A governorship aspirant under the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) has said that gate-keepers among whom are traditional rulers and elites will be the ones that will determine who succeeds the incumbent governor among the over 34 people jostling for the position in 2019.
Akintola declared that whoever is lucky to receive the support and blessing of eminent traditional rulers among whom are the Alafiin of Oyo, Olubadan of Ibadanland, Soun of Ogbomoso, Aseyin of Iseyin; political elites camp across the five geo-political zones of the state as well as influential citizens, professionals and leaders of thought would succeed the incumbent governor and not their political parties.
He disclosed this while featuring in a radio interview monitored by DAILY POST in Ibadan, the state capital.
Akintola said, “The power to win the 2019 governorship election in the state is warehoused in the gate-keepers and not in any of the political parties.”
As at the last count, there are five major political parties in the state; the APC, Accord, Peoples Democratic Party, Labour and Social Democratic Party which are spread across the five zones of Ibadan, Oke-Ogun, Ogbomoso, Oyo and Ibarapa.
Akintola argued that notwithstanding these political parties, political power structure in the state dictated that any candidate who was unable to get the blessing and endorsement of the influential people he regarded as “gate-keepers” would lose no matter the level of his financial capability.
He said any candidate would lose even if he ran under the platform of the best party without the support of the incumbent Governor, the Alaafin of Oyo, the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes, Ogbomosho Paparo, Oke Development Council (ODC), the Soun of Ogbomosho, among others.
He described the gate-keepers as individuals and institutions with community value, emphasing their importance in the electoral success of any governorship in 2019.
“In Oyo State, it is not the political under which a candidate contests an election that determines who comes on board. If you get the blessing of the gate-keepers, you are home and dry. If you are out of tune with the gate-keepers, you are out, even if you contest under the platform of the best political party, he said.
“We are now running a government of the enlightened, by the enlightened and for the enlightened. Can people walk the streets freely like they are doing now some seven years ago? That Ajimobi was able to bring back peace is his biggest achievement.
“Today, everybody wants to live and die in Lagos because Senator Bola Tinubu set the template and laid the foundations for the development of Lagos. Babatunde Fashola built on it and Akinwunmi Ambode is sustaining it. We need to replicate this in Oyo State,” he said.
“Gate keepers exist all over the world. US keepers did not want to duplicate the dynasties of the Kennedies or the Clintons and went for a Trump Today, it is backfiring on them. This is one germane point people must appreciate. I am a political scientist and I know there is a difference what ought to be and what is. In some states, the party determines who wins an election, but in Oyo State the gate-keepers determine who wins.”
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