Three Years After Daughter’s Death, Former Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, Gets His Political Groove Back
So much has happened in the political and private life of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, the youthful Dimeji Bankole, since he left office in 2011.
Elected in 2007 as Speaker at the age of 37, he has been unable to tie down any political office since he ran out his term and failed to win a re-election back to the House. As activities hot up for the 2015 general election, he was reportedly kicked out of the Ogun State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, thus, ending his ambition to govern the state.
This was in April 2014. A few months down the line, precisely October 2014, the Oxford and Harvard University alumna lost his daughter, Yewande, to sickle cell anaemia. It was a most traumatic period for Bankole who subsequently withdrew from social and political activities. For a young man with so much wealth and influence, his newfound freedom from the drudgery of public office was supposed to give rein to his love for the good life. Alas, this was truncated before it bloomed to socialite level as Yewande’s devastating death turned Bankole into a social and political recluse of sort until now. Now, a pebble has been thrown into the political lake of Ogun State and unlike others, this particular pebble’s ripples are spreading far, fast and furiously. For the gladiators and also-rans jostling seriously or half-heartedly for the Ogun State PDP governorship ticket, there is urgent need to rethink strategy now that Bankole has thrown his hat in the ring.
A formidable candidate no doubt, early last week, he subtly announced his ambition to slug it out with the other contenders for the party’s ticket in the run-up to the 2019 election. Not that he made any formal declaration; but branded buses of his electioneering were sighted around Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, blaring out music and campaign songs eulogising the former Speaker who seems to have rediscovered his political groove, at least, for now.
