The victory of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party at the October 20, governorship election in Ondo State will be remembered for a long time.
Not only did Mimiko break the jinx by becoming the first governor to be re-elected in the state, he also put an end to the ambition of the Action Congress of Nigeria to control all the six states of the South-West geopolitical zone.
Despite ACN's campaign, which was largely hinged on getting Ondo under one political umbrella with other Yoruba states, to kick-start the integration of the South-West region, the LP retained the state, which is the only state under its control.
Events leading to the election showed clearly that the overriding interest in the poll spanned beyond the ambitions of the candidates and the need for good governance.
There was no doubt that the Ondo poll was a major factor in the determination of who becomes the political Yoruba leader, in the manner that late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was.
Since the demise of the foremost leaders of Afenifere such as Chief Abraham Adesanya and Chief Bola Ige, the group, which represents the leadership of the Yoruba race, has failed to reconcile its two factions.
After the death of Adesanya in 2008, Afenifere was factionalised. Senator Ayo Fasanmi, who deputised for Adesanya after Ige's death led one group, while Chief Reuben Fasoranti, who reportedly said Adesanya asked him to hold the fort while alive, commanded the other.
Fasoranti had the backing of Afenifere elders while Fasanmi had the backing of Bola Tinubu, who is the national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria.
Though the matter was later resolved in favour of Fasoranti, Afenifere still remained fragmented.
The tussle also extended to the control of the Alliance for Democracy, a political party that was formed by Afenifere, which won all the six states in the South-West during the 1999 general election.
It would be recalled that the AD lost five of the states to the Peoples Democratic Party when it went into alliance with former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Only Tinubu, who was the governor of Lagos State survived the onslaught and got re-elected in 2003 on the platform of the AD.
Consequently, Tinubu's camp won the tussle for the AD, while Afenifere elders formed another party - Progressive Action Congress and later the Democratic People Alliance.
Shortly before the 2007 general election, Tinubu led the AD into an alliance with some other political parties to form the Action Congress, which later became the Action Congress of Nigeria. They recovered all the South-West states except Ondo.
Hence, October 20, was ACN's chance to replicate the 2011 poll feat, and establish itself as the party in charge of the South-West.
Analysts believe that winning Ondo State would have meant victory for Tinubu as the unchallengeable generalissimo of Yoruba.
But that was not to be.
In his analysis, the Head of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Lagos, Prof. Solomon Akinboye, said winning Ondo State would have made Tinubu the political leader of the South-West.
'I think I agree with people who say Tinubu would have been the political leader of the South-West. ACN winning Ondo would have meant that all the governors in the Yoruba states would be loyal to Tinubu.'
According to Akinboye, the ACN failed to capture Ondo for a combination of factors, which included Mimiko's performance in his first term, the Afenifere endorsement and the internal crisis that trailed the emergence of Rotimi Akeredolu as the candidate for the party.
'The performance of Mimiko was the major point for his re-election. A lot of people said he had performed creditably and delivered on his promises. So it is not surprising that a lot of people voted for him.
'The second factor is the endorsement Mimiko got from the Afenifere. The fact is that the Afenifere is a formidable factor and actor in the Yoruba political space. So, with the endorsement of Afenifere leaders, who are highly influential, some people were influenced to vote for Mimiko,' he said.
He added that the exit of Dr. Olu Agunloye, who was tipped to be the ACN candidate, before Akeredolu was chosen by the national leadership of the party, contributed to the inability of the 'broom revolution' to sweep through Ondo State.
'For someone who has been nursing the ambition to be governor and has been influential in Ondo politics, Agunloye felt short-changed after Akeredolu was chosen at his expense. That's why he left and his followers left with him. Considering the fact that he commanded some level of influence, I think that must have also counted against the ACN,' Akinboye said.
It would be recalled that Agunloye defected from ACN to LP because of what he called lack of internal democracy in the ACN in picking its candidate for the election.
The convener and national leader of the National Patriotic Movement, Senator Femi Okurounmu told SUNDAY PUNCH that Mimiko's victory showed that the whole Yoruba nation could not be bought over with money.
He said by halting the agenda of the ACN to dominate the entire South-West, the Ondo people represented the true qualities of true Yoruba.
Okurounmu said, 'If ACN had won in Ondo, it would have meant that the whole Yoruba nation can be bought with money. The Ondo people acted true to type. They showed that Yoruba people may be deceived for a while, but not forever. Mimiko represented the integrity and character of the Yoruba people by not collecting money and becoming a stooge.
'Sooner or later, Yoruba people would choose their leader and it would be someone whose character, antecedent and legacy we can be proud of. Someone who possesses the Omoluabi attributes.'
The founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress, Frederick Fasheun, also said the people of Ondo were too democratically-minded to be forced into accepting a party just because it holds sway in other South-West states.
Faseun said, 'If you look at names like Gani Fawehinmi, Reuben Fasoranti, Olu Falae, and many others who fought for democracy, who are from Ondo State, then you would realise that the other name for Ondo people is democracy.
'The fact that the ACN was successful in capturing the other states in the South-West does not mean that all Yoruba people would bow to the ACN.
'The leadership of the ACN is not the same thing as the leadership of South-West or the Yoruba nation. Even if ACN had won Ondo State, it could not have made the leaders of the party Yoruba leaders. Afenifere is the political arrowhead of the Yoruba nation.'
On the relevance of Afenifere's endorsement of Mimiko, Fasheun said the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, is non-partisan but only supports good governance in the zone.
He added that the result of the election not only reflected the wishes of the Ondo people but also proved the political relevance of the Afenifere leaders who supported Mimiko.
'I think the result of the election has proved that those who raised Mimiko's hand are highly politically erudite and relevant. The end has justified the means,' Fasheun said.
However, whether or not Afenifere's endorsement contributed significantly to Mimiko's victory cannot be easily discerned.
But in an attempt to portray their relevance in the victory of Mimiko at the election, Afenifere leaders advised Mimiko's opponents at the election to accept defeat.
Just a day after the election, Fasoranti, advised governorship candidates who lost out in the election to accept their defeat as sportsmen.
The elder statesman said Mimiko's victory represented the wishes of the people of Ondo, adding, that the election was free, fair, peaceful, and that those who lost the election had no reason to complain.
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