleged that Ooni has been given the sole right by Oyinlola to name his successor:
“It is Baba’s show, as the governor’s reward for the huge support he gave him and his government in the last seven years.”

But how potent is the force of the Ife royal court in what will be democratically exercised by, first, politicians in the PDP fold and later the entire state citizenry?
A source insists: “Whoever the Ooni supports is the governor’s candidate. Again, such lucky aspirant will enjoy the support of all traditional rulers in all the towns and villages, because Oyinlola has empowered them as the last political legs in the state. More importantly, Oyinlola’s candidate is not likely to be rejected by the Osun State PDP which will conduct the primaries.”

Emergence of a dark horse
Daily Sun can reveal that none of the remaining 13 aspirants will get Ooni’s royal blessing.
Their loss may be the gain of a relatively dark horse likely to be picked from the two new aspirants, Prof. Adewale Oladipo and Nathaniel Oke. They are from Ife South Local Government. They reported to have obtained late nomination forms at the urging of powerful interests close to the Ife royal court. The forms, it was learnt, were sold to the new aspirants at N3.5 million as against N3 million it attracted for early aspirants.

The development has set tongues wagging. Stakeholders are questioning the fairness of re-opening of the nomination exercise after it had been deemed closed by the party. Many of the aspirants who saw it as a ploy to favour particular interests have been discouraged to such extent that they have eased the pressure on their campaign pedals. For instance, Chief Remi Olowu has not bothered to print any campaign posters. Ditto for Segun Bamigbetan, Fatai Sarumi, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, Akin Jegede and Dosu Fatokun.

“Peter Power”, who had hitherto been parading the streets in a convoy of about 80 campaign vehicles made up of jeeps, buses and limousine has quieted down, especially since the zoning did not go his way. Hon. Gbenga Onigbogi, who was endorsed by Ijesa elders caucus of the party led by Chief Ebenezer Babatope, has not gone beyond the announcement of his aspiration. But Onigbogi’s media aide, Kunle Olatunji, said the aspirant remains visible in the race: “Hon. Onigbogi is committed to his apiration to contest the governorship election in 2011.He is in the hearts of the people.”

Those who, perhaps, have not stopped the tempo of their campaigns are Tunde Odanye, Diran Odeyemi and Lati Bakare as these have remained visible at least in the media. The development has also generated an uneasy calm in Ile-Ife, with fears of a possible clash between Omisore’s supporters and other aspirants from the ancient city. Sources explained the presence of a detachment of anti-riot policemen drafted to the Yoruba cradle recently as being due to such anxiety by government.

Obasanjo intervention
Amidst widespread disaffection in the ranks of aspirants, overtures have been made to former president Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) to intervene. Reports indicate that several meetings were held both at Ota and Abeokuta, Ogun State, to this effect. A source said tOmisore, out of desperation to rule Osun State , may have thrown his weight behind the campaign against the zoning arrangement in so far as the arrangement would not favour him.

He is said to be contemplating supporting Akinbade, in the reasoning that should any candidate other than himself emerge from Ife/Ijesa axis, that would put paid to his life-long ambition to govern the “State of the Living Spring”. He, therefore, wants to wish away the zoning formula and support Akinbade in anticipation that after four or eight years, it would come back to Ife/Ijesa, when all his antagonists and “enemies” would probably have passed on.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/apr/16/national-16-04-2010-004.htm