For Professor Oba Abdulraheem, the battle to retain his job as chairman of the Federal Character Commission, transcends thriving on stewardship, writes Shola Oyeyipo

These are certainly not the best of time for a former University of Ilorin vice chancellor, Professor Oba Abdulraheem. His dream of securing a second term as chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) seems to be hanging in the balance due to his now unsavoury relationship with the leadership of the Kwara State chapter of peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the platform he allegedly rode to becoming the FCC chair the first time.

The political fortunes of Abdulraheem came under threat recently following the difficulty he has, retaining his job. As a member of the Peoples Democratic Party in Kwara State, he was said to have been nominated for the job on the recommendation of the party. However, when his tenure expired, he wanted a second term of another five years, but at a time he had fallen out of favour with the party that put him forward for the job. As it is, his second term is threatened because the political fraternity that threw him up in the first place is no longer there.

Dramatically, however, he wanted a second term, pushed for it and got it, but not without alleged moves and lobbying of the presidency. Unfortunately, this was said to have further pitted him against the PDP in Kwara State. This is because the party would not have him go for another term in view of an existing zoning formula, for which they prefer the slot to go to another senatorial district.

But if reappointed, it is believed to portend security threat. For a fact, there is the growing fear that the zoning formula that had given peace a place of abode in the state might be affected. Already, the party leadership in the state is said to be angry because Abdulraheem was believed to have privately lobbied the presidency with an alleged blueprint on how to edge out its leadership in the state, a proposal the presidency was also said to have also bought into.

As a consequence, party members will persuade anyone to believe that it was based on this idea that he was reappointed without recourse to the PDP leadership or government of the state where the position was zoned to.

Now, there are indications that the party is weighing the different options available to it, one of which is to stand against him at the National Assembly where the party has three committed members who are experienced and firmly believe in party supremacy. While two of them are former governors of the state, the third is a third term senator.

"Now that he needs to be cleared by the senate and he needs at least two senators' support to scale the senate hurdles, he is trying to make peace to scale through, a move which he knew would be difficult for him, having parted ways with the party in the state," a source told THISDAY.

Further indication that all may not be well manifested when the professor almost breached protocol when he got his reappointment letter from the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, and called for a prayer session at the Emir's palace in Ilorin, even when he was yet to secure the senate approval.

This, observers thought, was a proof that he was at daggers drawn with his party and that his victory was not the party's. His woes were further compounded when the prayer session was allegedly ignored by the party leadership in the state because they were unhappy that an umpire of federal character was not adhering to the principle of federal character in his home state.

The feeling that he 'slapped the party on its face' was further buttressed by his supporters' activities on the social media where they thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for re-appointing him. Some were even said to have gone as far as affirming that "the party leadership in the state had no input in his reappointment."

Confirming that too, the professor was alleged to have sent out personal text messages to some Ilorin elite and party leadership when he got his letter for another term, in which he was alleged to have stated clearly that his reappointment was God's doing and not through any godfather.

Also, at an event at the Great Hall, when asked to give his stewardship account to party members and faithful, he reportedly told the gathering that he was a self-made man before his appointment as chairman of FCC and that his position did not permit him to be partisan, thus, coming to Great Hall to give stewardship was a privilege he could grant but not the right of the party in the state. In annoyance, he allegedly reeled out some of his achievements and hurriedly left the hall without waiting for contribution from party stalwarts.

On their part, the Kwara North senatorial district of PDP under the chairmanship of Alhaji Oniwa, where the position had been zoned has sustained their agitation for what was perceived their right. Recently, they caused a petition to be written to the state party leadership, complaining of marginalisation and accusing the party leadership of cheating.

The news was that the PDP leadership, in a deliberate scheme, looked away so that the professor could get the position. The party chairman, Hon. Balogun Fulani, and other party leaders came under fire as a result of this. They were accused of acting Senator Bukola Saraki's scripts to support one of their own to escape with impugning on the state's zoning understanding of offices. 

Another grumbling in the north of Kwara is that Abdulraheem is too tribalistic to hold such position zoned to Kwara. He was said to have left a track record of strongly rooted tribalism at Unilorin. The party members from the north senatorial district also claimed that it is mostly Kwara central people that benefitted from the appointments that came to the state.

With this development, Abdulraheem's personality credibility on the political front is being called to question among those who now accuse him of biting the fingers that fed him. He was said to have done same to General Abdullahi Mohammed, a former Chief of Staff in the presidency, who was said to have played a major role in how he secured the vice chancellorship of the University of Ilorin, from Bayero University where he was.

But when he was about to serve out his term at the University, he allegedly switched his loyalty to the Saraki political dynasty, knowing full well that he needed the Saraki structure to advance his political future and actualise his dream of becoming Kwara governor. And through the support of the Sarakis, he was seen to have grown with many positions in the state before the FCC chairmanship job came his way.

However, failure to actualise his ambition of becoming the Kwara State governor after the last election and with the alleged frosty relationship between Senator Bukola Saraki and President Goodluck Jonathan, he is seen to have again switched loyalty to the president, which many think was with the intention to securing a second term as FCC chairman and eventually, govern Kwara State.

PDP secretary in the state, Hon. Yemi Afolayan, was said to have traced the sour relationship between the former governor and Abdulraheem to when the latter resigned from his job at FCC to contest the Kwara PDP governorship ticket. He premised his resignation on the assumption that Saraki would support him for the governorship. Unfortunately, at that time, other senatorial zones had begun to agitate and also threaten to vote the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on the grounds that they were being marginalised.

The professor was however not happy when Saraki eventually said other senatorial zone should have it since his zone had spent 12 years, producing the governors of the state.

The late Mohammed Lawal spent four years and Saraki eight. Therefore, to Saraki, it was only fair and just to have other zones have a shot at the number one position in the state. It was in the bid to placate him that he was made Director-General of the campaign organisation for Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed's election with the promise that he would return to his position at FCC, where he had reigned to contest the election.

It was against this backdrop that Saraki was said to have approached President Jonathan during the presidential campaign in Ilorin, with a request for the reinstatement of Abdulraheem as FCC chairman and Jonathan in turn, was said to have granted the request. Thus, after Jonathan's reelection he was reappointed, first to complete his term since he resigned to become governor. Even at that, his reinstatement was said to have generated a lot of controversy.

But with the now chaotic scenario, gradually brewing ill-feeling amongst the PDP family in the state, a situation being attributed to Abdulraheem's ambition to alter the state's zoning arrangement, his eventual return as FCC chair, observers believe is very unlikely as it may have become a political burden that neither Saraki nor Jonathan might want to shoulder since it might stand in their way.