Gov.  Fayemi jumps into the crowded Presidential Race.  Why Now?

The current governor of Ekiti State in SW geo-political zone has officially declared for presidency under the platform of his party All Progressive Party (APC).   The anticipation was long overdue  for him to declare his interest  to contest for Nigerian presidency.  As he said after consultation with many interest and cultural groups he decided that the time is right for him to declare his intention publicly.

Fayemi took time to consult widely and extensively. According to his release statement,  “The Afenifere leaders did a frank assessment of current trends in the country and concluded that the country needs a leader, a democrat with character, courage and compassion at this critical period. They scored Dr Fayemi high on these points and gave their blessings for his aspiration.”

It stressed that “the aggregate opinion, counsel and goodwill received during the consultation period will form the crux of his declaration on Wednesday at the nation’s capital city.”

With this declaration he joined the crowed race of already declared governors and other party wigs. The list of   governors of APC that have already declared includes  David Umahi of Ebonyi State,  Yahaya Bello of Kogi Stat and, Ben Ayade of Cross River, together with other party stalwarts including  Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Lagos Governor, Bola Tinubu, former Ogun governor and serving senator, Ibikunle Amosun, former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige.

This has become a crowded field of aspirants vying for nomination in APC platform. But what was the impetus that triggered Governor  Fayemi to join the jostling crowd of hopeful aspirants. The APC king makers and godfathers may not be satisfied with the candidates that have declared so far and may desire to widen and enlarge the scope of choices  to be made.. In the course of Fayemi  consultation, being a smart politician he  may have carefully read the tea leaf and find out that there is still an empty seat in the crowded  room of the declared candidates waiting for another person to seat.

Fayemi is a formidable politician that is independent thinker and  have a mind of his own. The issue that he will not allow the kingmakers to use him as political chip to manipulate the nomination of a candidate must  be in the minds of the people. Certainly, he must also put that under consideration before he jumped into the fray of candidates..

 Dividing the votes of SW delegates

Having too many  candidates from  South West may divide the   delegates voting power among the candidates. The sharing of the votes among the numerous candidates may weaken the candidates as opposed to having one or two candidates from same zone. If the northern candidates are limited in numbers  they can gain more votes from their region that will strengthen them to defeat  a weaken candidates from South West  or from the South  for that matter. Winning the nomination is about the number game. But  in some cases, that cannot be necessarily be the whole truth. Presentation, political vision and strategy cannot be disregarded. Strategy may have preponderance over numbers and massive population. It is necessary, therefore to plan and strategize, so that the victory will not slip out due to  paucity of thoughtful planning and implementation.