By Adams Akorede
“Like a drunken sailor, the falcons no longer hear the falconets and reasons have seized to prevail in Oyo ADC, hence the ship of the party heading for the rock”
Who is behind the promotion of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in Oyo state? A 53-second jingle composed in Yoruba espousing distinguishing ‘ideologies’ of the new party hit the media waves early hours of Friday morning in Ibadan.
The development sent jitters than the spines of already disenchanted members of the party as the crisis in the once ‘mega’ opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), Oyo state chapter gets messier by the day.
Political observers say the crisis in ADC was a time bomb because the party itself is peopled by strange bed fellows and unforgiving stalwarts who had over the years being engaged in a cat and mouse game to undo one another.
The crisis peaked penultimate Sunday (October 7) when all the 13 aspirants; Festus Wale Adegoke; Engr. Remi Oseni; Senator Femi Lanlehin; Dr. Yunus Akintunde; Chief Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli and Engr. Remi Olaniyan could not agree on the choice of party’s gubernatorial candidate to meet up with the deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Other aspirants who were stuck to their guns included Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja; Chief Lowo Obisesan; Dr. Kola Balogun; Otunba Oluseye Opatoki; Mr. Ayodele Adigun; Senator Gbenga Babalola and Dr. Nureni Adeniran.
Signs that all would not be well with Oyo ADC started unfolding in the constitution of executives at the wards, local and state levels via the congresses.
The party’s inability to genuinely adopt any of the three modes for selection of the party’s flagbearers for all elective positions viz Direct, Indirect and Consensus was the last straw that broke its camel’s back.
Pacesetter News recalls that about three months ago, the ADC became the toast of the electorate as a former Governor Rashidi Ladoja who had bitterly complained of impunity in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led his teeming supporters to the new ‘bride’ with a feeling that culture of internal democracy would be entrenched in their newly found haven.
It was the same thinking in the camp of the breakaway faction of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a group under ‘Unity Forum’ and others like Coalition for Nigeria’s Movement (CNM); the Labour Party and others coalesced under ADC for the sole task of sending the ruling government packing in 2019.
Like a drunken sailor, the falcons no longer hear the falconets and reasons have seized to prevail in Oyo ADC, hence the ship of the party heading for the rock, notwithstanding the presence of the four leaders; Ladoja, Chief Michael Koleoso, Dr. Busari Adebisi and Chief Layiwola Olakojo. The Yoruba proverb that ‘Agba kii wa loja ki ori omo titun wo‘ which literally means elders are stabilizing forces for the peace of the society because their presence are assumed to make peace possible at all times, is alien to the key players in the party.
They have been unable to save the ADC from impending implosion and eventual disintegration!
It is now unto your tenth oh Israel as litigation instituted by the 12 of the 13 aspirants who complained of the emergence of Senator Lanlehin and the latest news coming from Abuja that the candidates’ list hitherto shrouded in secrecy has allegedly been toyed with by a group within, ostensibly to favour their members, are the final overkill.
Opposition hardly learns from past mistakes, save for the ruling APC where the governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi appears to be ‘a better manager’ of the fallout of the recent crisis in the party, both the ADC and PDP still have a long way to go especially if the news coming lately from their camps is anything to go by.
A former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala who recently defected to the African Democratic Party (ADP) had arguably profited from the fallouts in APC and ADC, it remains to be seen where opposition would land themselves in 2019 again.
Pacesetter News welcomes ZLP to the realm of opposition political parties in the 42year-old Pacesetter’s state.
