Now that the powers-that-be in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
have picked a candidate for the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Ondo
State, the various factors that will determine the overall result of the
elections are beginning to emerge.
One indisputable factor in Ondo
politics today is the Omoluabi Platform founded by Dr. Olu Agunloye who is
referred to as the principal of the Platform.
In 2011, when the need to rejuvenate
the Action Congress of Nigeria in the State was inevitable, a group of
politicians with same mind and principle, under the leadership of a true leader
of the people, Agunloye, met to form the Omoluabi Platform with the sole aim of
expanding grassroots membership of the party. The total membership of the
Omoluabi Platform across the state was over a hundred and fifty thousand as at
the end of June 2012.
However, the enormity of Omoluabi
Platform’s spread and influence is just dawning on gubernatorial hopefuls
across Ondo State. Only on Thursday, June 28, members of the Platform across
the state seized the Ondo State capital with an intimidating rally, marching
through the major road network in Akure with drums, dancing and merrying as
they carried their principal shoulder high in a motorcade procession, numbering
over fifty buses and cars.
The rain could not deter them from
showing their solidarity and support for their leader and principal who had
just been dropped from the governorship race of the ACN. It was unbelievable as
the Omoluabis defied the rain to honour their leader; chieftains of the party
in Ondo State, including its State Secretary and other top executives of the
party addressed the members, eulogizing Dr. Agunloye for his contributions,
steadfastness and belief in the party.
Unknown to the Omoluabis, some notable
leaders of the People’s Democratic Party in Ondo state, who were holding their
gubernatorial primaries a stone’s throw from Omoluabi’s Rallying Point of Hope
office, sneaked into the mammoth crowd and started wooing some unsuspecting
members into their party using the inability of the ACN leaders to see the
potentials of the formidable leadership of Agunloye by side-tracking him for
another aspirant. They quietly commenced the process of attracting them into
the PDP towards the forthcoming elections.
The greatest news break to the
leadership of the Ondo State government in recent times is the story of the ACN
candidature and the dumping of Agunloye from the gubernatorial race. Reports
say a sumptuous barbecue, made from a big cow, was used to celebrate Agunloye’s
non-acceptance by his party on Thursday, June 21. This is because, as sources
said, he is the only threat to the incumbent in the entire political scenario
of the state at that moment.
This also is a factor of the Omoluabi
Platform. There had been unfounded rumours across the state even before the
selection of the ACN candidate that Agunloye was negotiating with the Labour
Party. This rumour was debunked through the print and electronic media. Today,
the rumour mongers are back; this time with the Omoluabi factor. Some are
saying it is the negotiating instrument by the Agunloye group. Incidentally,
there is another pressure group called the Sunshine Liberation Forum (SLF) led
by Victor Ojo, whose membership cuts across the state. It is a known fact that
25 of the 30-man executive of the SLF are prominent members of the Omoluabi
Platform.
There is also another pressure group
called Nigerian League of Democrats (NLD) whose leaders are core members of the
Omoluabi Platform.
In the northern senatorial district of
the state where the ACN has picked its gubernatorial candidate, there is a
political movement, the G4 whose entire membership is of the Omoluabi Platform
and has vowed never to be part of any political negotiation that will not
involve members who cut across the six local council areas of the zone. The G4,
led by Mr. Barry Ogunsakin, is a purely political movement, which will largely
determine where the pendulum swings in the senatorial axis.
Members of the Omoluabi Platform are
passionately committed to the ideals and principles of their leader and
principal, Dr. Agunloye. The over one thousand former militants who joined the
ACN through Omoluabi Platform in the southern senatorial district of the state
and who are members of another pressure group called Movement for Democratic
Reforms, headed by Engr. Willy Ayerin, have declared that only the authority of
Agunloye can be used to foster any relationship or negotiations in the state.
Political observers and pundits
throughout the state are of the opinion that the Omoluabi factor, if properly
used, can be a winning tool for any of the three political parties jostling for
the Alagbaka Government House.
The Platform is a creation of great
politicians well-versed in grassroots mobilisation. It is also a combination of
political juggernauts whose main principles are honesty and steadfastness.
With the massive grassroots strength
that Agunloye and his hard-working friends and admirers have in Ondo State,
there is no doubt that whoever becomes the next governor of the state can only
do so by the grace of the Almighty and the support of the Omoluabi Platform.
Babatunde Bakare-Carter, a Journalist,
wrote from Akure
Author of this article: By
Babatunde Bakara-Carter
Source: The Guardian Newspaper July 7, 2012
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