The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are quarelling over the proposed local government elections in Ondo State. Correspondent DAMISI OJO examines the bone of contention and its implications for grassroots administration.
Eight years ago, the elected local government administration was dissolved in Ondo State by Governor Olusegun Mimiko.
Since then, grassroots democracy has been stalled. The councils have been at the mercy of caretaker committees set up to run them.
The Adedayo Omolafe-led Committee of Council Chairmen inaugurated by Agagu sued Mimiko for the dissolution of the democratic structures. The case is still in court.
For seven years, Mimiko turned a deaf ear to the agitation for council polls. But, as the government is winding up, he suddenly changed his mind. The governor directed the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission(ODIEC) to conduct the poll, few months to the governorship election. On April 23, voters will choose new local government chairmen and councillors, who will run the councils for the next three years. This will be the first time in nine years that such election will be taking place.
Mimiko has inaugurated members of the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission. It is headed by Prof. Olugbenga Ige.
The last council poll was conducted in December 2008. But, the elected officers only spent few months in office because they were sacked by the governor. The embattled council chairmen and councillors, who were mainly members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), challenged their dismissal in the court. But, they lost out at the High Court and the Appeal Court. The matter is still pending at the Supreme court.
Mimiko had hinged his refusal to hold another poll on the litigation. Thus, the sudden change of mind by the governor has raised suspicion, not only among party chieftains, but also among the generality of the people.
The opposition parties are worried. They believe that the governor is setting a trap for them, ahead of the governorship poll. They stated one of the major claims of Mimiko was that the pending case on the local government election had rendered him incompetent to conduct the poll since he was sworn-in 2009. They became more cautious because the litigation is not yet over at the Supreme Court.
Already, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) have distanced themselves from the poll.
The APC Chairman, Hon. Isaac Kekemeke, described the election as illegal and a sham, maintaining that it is a trap. He accused the members of ODIEC of partisanship, saying that they are PDP members.
Kekemeke said: “Our participation or otherwise has been thoroughly discussed at the Central Working Committee, the state executive committee and the expanded executive.
“The conclusion reached was that the election is a sham meant to trap our party. It is an illegal ‘election’ about to be conducted when there is a subsisting case on the matter at the Supreme Court.
“Besides, Mimiko’s ODIEC is composed of LP/PDP card carrying members. Worse still, this LP/PDP government is highly deficient in character, integrity and fairness that it cannot be trusted to midwife any free and fair process”.
A House of Representatives member from Akoko South West/Akoko South East, Hon. Kolawole Babatunde, stated the poll will be a fruitless exercise. He said: “Governor Olusegun Mimiko has concluded plans to write the results from his Alagbaka home and if the APC participates or not, that does not change anything. So, I will advise the party leaders not to allow our members to participate in the election”.
Also, the SDP, led by Chief Olu Falae and Dr. Olu Agunloye, who are allies of the governor, explained why it will not participate in the poll.
The party stated the preparation by the government indicated that the ODIEC was not independent and therefore, could not be fair in the conduct of the election.
The Chairman of the SDP, Korede Duiyile, said no credible opposition party will participate in the election.
The SDP leaders alleged that the composition of the electoral body favoured the ruling PDP.
Duyile added: “We believe that, as a principled political party, the SDP should not participate in the election because it would be more of an appointment exercise rather than an elective process.”
Agunloye described the poll as a waste of resources and another way of compounding the hardship in the state.
As stated by the former minister, conducting an election when workers have not been paid for over four months is not a wise decision.
CNNP stated its withdrawal became inevitable, owing to the abnormalities in the government’s decision to conduct the poll, seven years after Mimiko became governor.
It stated its decision was hinged on the prevailing poor state of the economy that has rendered government machinery incapable paying salaries of workers regularly.
The CNPP advised the PDP-led government to use the money earmarked for the election to pay workers’ salaries and retirees’ allowances.
But, the PDP Chairman, Mr. Clement Faboyede, described the APC and others parties, who are boycotting the poll, as cowards.
He stated the PDP was already coasting to victory, judging by its popularity among the people.
Faboyede stated the opposition parties were only crying foul and afraid of participating in the elections because of losing out completely to the ruling party.
He stated the APC has no political relevance, adding that it caanot match the PDP at the polls. He added: “There is no APC in Ondo state as far as I am concerned? and they are only clamouring on the case before the court which was not instituted by them.
“The sacked local government chairmen had gone to the court demanding for reinstatement but now they are pleading for compensation since the matter had been taken to the Supreme court.”
Faboyede stated the PDP has started mobilising grassroots people for the election, urging other parties to take a cue. He stated nothing would stop the ODIEC conducting the exercise.
Mimiko is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure that his right man emerges as the next governor. One of his strategies, according to sources, is the conduct of local government polls.
The source said: “Since last year, he has been appointing so many people as political aides. As at now, he has over 120 Special Assistants.
“Majority of them have no offices and they are not delegated for any special assignments, but they are just collecting salaries and they have been directed by the governor to start mobilizing for the party ahead of governorship poll.
“He is also conducting the local council poll so that he would be able to plant is loyalists in the grassroots ahead of the gubernatorial poll”, the source disclosed.
Opposition parities have been commended for boycotting the exercise. A stakeholder, Mr. Femi Obada, said: “There is no how APC and other parties participate in the poll and win a council or ward because the ruling party has power over members of the ODIEC”.
The Nation