Count Down To ACN, LP Unsettled Scores

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Ondo State is no doubt the next battleground for the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, where political parties will converge on 20 October to determine who wears the governorship crown.

The main contenders for the incumbent governor, Olusegun Mimiko’s job are coming from the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, whose ticket has been picked by former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Rotimi Akeredolu, and perhaps, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who is  working round the clock in a bid to reclaim the seat of government.

Former national legal adviser of the party, Olusola Oke, is at the forefront, trying to rally a reawakening in the party, wanting to recover the power it lost at the Appeal Court, Benin in February, 2009, to the Labour Party, LP, after the court voided the 2007 election of Olusegun Agagu.

For the ACN, the Ondo State  contest is going to be a show of raw strength and authority between it and the LP as the leaders of the party need to prove with election that they are the sole political authority in the southwest.

In the countdown to the October governorship election, leaders of the ACN have not hidden their deep desire to add  Ondo State to the camp of the ‘progressives’ in the zone. They insist that the fortune of the zone would be best enhanced if a harmonious political leadership complements its natural homogeneity and contiguity.

One feature that the candidature of the three personalities has shown is that the three senatorial districts in the state, North, Central and South, will all have representatives in the forthcoming election.

While Akeredolu is from Ondo North, Mimiko is from the Central and Oke is from the Southern Senatorial district.

The choice of the trio has shown that the gubernatorial battle would be a fight among the three senatorial districts while the choice of their running mates would only be complementary and followed by other appointments for balancing.

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Another feature is that the candidature of the three men whose origin spread across the three senatorial constituencies has revealed that the battle will be devoid of ethnic sentiments that had taken prominence before their emergence.

Before the choice of Akeredolu of the ACN and Oke of the PDP, Akoko agenda was being touted as a major factor that would be considered by the three parties since neither the ACN nor the PDP accounted for four of the six local governments that made up the Ondo North Senatorial district.

For Mimiko, the power of incumbency is a major factor that would enhance the chances of the party in addition to the control of  two out of three senators, seven out of nine Rep members and he is in control of structures in the 18 local government areas.

In the PDP since pre-2003 election, Oke had been a major force in the party. Particularly in the southern senatorial district in terms of doggedness, vibrancy and the respect he commands among members of the party and beyond.

His strength is believed to have earned him the position of the national legal adviser of the party and also gave him the courage to contest for the position of the secretary of the party during the party’s national convention in March.

Akeredolu’s choice over and above the much touted Akoko Agenda being championed by the former LP chairman, Dr. Olaiya Oni, who defected to the ACN, was definitely not seen by many as ordinary.

It has been said that Akeredolu was chosen not only because of his reputation as a foremost legal practitioner, but due to his high network within the judiciary, should the matter involve judicial interpretation.

—Jamiu Yisa

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