2014/15: Third force candidates emerge in S’West

A formidable third force in the South-West which has intensified its efforts towards wresting power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) governments appears to be making headways as it has succeeded in identifying credible materials to use for the coming staggered elections in the zone. While Ekiti and Osun states will hold their governorship elections next year, elections into the governors’ seats in other states, except Ondo will come up in 2015. Daily Sun gathered at the weekend that before the end of this month, declaration into the four political parties that made up the third force would be the order of the day. The parties in the collaborative alliance in the South-West are the Labour Party of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, Accord Party of former governor Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo State, Social Democratic Party (SDP) of Chief Olu Falae and Action Alliance of former Oyo State information commissioner, Pastor Taiwo Otegbeye. Daily Sun can report authoritatively that in Osun State, the Labour Party is courting a former attorney general, Mr. Niyi Owolade with a view to using him as its standard bearer against Governor Rauf Aregbesola in the 2014 governorship poll. In Ekiti State, a member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, is likely to fly the Labour Party’s flag against Governor Kayode Fayemi while former governor Ladoja of Oyo State appears to be under pressure to re-contest on the platform of his party, Accord Party.

Daily Sun can also report that in Ogun State, two namesakes are being considered by the Labour Party. They are a former commissioner in the government of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Alhaji Isiaka Adegboyega and a current three-term House of Representatives member, Alhaji Isiaka Abiodun Akinlade. In Lagos State, the Labour Party is believed to have succeeded in persuading a renown pharmacist and former governorship candidate of the defunct Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), Mr. Jimi Agbaje to contest the 2015 governorship election under its umbrella. For the Action Alliance, Daily Sun gathered from a party member that “the party is working on a legal luminary, who has been a commissioner under Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s administration to use its platform in Osun State to wrest power from Aregbesola.” A formidable member of the third force caucus, who craved anonymity confided in Daily Sun that “before the end of November, carpet-crossing from the two formidable parties, PDP and APC would be so overwhelming that the ruling party would be visibly panicking.”