The Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Rauf Olaniyan, dumped the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) last Sunday for the All Progressives Party (APC). Daily Trust Saturday gathered that the move was an aftermath of the about three years of silent ‘cold war’ between him and the governor, Seyi Makinde. Though the duo are still maintaining silence on the rift between them, it is already in the public domain.
People began to notice the rift after they were elected in 2019, following the deputy’s absence from state functions and never represented the governor at events even when he had no any official obligation.
Instead, the Secretary to the State Government, the Chief of Staff to the Governor or the Deputy Chief of Staff usually represent the governor.
Analysts also noticed that the deputy governor was absent from the governorship primaries of the party which was held recently at Lekan Salami Adamasingba Stadium. He was also absent from the recent national convention of the party in Abuja.
At a point, there was rumour of alleged move by the members of the state House of Assembly to meet in Ghana as part of plans to impeach the deputy governor. But the state government later dismissed it as fake news.
Daily Trust Saturday also gathered that as a deputy governor, Olaniyan wrote a petition to the state police command, alleging threat to his life shortly after some hoodlums vandalized a petrol station and a bakery belonging to his wife, Professor Hamdalat Olaniyan, in Ibadan.
But the party’s spokesman, Engr. Akeem Olatunji, in an interview with Daily Trust Saturday, debunked the allegations, saying that the deputy governor was only whipping up sentiment to justify his action after sponsoring aggrieved members in the party.
While announcing his defection to the APC, Olaniyan said he remained the deputy on the tenure that will lapse on May 28, 2023, having won the election with Governor Makinde and sworn in on May 29, 2019.
He argued that, by his defection to APC, he had not violated any section of the Nigeria constitution as the issue has been decided in various courts of competent jurisdictions in the land, including the High, Appeal and Supreme courts arising from similar episodes.
Shortly after his defection, Governor Makinde announced the Chairman of Oyo State Housing Corporation, Mr Bayo Lawal, as his running mate for the 2023 election in the state.
Though there have been rumours in the state that Olaniyan has not been given any role in the government since assumption of office in 2019, analysts have argued that it was not enough excuse for him to dump the party before the end of the tenure.
Following his defection, the state chapter of the PDP asked him to resign immediately “since he willfully abandoned the political party and the votes that produced him as such on the party’s joint ticket.”
The party warned that it would not allow Olaniyan and his new party to enjoy the benefits of the votes cast for the PDP at the 2018 governorship election.
Looking at the situation from a legal perspective, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Chief Yomi Aliyu said that law was silence on wether the governor and his deputy could emerge from different political parties.
He said: “This is not the first time a deputy governor is defecting. It has happened before and the law is silence on it. He has not committed any crime. The only thing they could do is to impeach him if they have the power. He has not committed any constitutional breach. But for the sake of peace, it is advisable that they end their term together.”
A factional chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Yinka Folahan, said the way politicians see issues has nothing to do with law and sentiment.
Folahan who advised the deputy governor to resign honorably before the house of assembly disgraces him out of the office, also urged him never to turn the state to a battle field ahead of the 2023 general elections.
A political analyst and lecturer at the Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Dr. Tade Oludayo, said such crisis was witnessed in the state during the era of a former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, and his deputy, the late Adebayo Alao-Akala. Oludayo said the political godfathers should allow governors to pick their deputies by themselves.
The party spokesman, Akeem Olatunji said: “Attack or threat on his life never happened. If it is true, for somebody of his stature, some people must have been apprehended. He has never been attacked. The only thing I know is that his office was recently affected by the rainstorm which is a natural disaster and it has been fixed.”
On his absence at the party primaries, Olatunji said: “His chair was reserved at the primary, but he failed to appear. He is the last among those working against our party to leave. That is why the party is stronger now.”
