By Mason Crux
Politics is a game of competition and negotiation between and among contending forces and interests. As power is the ultimate target, politics is about horse trading with actors pulling high and low strings to achieve ambitions. Such strings can be in the form of comedic drama as in the deeply sophisticated shows by Ero Arike or mobilization for mob action to compel outcome. As we all recently witnessed in the United States of America, even a President can be forced to drop out of a race. So recent happenings in Osun PDP is not new; what is interesting is how the party overcame the tumultuous upheaval over local government election primaries.
In the beginning of the exercise, crises were spotted in 40 percent of the 30 local governments and area offices. Another 20 percent was a low level agitation and disquiet. 40 percent were largely peaceful and successfully consensus based. The negative 40 percent was so loud that it gave the impression of a party about to be consumed by rabid tsunamis.
Party leaders who have been in this game since the SDP days however regarded it as a storm in a teacup. Rather than panicking, they entered into conflict management mode, engaging conflicting parties and calling for representation of grievances by the aggrieved. Party chairman, Sunday Bisi proved to be a tested war horse by interfacing with disputing parties, leading to fast tracked resolution across the local governments.
The peace moves were based on a win-win template which enables all parties to win one thing or the other even if that is not their original goal. As at last night, over 95 percent of the local governments are at peace. The remaining five percent covering about two local governments are being ironed out.
While the protest lasted, the State Governor’s directive to the party leadership was simply the need to enforce justice, equity and fairness in line with local political considerations. The party leadership stuck to this admonition which was accompanied with a stern deadline for resolution. Mr Governor was therefore unscathed in all the imbroglio as all disputing parties are his men and women from Ero Arike to the mobilizers of mob actors.
Unknown to detractors, Mr Governor with his able Chief of Staff, Hon Kazeem Akinleye was pulling the strings to get all warring hands to the table. Many backend consultations under three days brought down candidacy battles.
A party chief described the last few days as "an era of in-depth management of polarity and success”, exhaling “We successfully engaged our people.
“All aggrieved people agreed that our Governor and the Adeleke dynasty are our winning formulae. So while there was political anger, there is an acceptance of the bigger goal- the sustenance of the Imole project beyond 2026.
“Those aggrieved also knew they will not go empty handed. There are give and take scenarios, a win -win plan and agenda, covering all stakeholders. Our members also know we have one of the most popular Governors in the history of Osun state, Ademola Adeleke. So there are common grounds which help to facilitate peace making”, the party chief noted.
As the political space enjoys the drama from Ero Arike, it is instructive to note that the incident of the last few days underscore the strong strength of the PDP in Osun. The intensity of protest was a function of the electoral potentials of the party.. Stakeholders are not in doubt as to the reality that PDP remains the only winning party for electoral ambitions.
Now that PDP has overcome its candidacy controversies, the searchlight is now on the main opposition party , the All Progressive Congress(APC). Pundits predict an uncontainable battle of entrenched factions. The signs are already emerging.
Certain key lessons and takeaways are noteworthy here. The key one is the need to sustain consultations and consensus building across the processes of the local elections. The next one is to institutionalize a win-win template in the party primary process. As the goal is public service, most agitators need to submit to party supremacy for the overall group interest.
The last point is the unique style of Mr Governor while the crisis lasts. The backend approach which allows the party leadership to handle and manage the eruptions preserves the place of Mr Governor as the father of all irrespective of differences in electoral ambitions. That line deepened the confidence of party members in the state leader of the party, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
● Mason Crux is of the Government Media Centre, Osogbo.
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