Candid Moment with Mr Opeyemi Bamidele By Okan Seye My Ekiti kinsman & brother, Ope: I thought I wont have to do this now but having gone through your letter below, the urge could not be resisted to share my concern and thoughts. As a matter of fact, I wont be at peace with myself if I dont bare our my mind or I keep quiet. Apparently you have made up your mind on this solo trip based on what you wrote/call and I quote .....aspiration to be Governor of Ekiti State by the year 2014 based on personal conviction and in... response to the popular demand and clarion call of well meaning Ekiti sons and daughters at home and in the diaspora. I find this statement very amusing because we have not read you directly in Ekitipanupo in the past 8 years and yet you claim to be responding to the yearning of Ekiti people home and abroad. In an kan si ra ko i wi? Ekitipanupo parades 90% of the best that have come from Ekiti till date and yet it is through proxy we read from you here. Ari foni poni, ari foniyan peniyan,.... o de fe je gomina ra? What an irony! Meanwhile, your few cheer leaders will come to Ekitipanupo to market you, hold brief for you. In fact breaking news from your camp like your letter below will first hit Ekitipanupo portal. So intriguing, which underscores the strategic importance of the forum to any political aspiration in Ekiti. Definitely yours is a personal trip and the manner you are going about it is becoming Tulasi Aspiration or Tulasi Ambition(TA). In my humble opinion, Ekiti state has passed this stage of anyone coming to force himself on the governorship seat. Come on! Dont be deceived my brother, any elder statesman that deals with you clandestinely is of no consequence. This should send sufficient signal to you that, ko si ona ni be. Ko ogigun oni ba da ni loju, se na mu i gba ri. I recall warning the ancien regime of this class of elders kan i je lule elegigun ati oloro; yet they wont step out to defend or associate openly with them in Ekitipanupo or stand by them with dignity in any public fora except rascals or inconsequential elements seeking political relevance. My reading of your camp is as follows, I may be wrong. Some of those who lost out from the current administration or felt that they didnt get enough by way of appointment, electoral office, contracts, attention, recognition, handout or patronage are in category one. Let me state this with every sense of responsibility that on Ekiti project politically in the past over 10 years, Ive paid my dues. I wont say because I have not got enough from the incumbent administration or have personal reservations over some issues and jump the ship or team up with anyone to cause trouble in Ekiti. Mba! The me alone and mercantile approach to politics constitute a put-off for me. It should be Ekiti first, personal interest should be secondary for those who truly mean well for Ekiti. Another group of your prompters are few pindipin losers who by urging you to go on, they are fighting their partys cause. Likewise some late starter aspiring politicians want to associate with your project with the hope that they will get something when the eyi je, eyi o je; finally jes. And lastly, the influence of PDP machinery at the federal level may not be ruled out. Hmm, this is where my major worries lie. Ope, dont let anyone use you to come and write election result in Ekiti and then say let them go to the court and contest it. We have been through that before, Ekiti wont go back to Egypt, please. Eniti sango ba ti oju e wole.... The wounds of the tulasi era is barely healing with the big scar staring at the perpetrators on the face! Watch your back my brother. If you listen to those pettiness of your supporters in the category one above, it wont endure. I tell you something, some of the people intending to file behind you even complained to me that you dont pick calls and are having a rethink. I smiled to myself; inu loko eye igbe! Also to those who think that they will benefit from any change of baton, mark my word, there wont be enough to go round in Ekiti. It will always be a small clique that will benefit substantially if another group gets to government. Then another round of complaints will set-in. When would the rat race then stop? This is why we must get it right and focus more on how to sustain every good aspect of the current administration. Ope, I dont have anything against your personal ambition or anybodys aspiration for that matter. For Gods sake, go about it without insulting our collective sensibilities or ridicule Ekiti people and everything that is honorable about us. I urge you to slow down, pause a while and have a rethink to review your strategy. You are such a lucky guy that God has been so kind and generous to, if you look back and up to now. You should ever be grateful to the almighty God. Njare dont push it too far. It is not too late to retrace your steps. Ajuse o.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 10:23:50 +0000