By Kayode Adeniyi

In recent times, the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has been in the news for what I consider as unhealthy reason. It emanated from an unfortunate incident that took place at Iwaro Oka-Akoko in Akoko South West local government area of Ondo State on Tuesday, 9th February 2015.

An APC governorship aspirant, Mr Olusegun Abraham had visited ‎the town where he wooed party delegates and pledged the donation of N5million to St. Catherine hospital in the community‎. The event went peaceful. After the event, a cheering group of youths and Okada riders had accosted Mr Abraham to demand their own share of his largesse.

Realising his unwillingness to recognise and extend generosity to them, the group descended on his cars, albeit aggressively. No one was killed. And media reports on number of injured persons are largely overstated and based on partial speculations rather than facts. However, it is irrefutable that there was an attack. And that attack was on Mr Abraham, eventhough he left the scene untouched. It was a condemnable attack and not a few politicians and citizens have condemned it. But it was an avoidable attack. If Mr Abraham had given out money to the hailing group of youths who approached him with chants of praises, there wouldn’t have been any attack.

Perhaps, on account of the fact that a leading APC governorship aspirant and senator representing Ondo North senatorial district, Professor Ajayi Boroffice hails from the town where the incident happened, a politically-naive Abraham went on air to recklessly and irresponsibly too, alleged that Senator Boroffice may have sponsored the attack on him.

He said, ‎”I am so surprised that‎ Boroffice and his people could do these kind of things to us”.

Certainly, his allegation was unsubstantiated and untrue.

In his reaction to the allegation, Senator Boroffice said, “When it happened, I tried to find out what led to it. To me, it is an embarrassment because as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Asiwaju of Akoko land I cannot mastermind attack on a fellow party man.

“It was not masterminded by anybody, many aspirants have been to Akoko South West. Olabimtan, Jamiu Ekungba, Bode Ayorinde have all been to the council and they were not attacked”.

‎Indeed, the three aspirants mentioned by the senator are relatively more popular than Mr Abraham yet they were not attacked when they visited the town – Iwaro Oka-Akoko. Hon. Victor Olabimtan is a former Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly. Hon Bode Ayorinde is a serving member of Federal House of Representatives. Chief Jamiu Ekungba is member of APC Board of Trustees. On the political terrain, Mr Abraham only prides himself as a former governorship aspirant of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, who ran an unimpressive campaign in 2012.

Mr Abraham himself claimed, “I have been to five local government areas and there‎ was no where I was attacked”.

His visits to those LGAs went unnoticed in the political landscape of Ondo State and had no reverberating political signals in the State. He never hit the media waves and made headlines until he made such reckless allegation. With the tenacity with which Mr Abraham and his agents have clinged on to that reckless allegation despite convincing evidences that proved otherwise, it appears that in an effort to reinvigorate his low popularity‎, the whole incident was an aspirant stage-managed attack on himself‎. If he thinks that allegation can perpetually keep his name in the headlines and ‎float his sinking campaign, then he has made a costly mistake. It may turn out as his albatross.

In an attempt to attract sympathies, Mr Abraham said he could not be frightened by the attack, that he would go ahead with his ambition, claiming he enjoyed large support from the party members.‎ Yes, Mr Abraham is free to pursue his ambition, but what support from party members was he talking about? Was he talking about the party members he abandoned immediately the defunct ACN adopted ‎Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) as its preferred governorship candidate in 2012?

Unlike Abraham who absconded from the state; who was not even around to exercise his voting right, who lost his polling unit, ward and local government – Akoko North East to the Labour Party (LP), Senator Boroffice worked for the party and its candidate. He delivered his polling unit, ward and local government – Akoko South West to the party ‎and galvanised large chunk of votes across the state for the defunct ACN.

Personalities like Mr Muyiwa Ogunyemi, who shares same political ward with Mr Abraham are in the best position to address that. Mr Ogunyemi was the APC House of Assembly candidate for Akoko North East constituency in the 2015 general election. He was left to face the highly-monetised political onslaught from the PDP like a political orphan.

Mr Abraham was no where to be found. He was not even at home to cast his vote. That candidate lost the election with a slim margin. If those who now boast of non-existent political relevance were available, perhaps, it would have been a different story Today. Political liabilities should not be allowed to foul the political terrain with reckless allegations and comments.

‎Again, Isn’t it symptom of delusional grandeur for Mr Abraham to have claimed, “the same people who organised the attack in Oka, gave money to some thugs in Akure” to attack him? He made that irresponsible remark in reaction to media ‎reports that he was attacked at Plaza Hotel in Akure on Sunday.

Those reckless allegations made by Mr Abraham reminds me of the story of an American politician, Joseph Raymond McCarthy. McCarthy was a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Like Abraham, McCarthy, faced with drowning political career, made litany of wild, cruel and unsubstantiated claims against political opponents and agencies of government. That consequently led to his fall from prominence. He was later censured by the United States Senate.

His lifetime went down in history with the coinage McCarthyism which is now regarded in literature as reference to demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents. For Abraham, he has a choice to make. ‎ Leaders should learn from history.

It is instructive to note that as regards Senator Boroffice, an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), his ‎history of peace is longer than his foray into active politics. He is not the enthroned Asiwaju of Akoko Land for nothing. His coronation as Asiwaju over the four local government areas in Akoko land including, Ikare – Akoko North East, where Mr Abraham hails from is instructive.

Among other reasons, it was in recognition of Prof. Ajayi Boroffice’s practical efforts to unite and foster peaceful coexistence among all communities in Akoko Land. He remains a symbol of unity. He remains an epitome of peace. That reckless allegation by Mr Abraham can neither veil nor overshadow the credentials and achievements of a Distinguished Senator and Community Leader.
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Meanwhile, Senator Boroffice has raised the bar of the debate to forestall the re-occurrence of such incident. He has not only condemned the incident, he has also sued for political tolerance ahead of the 2016 governorship election in Ondo State.

A statement issued recently by the Boroffice Media Office, declared that he shared good rapport with all governorship aspirants in the APC.‎ He particularly urged his supporters to shun confrontation with supporters of other aspirants even in the face of provocations. The statement read, ‎ “On no occasion should our supporters assault, insult or abuse party leaders and other governorship aspirants”.

T‎aking the lead, the senator urged, “Beyond mere rhetorics, all party leaders and governorship aspirants of our party must unite against political violence to guarantee that campaigns are violence-free and prevent overheating the political milieu in Ondo State”.

Personally, ‎‎I don’t agree with writers who claimed tension continues to mount within APC in Ondo State due to the reckless comment of a guber aspirant. ‎Neither do I agree with political analysts who seek to revolve political happenings within the Ondo APC around such uninformed outburst from a guber hopeful. Mr Abraham is just an aspirant out of over 30 aspirants, he should be guided to play by the rules. Seeking to run down a fellow aspirant with calculated falsehood can never be part of the rules. ‎

‎For the leadership of APC in Ondo State, it is not enough to be worried about unhealthy rivalry within the aspirants, the party should caution characters like Mr Abraham before he tears the walls of the party down with his seemingly loose mouth. Does he think he can win election by dragging the name – Boroffice into the mud? Is he playing the game of the PDP or unconsciously playing into their hands?‎ A friend once called him a pretender in the guber race, ‎I disagree. He is more of a spoiler than a pretender.

On a concluding note, ‎since Senator Boroffice has called Mr Abraham on phone to put the record straight and sympathised with him, why is it too difficult for Mr Abraham to apologise and retract such reckless allegation?
Kayode Adeniyi is the Media Aide to Media Aide Senator Ajayi Boroffice