The Ekiti State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Bola Olu Ojo and his Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) colleague Jide Awe talked with MUYIWA ADEYEMI on how they are set to conduct the February 4, council polls. Excerpts:HOW prepared is your party for the council polls'The party is in court and we hope the court would have rule on the matter before the polls. We are contesting the composition of the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC). In spite of that, we are prepared to go into that polls provided the membership of that committee is reviewed; we consider some of them as partisan.We are not contesting the fact that the Commission has the power to organise and conduct council polls. We are only against the composition of the membership of the commission and we have reiterated our stand at every forum. We recognised the Commission and for the purpose of our correspondences we recognise the secretary.If the court rules against your petition, will you still go ahead with the election'That decision will be taken in consultation with our lawyers. We have strong evidence against some of the members of the commission and we have reason to believe that they will not be fair; their integrity and their independence are in doubt. The chairman of the Commission was said to be the former women leader of the ACN in Oye council; one member was also said to be a powerful sponsor of ACN in Ijero council, another was said to have once declared for ACN in a national newspaper, in fact he decamped to the ACN. Another member of the Commission is the former chairman of Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) in Ekiti State; he even testified for the ACN at the tribunal, we have all these evidences against them. But if with all these facts, the court still says we have not proved it, then our lawyers will advise us. But we are not afraid.Do you expect to win as much councils as you won in 2008 when PDP was in power'When we were there, the ACN boycotted the election, therefore we did not have the kind of opposition they are having now. The other parties had nothing. The Labour Party of former Governor Ayo Fayose then, was just coming on board; they had no impact. They had one councilor. But we have not decided to boycott the election. Besides, the strength of the PDP in Ekiti cannot be compared to that of the ACN then. In terms of the opposition to the ruling party, we are strong. That ACN is in government is not as if they have more electoral value than the PDP. So in a way, you cannot compare the two.The last re-run election on December 10, last year in Ekiti Central Federal Constituency showed that ACN did not defeat the PDP in a clean and clear election. Some of our votes were poured into rivers in Oke Imesi; we had cases of ballot snatching in Erijiyan. But that particular result gave us impetus that in a secure environment, we could perform better.I believe the PDP can win any election in Ekiti, but considering the trend of what happened in other states, I agree that it is difficult for the opposition to win council polls. But it is not sufficient to predict that a ruling party in the state must win council polls.You can win election where you have people but ACN does not enjoy the support of our people. However, our participation in the election will be determined by many factors, including the outcome of the court case and the decision of the majority of the members.As the chairman what are you doing to reunite your members, as many believe that Ekiti PDP is not as united as it used to be'In a political party, you must have caucuses, groups but that does not mean we are not united. I had a meeting recently, and everybody was there. I briefed them about what is going on and they agreed with me that we should forge ahead with the court case. I don't know why people are saying we are not united, there must be disagreement, but we are always there to resolve it. At the last rerun election, there was no PDP member that did not participate directly or indirectly. We don't need any unity more than that.It is believed that the Minister of Police Affairs Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (rtd) is leading a group, while former governor Segun Oni is leading another. Are the two factions are working together'I am the state chairman of the PDP. I do not belong to any caucus. Let me repeat that I contested for the position of state chairman. I went round all the councils, my senatorial district did the screening and I was one of the three qualified for the election. I was elected based on some factors. A 25-member committee was set up to look for the consensus candidate, which was the practice from the national body of the party, and I was chosen. I couldn't have been chosen without the impact of some people. I was never a campaign member of Segun Oni's team, I was a senatorial chairman at that time, but when I contested for the office of the chairman, I got support from everybody, including Oni. There was no way anybody could have been state chairman of the PDP without the incumbent governor's support. I was not Oni's friend, but I participated in his election as the chairman of my senatorial district and if by that Oni has interest in me, and supported my ambition I see nothing wrong in that. I am from the same council as the Minister. I nominated him as one of those that should be given high position from the state.What is preventing Ayo Fayose from returning to the party'He has collected his membership card at his ward and we at the state level have made recommendations to the national body. We are still expecting them to decide on the matter.ACN: We boycotted council polls in 2008, heavens didn't fallHOW many councils are you expecting to win in the council polls'We have prepared and mobilised our members and supporters in the 16 councils and 177 wards. We expect to win the 16 councils, and the 177 wards. Since the inception of the ACN, no member has defected to other parties and scores of people are joining the ACN. For the past two months, I have been receiving nearly 200 people everyday, decamping to the ACN. In Iworoko, over 250 people defected from Labour Party.You expect to win in traditional PDP strongholds, like Ido Osi'In some towns in Ido Osi not the entire Ido Osi council, like Ifaki where Segun Oni comes from; it is going to be a hotbed for us. The contest there will be a little bit hot but Ifaki has only two wards out of eleven wards in that council. But that does not mean that we don't have some supporters even in Ifaki.Have you heard of the allegations that ACN plans to precipitate crisis in Ido Osi and other PDP strongholds'If by all calculations they have chances in two wards out of 11 wards in Ido Osi out of 177 wards in the state, does it make sense for us to cause any crisis there' Even the leadership of the PDP will agree that we are not violent; they know our character. We had worked together before as I was Oni's campaign manager before I left PDP.What is the electoral value of those defecting'They are joining us not because we are the ruling party. As I said since the inception of the party no single person has defected and we have achieved this not by magic, but because of the solid mechanism we have for conflict resolution. If you are aggrieved and you come to the party secretariat, we set up a committee to investigate the matter. We act promptly and come up with solutions that would satisfy everybody and the governor has also been doing that to foster unity among members. People will always come to where their aspirations and hopes could be realised and where they can be secure.Is there any truth in the complaints that ACN candidates emerged without going through a primary'Whether it is called shadow election, primary or selection, it is still within the powers and functions of a political party, to determine the system to adopt in fielding candidates. As long as members are satisfied with it, we don't have problem. It is difficult getting every one to be satisfied with any system; there would always be aggrieved people. If the Old Testament is did not require additions, there won't be need for the New Testament. We have 13 wards in Ado Ekiti, if we want to vote now in ward 4 at 10 am, people from Ward 9 will move there, we won't be able to determine who is who, but it can be easy in other areas, especially villages where they know themselves. Let us manage this and let the people determine their candidates. Let there be consensus, persuade one another, if you cannot be chairman now, you can be something else and we realised that the system worked in about 12 councils, and we brought members from the remaining four to the state secretariat where they had delegates and the primary was conducted. What I am saying is that we don't just pick people in the ACN, but we look at the options to consider the best way to reduce the crisis.What do you think of the allegation by the PDP allegation that some members of the SIEC are card-carrying members of the ACN'As long as we remain in Ekiti, we shall continue to use Ekiti people from the state since we cannot manufacture human beings. Even if clergymen were appointed, they will still say that they are related to one person in the party or government and as a result, the opposition will conclude that they must be ACN members. I know that the people that were chosen are not politicians. Unknown to the PDP, some of them had served in former SIEC. The PDP put them there. I know that Oloketuyi served in the Commission under the PDP government and he is still there.The PDP government appointed the secretary of that Commission; though he is a civil servant, we did not cry that he should be removed. I think people should stop chasing shadows. The chairman of the Commission will not leave her office on the day of election, we have 16 councils and they have seven members, how are they going to influence elections in the remaining places. I think the election has moved beyond the rigging people are used to. If a party worked well and you have your people on ground and you mobilise them very well, you will win at the end of the day.Should the court rule that the Commission as constituted cannot conduct the election, what would you do'The electoral body has instructed us to go on with our campaigns till the decision of the court, which we don't know what it would be. If the judgment is favourable to SIEC so be it, and if the court says we should stop our campaigns, we shall abide. But we have to put our house in order. Even those who sued SIEC are on the field, they have their posters everywhere. If genuinely they know that what they are after is good, they will not be preparing for the election. Like we did in 2008 when SIEC was set up, we questioned it because constitutional aberration happened. The law says they should be five or seven, but they set up a three-man Commission. We went to court, we did not do that alone, we said we would not participate in that election and we opted out, and the heavens did not fall.
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