By Richard Elesho

The first shall be the last. Momentarily, that is the case of the Ekiti governorship election. The poll is due in less than a month. But, it’s been pushed to the background by the more distant 2023 general election.

Outgoing Governor and Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has his eyes on greener pastures. He is one of the 25 politicians scrambling for the much coveted Presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. Not surprising, the presidential race has diverted quality attention from the contest in Ekiti.

Even then, the boisterous national politics is not strong enough to halt the advance of June 18th, when Ekiti people will chose Fayemi’s successor. According to the Independent National 1Electoral Commission, INEC, 16 out of 18 political parties in the country will participate in the polls. The parties have been traversing all 16 Local Government Areas, LGA in search of votes.

The female gender is promising a strong showing in the election. There are two women candidates, namely Kemi Elebute-Halle of Action Democratic Party, ADP, whose running mate, Sunday Afuye has defected to another party and Christiana Olatawura, of Action Peoples Party, APP. There are also seven female deputy governorship candidates in the contest.

Of course, the remaining 14 candidates and nine running mates are men. 38-year-old Iyaniwura Ifedayo of the National Rescue Movement, NRM, is youngest among them.

The contest promises to be a tripodal dog fight. The formidable candidates are Abiodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Olabisi Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party, SDP.

It is instructive that since its creation about three decades ago, no political party has won the governorship race back to back. That is a jinx the ruling APC is trying to break with its candidates.

In more ways however, the election will be a clash of the titans, certain to reopen old wounds among tested political gladiators.

Indeed, it will be a contest highly tarred with the influence of godfathers.

For instance, Oyebanji, the APC candidate is former Secretary to the State Government, SSG and Fayemi’s anointed candidate, while PDP’s Kolawole, a former state Chairman of the party, enjoys the support of immediate past Governor and PDP Presidential aspirant, Peter Ayodele Fayose. Both Fayemi and Fayose are old war horses with scores to settle.

If Kolawole wins, Fayose will take the credit. It will be the first time a former Governor will successfully install another, in the state.

The third force in the fight, Oni is equally part of the primordial issues. He was also Governor under PDP, before he was chased out by Fayemi. He later joined the APC, becoming its Deputy Chairman, South, before returning to the PDP. He lost out in the PDP primary and promptly went to his new party to pick the ticket. Certainly, Oni has axes to grind with both Fayemi and Fayose.

Bookmakers believe Oni’s defection to the SDP will have relative influence on the two dominant parties. It was gathered that his die-hard followers in the parties followed him to his new party. If he wins, he will break record as the first third force to do so, in the state.

Even at that another fresh force.who though not part of the triumvirate may be impactful is Wole Oluyede of Action Democratic Party, ADP. He is an Ausralia-based medical doctor. He was also part of APC. He left the party following his inability to secure its nomination.

As the about one million registered voters are waiting eagerly for the poll, INEC has announced the deployment of over 10,000 personnel for the exercise, promising to make it credible. Adeniran Pella, Resident Electoral Commissioner, assured that INEC is substantially ready for the election.

The people are on the standby.