The battle to control power in Ogun State went in favour of Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday as his candidate in the governorship primaries, Tunji Olurin, got the final nod of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Mr Olurin, a retired general and Mr Obasanjo's preferred candidate, was elected at a parallel congress from the one in which Gboyega Isiaka, who is governor Gbenga Daniel's chosen heir, was named winner.
Mr. Obasanjo and Mr. Daniel have been engaged in political battles, trying to ensure that their candidates emerged winner.
Mr. Olurin's name surfaced on the electoral commission's final list of those cleared to contest the 2011 elections last night barely 24 hours after his name and that of Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, a senatorial candidate, were reportedly dropped.
Fit to contest
In a final collation of candidates that stretched late into the night, the commission confirmed that Mr. Olurin from Mr. Obasanjo's camp, would now be fielded by the party in the April election and not Mr. Isiaka, from Mr. Daniel's faction of the party.
The electoral body said it took cognizance of the Federal High Court injunction against Mr. Isiaka, which capitalized on the fact that the party executive which produced him and other candidates in his camp, had earlier been dissolved and was therefore illegal.
"As a law-abiding organisation, we will remain with the position of the court except if there is an appeal," Emmanuel Umenger, the commission's Director of Public Affairs told reporters who thronged the commission's headquarters to get the final list of parties' candidates.
The court decision, obtained at the peak of the political squabble between the two factions of the party in the state, had earlier seemed a setback on Mr. Daniel's faction as the court granted the request for an injunction against any outcome of the activities carried out by his side of the state executive.
The ruling was a crucial life line for the former president's camp.
The Chief Press Secretary to the chairman of the commission, Kayode Idowu, said yesterday that every decision made on Monday, the final date for the parties to submit their candidates, was "provisional".
He said they are subject to a final screening that would take into consideration certain issues, like the legality of certain individuals. "For instance, some were rejected because the group that brought the list was not recognised. So if the proper group submits the list, that position would be reversed," he explained.
A breach of time
Pressed on whether such a "late" arrival will not breach the commission's provision on timeliness, he said that will depend on when the forms were eventually submitted.
For the Oyo State nominations, where the incumbent governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala was purportedly rejected by the commission, Messrs Idowu and Umenger, speaking separately, said that the case had not been concluded, but was being reviewed as at yesterday evening.
The uncertainty of the commission's final position on candidates cast an air of anxiety around its office as party officials and reporters went about sniffing for information about who scaled through and who failed.
Dozens of the commission's officials in a rare show of dedication were huddled inside a hall most of yesterday perusing through party documents as they compiled the final lists for each party.
The commission said 43 out of the 63 registered political parties, met the deadline on Monday with the remaining 20 failing to do so. The successful ones will now be part of the April polls that will choose state and federal legislatures, governors and the president.
However, one party, the Fresh Party of Chris Okotie, the pastor of the Household of God, only submitted the name of one candidate for the presidential election.
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