For some, it is still a rude shock
how the major opposition
Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) and its governorship
candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, lost
last Saturday’s 2020 governorship election in Ondo
State despite the seeming
fanfare, seeming acceptability in
Ondo Central, which has a huge
voter population A considerable
number of people were of view that the party would win the
election based on sentiments
across Akure, the state capital,
which is also the hometown of
the state’s former Attorney-
General and Commissioner for Justice, Jegede. But governor Oluwarotimi
Akeredolu and candidate of the
ruling All Progressives
Congress (APC), who hails
from the North District, defied
such odds and emerged victorious, thus repeating
history and beating the two
other major opposition parties
and districts as it was in the
2016 guber race. There were a lot of campaign
issues against Akeredolu.
These were coupled with some
draconian policies of the APC-
led Federal Government under
President Muhammadu Buhari, which many believed would
jeopardise the governor’s re-
election. He did not help matters
too with some homegrown
policies like increase in tuition
fees in tertiary education in the state. Moreover, the
performance of the major
opposition party in Edo State a
few weeks ago, when the PDP
governorship candidate,
Governor Godwin Obaseki, defeated the APC flagbearer,
Osagie Ize-Iyamu, had given
Jegede and his supporters hope
of replicating same feat in the
Ondo election. Advertisement
Advertisement Since the party’s victory in Edo
State, the hope of PDP
supporters surged in the state.
They were upbeat that the same
fate would befall the ruling party
without considering the circumstances that made Ondo
State election peculiar and
different from Edo’s. But the result of the election, as
announced by the Returning
Officer of Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC)
and Vice Chancellor of the
University of Ibadan, Prof. Abel Idowu Olayinka, clearly proved
the underestimated factors that
worked against the major
opposition party at the poll. Akeredolu, who hails from the
North Senatorial District of the
state, defeated his close PDP
rival, Jegede, under the same
circumstance that played out in
the 2016 election, winning all the councils in both South and
North Senatorial Districts, and
three LGAs in the Central
District, where Jegede hails
from. In summary, Akeredolu won 15
local government areas, namely
Akoko North West, Akoko North
East, Akoko South West, Akoko
South East, Ose, Owo, Idanre,
Ondo West, Ondo East, Ondo West, Odigbo, Irele, Ilaje, Ese-
Odo, Okitipupa and Ileoluji/
Okeigbo LGAs. The PDP candidate and second
runner-up, Jegede, polled
195,791 votes to win three
councils namely Akure South,
Akure North and Ifedore, while
the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) candidate and Deputy
Governor, Agboola Ajayi, who
scored 69,127 votes, even lost
his Ese-odo Local Government
Area. For the second time, Akeredolu
defeated his age-long friend,
Mimiko. First, in 2016 when he
supported Jegede and on
Saturday when he chose to
support the state’s embattled deputy, Ajayi. The election, as
noted by political readers, re-
enacted the 2016 realities, when
Governor Akeredolu cashed in
on the disunity between the
South and North districts to win the November 26, 2016
governorship election for his
first term. Advertisement
Advertisement According to observers, a lot of
sentiments led to the defeat of
the PDP candidate, Jegede,
who was picked to succeed the
former governor, Dr. Olusegun
Mimiko. They noted that the candidature of Jegede was a
bad choice for the ruling party
then, because he hails from the
same Central District with
Mimiko, who had spent eight
years as governor after breaking the second term jinx. The South District, which has
been the stronghold of the PDP
since inception of democracy in
1999, felt marginalised and
decided to support the
emergence of a third force in 2016. Bearing same semblance
with 2020, each district had a
strong contender in the 2016
election, but the North and
South Senatorial Districts united
to defeat the political recklessness of the PDP and
Central District represented
then by Jegede and Mimiko. As said then by political
analysts, it was morally wrong
for the PDP to perpetuate a
district at the expense of other
districts, especially the South,
which has been clamouring against marginalisation and
abandonment by successive
governments. The agitation
since 2016 has given the South
and North Districts some mutual
grounds for agreement to always work against the major
opposition party, the PDP and
the Central District, suspected
of plans to hold onto power
forever. Advertisement
Advertisement Just like 2016, immediately
Ajayi lost out in the July 22,
2020 PDP primary election,
majority of the southerners
believe that they could wait for
Governor Akeredolu and APC to finish the next four years rather
than Jegede becoming the next
governor in which case they
would wait for another eight
years. Also, the inability of the
South and Central to work together, as typified in the last
minute decisions of the former
to present Oke and Ajayi as
third forces in 2016 and 2020,
respectively, punctured the
chances of the PDP and gave APC and Akeredolu tremendous
advantages. Taunting the PDP over its
performance at the last polls,
the APC stressed that PDP had
lost the ability and capability to
win election in the country,
declaring that the party’s victory in Edo State election on
September 20, 2020, was a
mirage. Without mincing words,
the Secretary of the APC
National Campaign Council for
Ondo 2020, Mustapha Saliu, stated that the Edo and Ondo
elections were two different
scenarios, on which the PDP
had earlier tailored their
narratives for unrealistic
advantage. Saliu, who is also the Acting
National Secretary of APC,
noted that; “I want to tell you
categorically and unequivocally
that there is a difference
between campaigns and rallies.” Advertisement
Advertisement “Even the Edo election was APC
election. The governor is still a
progressive. It is the manifesto
and the works he did based on
progressives’ principles and
ideals that made Edo people vote for him again. So, it is not
PDP. This election was different
compared to Edo. Meanwhile, Jegede and Ajayi,
who emerged second and third
respectively, are yet to make
any public declaration on the
election, but their parties
disclosed that they were studying the results and would
make their decisions public
soon. As confirmed by several civil
society organisations and
observers, large-scale voter-
inducement drastically dictated
the outcome of the poll. But
constitutional lawyer, Mr. Kayode Ajulo affirmed that all
participating parties were
equally involved in the process,
particularly the three leading
political parties, adding that they
tried in the game of outspending and outwitting one another. He explained that the only
difference was the financial
strategy, wit and coordination of
the political parties involved to
facilitate the act, attributing
PDP’s failure on inability to present a united party for the
election. He said it negated its
chances at winning. Reeling out the unwritten zoning
formula of the state, Akeredolu,
alongside