Bankole, Daniel may not contest 2011 polls

Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Edwin Olofu, Abimbola Ayobami

February 8, 2011 05:27AM


More surprises emerged from the official list of candidates released by the Independent National Electoral Commission yesterday when the names of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and the Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel were absent from the list.

The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Martins Okunfolami who confirmed this also announced that Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, daughter of the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has qualified to contest for a seat in the Senate. Mr Obasanjo has thus confirmed his supremacy in the state’s politics.

Mr. Bankole lost to Olusegun Alawode who is now the Peoples Democratic Party candidate to the lower house of the National Assembly, while Mr. Daniel lost the slot to contest for Senate to Muhammed Adetunji Toheeb. Lola Abiola-Edewor, daughter of the late politician, Moshood Abiola lost to Mrs Obasanjo-Bello.

Bankole’s chance

However, Mr. Bankole may still be accommodated in the list, as the Olurin camp has engineered an internal arrangement in which the candidate in Abeokuta South, where he(Bankole) comes from, can step down for the speaker. This opportunity is said to be possible under the electoral provision which states that the name of a candidate can still be substituted between now and February 15.

Gaffe

A bizarre twist was added to the drama when it was discovered that the list of Niger State House of Assembly candidates has been sent to Ogun State by the electoral commission. This mistake was found when the Ogun State office of the commission was collating its list. Mr Okunfolami said, ‘‘The State Assembly candidates for Niger State was sent to me here, I just connected with my colleague, I was thinking of faxing it to him, when I told him, he said I should DHL it to him.’’

Later, when the state’s authentic list was sent, Tunji Olurin was listed as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while his running mate is Tunde Oladunjoye, a journalist and former local government chairman in the state. Ibikunle Amosun is the governorship candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria {CAN}, and his deputy is Segun Adesegun, a former Commissioner in the state. Also, a former deputy governor under the administration of Olusegun Osoba, Sefiu Adegbenga Kaka, was announced as the Senatorial candidate for the ACN in Ogun East.

Phillip Umeadi, the commission’s national commissioner in charge of legal affairs, had at the weekend explained that the current list of candidates is not final as substitutions may occur due to court orders and other reasons.

He added: “ If you look at Section 31 of the Electoral Act, it says political parties would submit to the INEC the particulars of candidate they intend to sponsor for the election. They are not sponsoring them yet; it is just an expression of intent.’’

Abacha’s luck

In Kano State, Mohammed Abacha, son of the late military dictator emerged the governorship candidate of the Congress for progressive Change. In the party’s governorship primary election held last month, Mr. Abacha had led in 21 of the 44 councils of the state with over 144,000 votes as against 78,000 scored by Lawal Jafaru Isa his opponent who was a former military administrator of Kaduna State.

However, the party’s board of trustees in Abuja had submitted Mr. Isa’s name to the INEC. At the display of Mr. Abacha’s name yesterday hundreds of youth took to the street of Kano in jubilation. Some of them shouted the praise of Attahiru Jega saying that he is a man of integrity who has just proved that by declaring Mr. Abacha the winner of the governorship primaries.

The Ekiti State list shows that former governor of the state, Ayodele Fayose is to contest the Ekiti Central Senatorial District under the banner of Labour Party, while Kayode Alufa is candidate of the PDP. However, against all expectations, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) presented Kolawole Olagunju as its candidate for Ekiti Central. The two aspirants on the platform of the party, Babafemi Ojudu and Opeyemi Bamidele, the two contenders were not listed.

The ACN had witnessed protracted crisis over who to field among Mr. Ojudu, Dele Alake former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Bamidele and Bode Ola, who holds the post now. Mr. Ojudu in a telephone interview claimed that Mr. Kolawole will fill a withdrawal form to allow his (Ojudu) own name to be sent. A son-in-law to Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, Mr Oye Ojo was listed as the candidate for House of Representative in the Ekiti Central Federal Constituency 2.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/5675033-146/bankole_daniel_may_not_contest_2011.csp