The 2011 elections have produced some surprise results, particularly with the sweeping of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the South-West. Yinka Oladoyinbo, in this report, writes on the effect of the loss on the Ondo State chapter of the party where blames are now being tracled for the partys dismal performance.THE 2011 elections have nodoubt, opened a new chapterin the political history of the country, and particularly that of the South-West region because with the result of the election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lost its hold on the region. The party, which had been controlling the affairs of all the states in the region except Lagos since the 2003 elections that swept away the Alliance for Democracy (AD), was sent packing by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Labour Party (LP).However, in Ondo State, where the party lost to the LP, tongues are wagging and claims and counter claims are being made on the real reasons why the party had a poor showing in the election and The PDP lost all the three senatorial seats, lost eight out of the nine federal constituency seats contested for in the election, winning only one out of the 26 seats in the state House of Assembly. While the party accepted defeat in Ondo North and Central Senatorial Districts, it insisted that the contest for the Ondo South Senatorial District seat was not fair and accused the LP of securing its victory in a questionable manner.The party, therefore, said it would challenge the result of the poll in which its candidate and a former governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Agagu, lost to Boluwaji Kunlere of the LP. The painful manner in which the PDP lost the battle, particularly that of Agagu to the relatively unknown Kunlere, has made some members of the party to attempt to beam their searchlight on the reasons why the party performed badly in the election. Some of them, however, hurriedly concluded that it was the Minister of Defence, Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN), that did not act when he was supposed to, which made them to lose the election.Reacting after the loss, some of the aggrieved party members said the minister failed to use the power in his control to ensure victory for the party, particularly in the southern senatorial district, where the PDP claimed that the security apparatus under the Ministry of Defence were used against it and in favour of the LP. Some members of the party categorically said the minister should have deployed soldiers to the area and ensured that those deployed did his bidding and worked for the victory of the PDP.A group within the party, the Ondo PDP Youth Leadership Forum, bought spaces in newspapers to outline the offences of the minister, climaxing it with an alleged unholy alliance with Governor Olusegun Mimiko in order to secure the gubernatorial seat after the expiration of Mimikos tenure. The group alleged that the minister deliberately sold out the party so that Mimiko could influence his return as a federal cabinet member and also ensure that Mimiko had a smooth sail to Alagbaka once again in 2013. This move, the group alleged, would pave the way for Kayode to succeed Mimiko as governor of the Sunshine State.But events after the election had shown that those calling for the head of the minister, following the poor showing of the party were orchestrating this before the moves and lobbying for federal appointments commence, since the PDP had won the presidential election. With the partys victory at the national level, it was obvious that the state would produce at least a minister, some chairmen of boards and parastatals and board members. So, the war against Kayode may not be unconnected with the attempt to ensure that he does not secure another term with President Goodluck Jonathan. The reason for the fear of the people may not be far-fetched as, according to a leader of the party, the defence minister was seen as one of the most active and visible ministers that worked closely with the president since he became the substantive president of the country. Based on this, the people believed that it might not be difficult for the president to settle for Kayode as a minister from Ondo State, hence the need to begin the campaign against him in earnest before the president makes up his mind.However, analyzing the defeat of the party in southern senatorial district, a leader of the party who spoke on condition of anonymity said the minister should not be blamed for it but the pattern of choosing candidates that represented the party should be looked into. According to him, out of the three federal constituencies in the area, it was only in Irele/Okitipupa federal constituency that the party matched the LP in terms of the credentials of the candidate.In Ilaje/Ese-Odo, the LP picked somebody from Ilaje Local Government Area, which has a higher number of votes, while the PDP returned the incumbent, Agboola Ajayi from Ese-Odo, a local government with fewer votes. With the arrangement, it was obvious that the average Ilaje man would prefer the LP candidate, bearing in mind that the senatorial seat which they had before had been given to Okitipupa Local Government area.Also in Odigbo/Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo Federal Constituency, the LP picked its candidate from Ile-Oluji which had six wards out of the ten wards in Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo Local Government, while the PDP picked its candidate from Okeigbo.Besides, the state house of assembly candidate of the PDP, Nasiru Akinromade, is also from Okeigbo, leaving nothing for the people of Ile-Oluji. Therefore, he said, the average voter from Ile-Oluji, which also has the higher number of votes, would go for an indigene of the town instead of somebody from another area. All this was said to be responsible for the loss of the party in the area and since the senatorial and the House of Representatives elections were held at the same time, it rubbed off on Agagu and he lost to the LPs candidate.Apart from this, many of the candidates of the party that had earlier been elected into one post or the other or those seeking re-election into the offices they were had failed to give a good account of themselves in those offices and the people felt there was the need for a change. In order to get the ticket of the party, some of them had employed many unimaginable means and fought their perceived political opponents to clinch the ticket. A member of the House of Representatives from the northern senatorial district was said to have used the anti-graft agencies to fight one of the leaders of the party in his local government for being against his bid to return to the lower chamber of the National Assembly.The emergence of another one from the same senatorial district was a bitter pill that had to be swallowed by the leaders of the federal constituency because of the many complaints against him by the leaders of the area and the people he claimed to be representing in the House of late next year.
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