Ekiti ACN: Brother Against Brother

The rising wave of complaints among some members of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ekiti State in recent times has become a cause for concern among the citizenry. Assistant Editor, Sam Nwaoko, reports.

The rumours that all has not been well within the ACN in Ekiti State had begun like a whimper. No one took it serious until witnesses were bold enough to complain aloud. As of today, the entire ACN in Ekiti State is wedged into two major blocs: Those who are for the governor, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi (JKF) and loyalists of Honourable Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, popularly known as MOB. The bone of contention is the 2014 governorship, an issue which has so far remained in the realm of speculations.

It actually began as figments. Then, it got its own life and today, that which was termed ‘unimaginable’ has seemingly taken root in Ekiti State and has been festering. When politicians cry out over attacks by some people, the handy culprit is usually members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but at the moment in Ekiti State, that is no longer the case. The ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is the issue and a number of citizens of the state have voiced their concern as the 2014 governorship election in the state approaches.

Some concerned Ekiti citizens, who expressed their disappointment in the growing intra-party attacks in the state, complained that if this could be happening when the election is still about one year away, they wondered what the situation would look like when the actual ‘fight’ for the position got underway. The peoples’ concern is not for nothing. Up till Wednesday this week, members of the party continued to lament their thorough manhandling by some other members of the party in the state because they have a question mark on their loyalty to certain power blocs in the party in the state.

MOB, many believe, is serious warming up to give JKF a fight for the ticket of the party to contest the 2014 governorship, and this has polarised members of the party across the state. The sustained speculation on the intentions of the two major forces in the party has pitted their followers against one another, and the result is the attacks on one another.

Bamidele is the member representing Ekiti Central Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. His constituency is made up of Ado Ekiti and Irepodun/Ifelodun local government areas of the state. However, Bamidele, according to those who are in the know, had launched himself into the politics of the state with a wider view to clinching the governorship seat. In the last general election, he had campaigned for the Ekiti Central senatorial district’s seat and looked set to emerge as the winner until the ticket was won by Mr. Babafemi Ojudu, who is currently the senator representing the zone in National Assembly.

He is said to have loyalists across the state, with many of them forming part of the government of Dr. Fayemi when the ACN took over the reins of power from the PDP in October 2010 when the PDP was ousted in a judicial pronouncement. Today, the picture has changed from what it was, as those perceived to be loyalists of Bamidele have been sent packing from the state government and are allegedly being haunted everywhere they are found in the state. This contention is given life by several accounts of ACN members who had been fingered in the reported intra-ACN skirmishes in parts of the state.

For instance, when the traditional ruler of Iyin-Ekiti, a major town in Irepodun/Ifelodun council area of the state, Oba (Justice retd) Ademola Ajakaye, celebrated his 75th birthday recently, there were accusations and counter accusations between pro-JKF and pro-MOB members of the party on who were the culprits in reported brawls at the ceremony. Also, an account given by the secretary of Ekiti West Local Government Area of an incident that took place in Okemesi-Ekiti recently gave the ‘we against them’ scenario in the community. In another incident that occurred in Igede-Ekiti this April, the scenario painted was also that of MOB versus JKF, just as the Tuesday’s brutalisation of yet another member of the party in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

A statement issued by the Publicity Secretary of the ACN in Ekiti State, Mr. Tunde Adeleke, made the above contentions more compelling, even as it gave a hint that all was not well within the party and among its various groups. The ACN in the statement, on the one hand, maintained that it was a peace-loving party devoid of the reported incidents of attacks among its membership while, on the other, it blamed MOB for the incidences.

The ACN said “We found Mr. Opeyemi’s comments in the dailies very unfortunate if it is true that he actually made such allegations against his own party. For the avoidance of doubt, no ACN member attacked Opeyemi Bamidele, as our investigation within the party has revealed that the fracas was caused by the group of rough necks that usually follow him everywhere he goes in the state.”

The statement signed by Adeleke entitled: “Opeyemi Bamidele was not attacked by ACN members” and made available to newsmen on April 17 said: “We would like to remind Hon Opeyemi that it was this group of boys that he sent to disrupt the 75 thbirthday anniversary of his town’s Monarch, Oba Ajakaye, the Oluyin of Iyin Ekiti, few days ago, while he conspicuously stayed away from the remarkable event. Mr. Bamidele’s boys have also been going about Ekiti causing trouble and harassing other party members. We wish to reiterate again that the ACN has always toed the path of peace even before it reclaimed its lost mandate, and it has continued on that path.

Rather than going about with impressionable young party boys to cause trouble, we advise Mr. Bamidele to start playing the role of a true representative of members his constituency who had written many letters of complaint against him, having abandoned them since his election in April 2011.”

However, the matter, according to some observers of events in the state, is as a result of lack of effective opposition from the PDP in the state. A political stakeholder in the state said: “The PDP is lame and at best, has not been able to fire from all cylinders, or does not know how to, just as the ACN did when the PDP was in power.” The source added that “this is why the ACN has turned to itself to look for sparring partners within its fold.” But these have their effect as the polity nears the 2014 governorship.

Source: Tribune