Osun poll: How far can Omisore go?

Iyiola Omisore

Senator Iyiola Omisore is one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirants in Osun State. If he gets the PDP ticket, can he defeat Governor Rauf Aregbesola at the poll? Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines his chances.

In Osun State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship ticket is most likely to be Senator Iyiola Omisore’s. But does he have any chance against Governor Rauf Aregbesola in this year’s governorship election?
In the PDP, other aspirants are Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, Chief Peter Akinbade, Hon. Niyi Owolade, and Hon. Wole Oke. However, Omisore is the first aspirant to unfold his ambition.
In Osogbo, the state capital, the former deputy governor fired salvos at the ruling APC when he declared his ambition to rule the state. It was not a torrent of un-replied missiles. The APC Chairman, Lowo Adebiyi, chided Omisore for peddling rumour and falsehood. He said the governor has justified the confidence reposed in him by implementing people-oriented projects across the three senatorial districts. “The people know that the governor is working for the progress of the state and he will not relent. He deserves a second term because of his achievements. The slogan in Osun is continuity. No room for marauders,” he added.
Between 1999 and 2002, Aregbesola and Omisore had one thing in common. They were chieftains of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). Omisore was the Osun State deputy governor in the Bisi Akande Administration. Aregbesola was Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in Lagos State under former Governor Bola Tinubu.
However, there was a deep ideological gulf between the two politicians. A source said that that difference became more evident when Omisore, who he described as a typical political investor, started demanding returns on his investment. Instead of grabbing the meaningful opportunity for political tutelage under the more experienced Akande, he was impatient. He claimed that his structure was instrumental to the emergence of his boss as the governor,” added the source. But Akande, who believed that the resources of the state should be used for people-oriented developmental projects, was said to be taken aback. The House of Assembly was instigated to impeach the governor. But, Akande was unperturbed. Ironically, the legislators later turned the heat on the deputy governor. At the peak of the crisis between him and Akande, he was impeached.
Omisore’s greatest ambition is to become the governor of the State of the Living Springs. He has been nursing the aspiration since be entered politics in the days of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, the former head of tate who ruled with an iron fist. Even, when Brig-Gen. Olagunsoye Oyinlola was selected as the flag bearer in 2007 by the PDP, Omisore believed that he was the right person for the job. Twice, the opportunity had eluded him. But, like an optimist that he is, hope, for him, has become the elixir of life.
As the state prepares for the poll, the PDP chieftain has adorned the cap of the opposition leader. He has reviewed the political situation in the state and chided the governor for “behaving as if he is still in Lagos”. Although he did not tender proofs, Omisore alleged that the resources of the state are not judiciously allocated. In his view, the previous PDP administration, which was declared illegal by the court, was many poles apart from the present administration, in terms of performance. .
To the ruling APC, Omisore has only attempted to equate statesmanship with showmanship. “It is the ranting of an ant. We have hesitated to join issues with him because we can only react to the comments of credible men”, said a party elder, Chief Felix Awofisayo. “He is not in the reckoning. Our joy is that Aregbesola is working for Osun. If he says that he cannot see what the governor has done, he is blind’, he added. Another party chieftain, Sola Lawal, warned PDP leaders against heating up the polity. He said their plans to divert the governor’s attention by instigating religious leaders against him based on unfounded allegations have failed.
Omisore has two hurdles to cross to get to Bola Ige House – the seat of government. He has to fight for the PDP ticket with other contestants. They include Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, Wole Oke, and Fatai Akinbade. If being controversial is the main deciding factor, then, Omisore will beat them at the primaries. Besides, he has a popularity test awaiting him on poll day. If he defeats them at the primaries, can he convince the people to reject Aregbesola at the poll? A PDP source said that the party may opt for a consensus candidate. He doubted, if the former senator would be the beneficiary of this option. “The thinking is that, to confront this governor, we need a candidate that will be acceptable to the generality of the people. We also want to go for the election as a united house. People are thinking about a consensus candidate. This has worked for the ACN. If we go this way, I doubt, if it will be Omisore. We need a candidate who can match the governor,” added the source.
But, another sources said that the Presidency has its eye on the politician from Ile-Ife. “The only problem is perception. But, top PDP leaders are behind Omisore,” he added.
Omisore is not an underdog, but controversy has always dodged his steps. When he defected from the AD, he became a factor in the PDP. Instantly, he became a senatorial aspirant, despite being a ‘rejectee’ from another party.
A cloud of uncertainty hung over his political career in 2002 when he was arrested in connection with the murder of the former Attorney-General and Minister of justice, Chief Bola Ige. For months, the flamboyant politician was in detention, his fate hanging in the balance. Many party members deserted him. The feeling was that he could not be an asset, but a liability to any party.
As a detainee, Omisore did not bury his ambition for a seat in the Senate. There were protests within and outside his party. The former national chairman of the party, Mr Audu Ogbeh, advised that Omisore should not be given the ticket on moral ground. He felt that, as a suspect, he would be a moral burden to the party at that critical period. Ogbeh felt that, if the PDP was actually committed to the emergence of rational leadership, Omisore was more of a liability than an asset. The advice was not sufficient to deter the state leadership of the PDP from issuing a nomination form to him.
Observers have described Omisore as a curious survivalist. For him, history merely repeated itself in 2002/2003. In 1998, he had honed up his machinery in preparation for the governorship election. He had relied on his financial clout and the political structure he built when serious politicians were on holiday in the state. In the days of Abacha, when principled politicians of the old order could not participate, the rascally new breeds who lacked ideological compass invaded the slippery political field.
That year, some old politicians expressed reservations about Omisore’s romance with Afenifere/AD. In particular, the Chairman of Afenifere/AD in Ekiti State, the late Chief Nathaniel Falaye Aina, cautioned the Osun State chapter of the party against fielding Omisore as the running mate to Akande, the governorship candidate. It was during a crucial meeting of the group in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. Aina, an Awoist, rejected the explanation by Ige that Omisore had made a significant input into the establishment of the Osun State AD and that there were enough people on ground to control him, if he wanted to go off the line. The old politician may have been infuriated by the activities of the unprincipled young politicians dancing around the military.
The former deputy governor of the old Ondo State carried his protest further by telling Ige and other party leaders that he would not share the same high table with Omisore. His grouse was that the impatient new breed politicians who were alien to the progressive agitations in the Southwest were political enemies within.
He said there was no convincing proof of any political and moral rectitude on the part of the Abacha politicians, the arrowheads of the “leprous” parties in OsunState. Aina predicted that the Southwest AD would regret the hand of fellowship extended to the Abacha politicians.
When that future came, the prediction of the Ekiti politician came into fulfillment. It jolted Ige and other leaders who deluded themselves into thinking that a leopard could change its skin. The AD won the poll in Osun State, but there was division after victory. A wide pole separated Akande, the visionary leader and his deputy, the businessman. The cohabitation created a nightmare, until Omisore was shoved aside.
Predictably, the former deputy governor went to his natural political habitat. He was a big catch to the conservative rivals of the progressive bloc. His defection coincided with the time former President Olusegun Obasanjo was planning to have a political base after four years in office. The Southwest PDP was in want of candidates that would be acceptable to the people who had already embraced AD, which was largely perceived as an off-shoot of the old parties, the Action Group (AG) and the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), that cared for the society, When the task proved difficult, the ruling party at the centre turned to the option of pre-determined rigging.
The design was that PDP should look for ‘capable men’, not on account of sound pedigree, subscription to the familiar ideology that attracted the zone to the men of the old order, or past diligent service to the people, but on account of deep purse and capacity for the strange behaviours condoned by a political bloc bent on imposing itself on the reluctant voters. In 2003, PDP delighted in raising thugs for destructive activities than mobilising voters for party endorsement.
Omisore was handicapped. Nevertheless, he bared his fangs from the prison. Many wrote him off, because he was not visible. He did not feature in any campaign. The people of Ife-Ijesa District had no hint of his manifesto. His agenda was not known. He was not even privileged to vote during the election. According to the AD chieftains, the electoral body allocated victory to him.
In 2003, Omisore defeated Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, a former Commissioner for Education in the defunct Ige Administration who joined the Action Group in the fifties. The PDP senator was one of the beneficiaries of the political earthquake that swept the Southwest. Those who made him senator said that more of his type were needed in the region to attract the dividends of mainstream politics to Osun and the other sister states. The hope of the few who swallowed the deceit were dashed.
In the Senate, the Ife/Ijesa senator was the Chairman of the Finance and Appropriation Committee. What mattered was not performance in 2007 when Omisore sought re-nomination. With the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not being truly independent, electoral victory was certain for the undeserved. Victory must be won by all means and at all costs. Omisore’s challenger, Hon. Babajide Omoworare, the grandson of Ooni Adesoji Tadeniewo Aderemi, was agitated. The people were enraged. History was re-enacted. Ife, Ilesa and environs were battle grounds again. The contest between Omisore and Omoworare reminded the people of Ife about that day of rage when Chief Remi Fani-Kayode and Chief Michael Omisade clashed at the House of Representatives election, with the power that be swinging the pendulum of victory towards ‘Fani-Power’.
But Omoworare, a lawyer, went to the court. A new election was ordered, but when the new senatorial poll was conducted, it paled into another festival of rigging.
However, 2011 was the turning point. On the soap box was Omisore, the two-time senator. The campaigns were issue-oriented. But he lost. His bravado and over-confidence evaporated. The election reflected the restoration of the sanctity of the ballot box.
After the poll, the senator was left in the cold. Federal appointments eluded him and it was clear that, for some time, Omisore would be politically jobless. But the PDP chieftain remained a force in his party, according to his supporters. He went back to the drawing board and the scheming for the governorship ticket commenced.
Party sources said that Omisore, who has just bagged a doctorate degree from abroad, has the backing of a leading political actor in Ondo State. Curiously, a section of the factionalised Afenifere has been closely associated with his aspiration. In fact, Omisore was said to be present at the Afenifere reunion meeting in Akure. But Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) took exception to this, saying that it was an unfortunate miscalculation. “If Omisore was in the Afenifere meeting, the bodies of Awo, Ajasin, Adesanya and Ige would turn in their graves”, said ARG leader, Hon. Olawale Oshun.
The PDP will soon hold its governorship primaries. Will Omisore get the ticket? If he gets it, can he beat Aregbesola at the poll?