For This Governorship, the Cap Fits Bamidele

When the Ekiti State All Progressives Congress holds its governorship primary tomorrow, January 27, party loyalists will have a choice in either a personality that can win the general election and deliver on promises or a hard-sell that will reduce the stature of the party, writes Shola Oyeyipo

Although it is often rightly said that ‘politics is a game of numbers,” very importantly, also, it is a game of personality. There are some personalities that attract the numbers needed for electoral success as the June 2022 Ekiti State governorship election approaches, and Senator Opeyemi Bamidele stands tall among the lot.

A certain newspaper article with headline: ‘Ekiti 2022: Will Fayemi take the bullets for Bamidele,?’ where the author pondered whether or not the outgoing governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, would reciprocate the kind of support he got from Bamidele, obviously caught the attention of everyone, who truly follows the politics of the South-west state, because such an article is already suggesting that the governor might throw Bamidele under the bus for a different choice.

Democratically, just like every other person, Fayemi is entitled to his choice of successor and may have reasons to elect to support anyone, but in evaluating the electoral values of those, who have so far indicated interest, it is obvious that Bamidele stands a better chance to retain the APC fortunes in the state. So, the question will be, which comes first: is it choice of person or party’s success?

For fear of sounding patronising, Bamidele is, perhaps, the most popular, marketable and well-connected with the people at every level, politically today, in Ekiti State and he is certainly not oblivious of his acceptance among party loyalists and the people of the state.

This explains why he was passionately supportive of the direct primary as a mode of electing candidates by the party, which according to him, “promotes full participation of all party members in the decision-making process,” and “allows the most popular aspirant to emerge as the party’s standard bearer.”

The events that led to the June 21, 2014, governorship election, which Governor Fayemi lost to former governor Ayodele Fayose, should not be lost on APC supporters in the state. Many hold the view that the party’s chances at the election was lost due to Bamidele’s decision to dump the APC for Labour Party (LP), on which platform he contested against Fayemi.

Though Bamidele only polled 18, 135 votes with Fayemi polling 120, 433 while Fayose cruised to victory with 203, 090 votes, analysts are convinced that the trend could have been reversed if Fayemi and Bamidele did not work at cross-purposes.

Fast forwarded to 2018, the unity of purpose which helped the party reclaim its mandate. So, for the love of the party, it is best that all the forces in the Ekiti APC are aligned to put their best foot forward to sustain the party’s legacies in the state.

Judging from the political antecedents of all the notable APC aspirants, no one is in doubt that Bamidele displays sterling requisite experience needed to lead Ekiti State. He started out as a student activist and campus politician from his days in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.

He first won an election as Public Relations Officer (PRO) to the Student Union Government (SUG) and later emerged as the Student Union Chairman at the University of Benin, where he bagged his bachelor’s degree in Law. He was called to the Nigerian bar in 1992.

That same year, the Iyin Ekiti-born lawmaker contested but lost the Lagos Oshodi/Isolo federal constituency House of Representatives primary elections on the Social Democratic Party (SDP) platform and later in March 1993, was a National Accreditation Officer at the SDP popular Jos convention, where late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola secured the party’s ticket.

Out of proclivity for democratic advocacy and his firm belief in equity and justice, MOB, as he is fondly called, joined the defence counsel led by a legal luminary, Chief Godwin Olusegun Kolawole Ajayi (GOK), to MKO Abiola, who was acclaimed winner of the famous June 12, 1993, presidential election, when the latter was charged with a treasonable felony in the aftermath of the annulment of June 12, 1993, presidential election.

He served as Special Assistant on Legal Matters to a former Lagos State governor and APC national leader, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a senator of the federal republic of Nigeria until November 1993. Between 2000 and 2003, he was the National Director of Publicity of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD).

MOB was later appointed Senior Special Assistant on Political and Inter-government Relations by Tinubu, served as Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development during Tinubu’s second term from 2003 to 2007 and oversaw the Ministry of Information and Strategy as a commissioner under former Governor Babatunde Fashola between 2007 and 2011

In April 2011, he was elected a member of the 7th National Assembly, to represent Ekiti Central federal constituency 1, during which he served as Chairman of the House Ad hoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs and member of the Committee on Education, Judiciary, Constitution Review, Housing and Habitat, State and Local Government.

In December 2013, despite being a product of the parental AD before the party transformed into ACN and much later, APC, Bamidele defected to the opposition Labour Party (LP),when it became obvious that Fayemi was favoured to pick the APC gubernatorial ticket with Tinubu’s support.

In another twist, on May 18, 2015, Bamidele traced his political steps back to the APC, which came about from the merger of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, his former party, CPC, APGA and a section of the then ruling PDP.

The merger provided a mega party, APC, which eventually dislodged the PDP of power both at the state and national. He was elected to the Senate in 2019, and is presently serving as Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters. He is also the Chairman of Southern Senators

Without prejudice or any iota of doubt in their individual capabilities, other reputable aspirants like a former Minister of Works, Senator Dayo Adeyeye; House of Representatives member, Femi Bamisile; former House Representatives member, Bamidele Faparusi; former SSG, Biodun Oyebanji; former governorship aspirant, Kayode Ojo; aviation expert, Demola Popoola and Olusola Afolabi, have all exemplified themselves in their various calls, none of them boasts the sagacity and preparedness for the Ekiti governorship as much as Bamidele.

One of the contestants, who is a former Commissioner for Public Utilities, Faparusi, recently warned that in the best interest of the Ekiti APC, Fayemi should not only maintain his neutrality and allow the best candidate to emerge, he should also discourage his aides from openly drumming support for a candidate, because it might be interpreted as his directive and might be panacea for disharmony and confusion in the party.

Though the state chairman of the party, Paul Omotosho, said Fayemi had asked the leadership of party to be neutral in the process of electing the candidate of the party, while Bamidele too has repeatedly said he didn’t want what happened in 2014 to repeat itself.

His words: “They squandered relationship between me and my brother (Governor Fayemi). God said we are not enemies, and we took over Ekiti again. The third party will go to governor’s office in 2014 and said what I did not say.”

Yet, there are indications that Governor Fayemi may have something up his sleeves.

The name of the outgoing governor, who is also the Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) has been flying around as one of the 2023 presidential aspirants. At Ekiti State’s level, Fayemi’s supporters are seen to be working relentlessly to hold the party structure for their principal.

This has not only pitted him against the Senator Anthony Adeniyi-led Ekiti Stakeholders Forum, which parades big names like Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Senator Adedayo Adeyeye, Hon. Bimbo Daramola, Adewale Omirin and a host of others on another side, it is putting him on a collision course with Tinubu. The latter has declared interest in the presidency, so the Ekiti APC primary could potentially be a first battle ground in the South-west.

No one knows for certain what will transpire come Thursday, when the party primary holds, but what is certain is that Governor Fayemi and his supporters may not be able to contain the negative spillover effects of any planned imposition, either outright or orchestrated.

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