Why Mimiko is defecting-Tope Fayehun Mimiko must have realised that this is the right moment to make another bold political move. The popularity of the LP and that of the governor has ebbed and there is no assurance that the people of the state would vote for its candidates in the 2015 general election. Since the re-election of Mimiko in 2012, there has not been real governance in the state, making people to be disenchanted with his government and his party. Manybelieve that his latest move was a face-saving and survival strategy. Mimiko, according to them, is afraid of imminent demystification. The possibility of losing the State House of Assembly in 2015 was said to have frightened the governor. Some analysts have also pointed to the resurgence of the PDP in the southwest, especially Ondo State, as one of the factors responsible for Mimiko’s decision to part ways with the LP. From the beginning of this year, people have been defecting to the PDP from the LP. Most of these defectors are former close associates of the governor. The former representative of Ondo State on the Board of the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Benson Enikuomehin, returned to the PDP a couple of weeks back. The senator representing Ondo South senatorial district in the National Assembly, Boluwaji Kunlere, has also retraced his steps back to the PDP. Kunlere, who is a former PDP state secretary, was elected in 2011 on the platform of the LP. It was also learnt that the soul of the state deputy governor, Ali Olanusi, is already in the PDP. Ali, who is a former PDP state chairman, joined the LP in December 2006 to contest alongside Mimiko in the 2007 governorship election. The victory of former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, in the June governorship election in the state was also said to have played a major role in Mimiko’s defection. Fayose defeated the incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi, in all the 16 local government areas of the state. The victory served as a morale booster for PDP members in Ondo State and prompted a lot of people to move to the party. It was learnt Mimiko reasoned that it would be easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for him to play a prominent role in the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 if he still remained in LP. Mimiko was also said to have realised that his support for Jonathan’s reelection bid would affect the National Assembly candidates of the LP in 2015. The presidential election and those of the legislature will take place on the same day, according to the timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. It would be confusing to ask the electorate, who are mostly illiterates, to vote for the PDP candidate in the presidential election but for the LP candidates in the National Assembly polls. That is one of the reasons, according to sources, why Mimiko decided to join the PDP. Implications The decision of Governor Mimiko to decamp to the PDP has changed the political calculations in Ondo State. The general belief is that the exit of Governor Mimiko from the LP has sounded the death knell of the party in state, sending jitters into the spines of aspirants on the platform of the party. The aspirants are now unsure of their fate. The LP was a dormant party until December 2006 when Mimiko introduced it to the people of the state. Since then, the governor has been the chief promoter of the party in the country. Some analysts had earlier dismissed the suggestion that Mimiko would dump the LP, given the passion with which he was expanding the coast of the party to other states in the southwest. After his reelection in 2012, not a few people saw him as the leader of an emerging third force in the zone. He was viewed as having the capacity to neutralise the influence of Bola Tinubu and his team. It was gathered that it was Mimiko who talked a member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, into contesting the June governorship election in Ekiti on the platform of the LP. However, Bamidele posted a dismal performance in the election, as he s
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 08:53:49 +0000
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