Encomium
– Why he refused to reconcile with Governor Fayemi
– What he told Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
FINALLY, the war of attrition between Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and his erstwhile friend, Hon. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, a member of House of Representatives from the state, has finally reached the point of no return.
With Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele’s declaration on Sunday, December 1, 2013, that he was moving to Labour Party, the door of reconciliation between the two former friends seemed to have been finally closed.
Hon. Bamidele, a member of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with Gov. Fayemi, has early as June 2013 declared his intention to contest the governorship ticket of the party with Governor Fayemi, for the 2014 election in the state. All entreaties by the party leaders, including Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande did not make him change his mind.
ENCOMIUM Weekly gathered that Asiwaju Tinubu personally invited him to his Ikoyi (Lagos) residence to appeal to him and assured him of the ticket in 2018 but he was adamant.
He was said to have told Asiwaju Tinubu that he was responding to the call of his people of Ekiti State and that if he refused to answer their call, it may spell doom for him.
Asiwaju, we gathered, responded by asking him these questions: “Where were these people when I made you Special Adviser in Lagos State? Where were they when I made you Commissioner for Youths, Sports and Social Development in Lagos State? Where were they when I made you Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State?” Asiwaju told him in plain language if he refused to listen to his plea with him, that would be the end of their father-son relationship of many years.
ENCOMIUM Weekly learnt that the war of attrition between Governor Fayemi and Opeyemi Bamidele started in 2011, when Governor Fayemi did not support the senatorial ambition of Hon. Bamidele in that year’s election. Rather, he supported Mr. Femi Ojudu, who eventually became the senator representing Ekiti Central senatorial district. Hon. Bamidele was later compensated with a Ado/Irepodun/Ifelodun Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives, the seat he is occupying presently.
But since that 2011, there was no love lost between him and Governor Fayemi. He never forgave him for what he called his betrayal. He argued that he was instrumental to Dr. Fayemi becoming the governor of Ekiti State. He said he was the one who personally introduced Governor Fayemi to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu then before he was eventually picked and made the governor of Ekiti State. Only for him (Governor Fayemi) to betray him by not supporting his own senatorial ambition.
ENCOMIUM Weekly, however, gathered that Governor Kayode Fayemi only paid Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele back in his own coin.
Yes, Hon. Bamidele supported him during the 2007 governorship election in Ekiti State, but when the controversial election was dragging on for too long at Election Tribunal, he (Bamidele) was alleged to be making clandestine moves to replace Fayemi as the new governorship candidate of ACN in Ekiti State in the 2011 general election, before the Appeal Court in Ibadan now gave Governor Fayemi victory on October 15, 2010. We further gathered that it was not only Governor Fayemi that supported the senatorial ambition of Mr. Femi Ojudu in 2011. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the leader of the party, also supported the senatorial ambition of Femi Ojudu, on the ground that both Opeyemi Bamidele and Dele Alake, who was also interested in the senatorial seat have benefited immensely in terms of political appointments, whereas Femi Ojudu who has also contributed to the party (ACN) then had not in any way benefited appointment wise. But Hon. Bamidele never forgave Governor Fayemi this slight.
One thing that also helped Hon. Bamidele to confront his former friend and the governor of his state is his deep pocket and close relationship with Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State. Bamidele is said to be stupendously rich going by his position as the chairman of House Committee on Legislative Budget and Research. The committee, we gathered has an annual allocated budget of N2 billion.
It is also believed that Hon. Bamidele’s friendship and closeness to Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State may have also given him the confidence and the effrontery to confront the leadership of his party and the governor of his state.
His declaration to move to Labour Party to actualize his governorship ambition in Ekiti State finally confirmed the rumour that he has the backing of Governor Mimiko of Ondo.
His aloofness during the onslaught of his party then (ACN) against Mimiko before the November 2012 governorship election in Ondo State had earlier given some the suspicion that he was working against the party both in Ondo and Ekiti State.
Certainly, if he wins the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State, he can call the bluff of his political mentor and leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. But if he fails, it may spell his political doom.
– TOLANI ABATTI
