Adebanjo to Akande: Your statement on Mimiko irresponsible

[MrVan]

Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, describes as irresponsible the statement credited to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, that the Yoruba group's support for Governor Olusegun Mimiko's second term bid on the platform of  Labour Party (LP) is because the leaders  are out to collect crumbs from the governor's table.

Adebanjo spoke in a statement yesterday.

The text:

If Bisi Akande, the figure head Chairman of  the ACN ( which the Yorubas will call ologomugomu chairman), had confined his criticism of me in his interview  to my not being an electoral asset because I have never contested any election in this country, I would  have ignored him and would not have bothered to dignify his ignorant and ill-informed statement  which has become his sing-song criticism of me without any response.

The reason for this is simple. He is too junior to me politically for me to enter into political disputation with him. But when he opened  his mouth so wide to call me his political leader, who was the chairman of the party A.D on whose platform he contested and won the election to become the governor of Osun State in 1999-2003, a  fake Awoist, I believe Bisi Akande is indeed what the Yorubas will call " Omo Atiro to lo ra bata  fun baba e, oro lofe gbo" ( literally means,"The son  of a lame father who thoughtlessly bought a pair of shoes for his father, he needs to be reminded  the physi

cal position of his father").

"In the first place, where is Bisi Akande coming from to be qualified to define who is an "Awoist"? Because Awoists have existed in the 50s  long before the late Chief Bola Ige recruited him from the NCNC into the U.P.N in 1979 and made him an emergency deputy governor to replace the late Chief Sunday Afolabi who had decamped from the party to join the N.P.N.  Bisi Akande was the beneficiary of the plum political office of deputy governor because he comes from the same constituency as Chief Sunday Afolabi otherwise his senior members of the party like Senator Mojisola  Akinfenwa, Hon. Lere Adebayo,Chief Abayomi Morakinyo, who were already in Chief Bola Ige's  cabinet, would have been considered. These gentlemen, inspite of any political disagreement, will not refer to me as a fake Awoist.

"Now, who is an "Awoist" and when did the term  "Awoism" enter Nigeria political lexicon? The populist political philosophy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, which encompasses welfare programs among which are free education, free medical services, integrated rural development and full employment  with which he painstakingly administered the old Western Region from 1952-1959, acclaimed world-wide, was termed Awoism.

To complement this was his advocacy for federalism under a parliamentary  system of government and a political ideology of  democratic socialism. His party, the Action Group,  also known as "Afenifere" in Western  Region, was acclaimed to be the best organised, democratic and  the best disciplined party in the whole of West  Africa.

He was acclaimed the leader of progressive  politics in Nigeria and his members and believers  in these combined attributes are known and called  "Awoists";  I was a known leading member and mobiliser of the party during this period.

I ask, where was Bisi Akande during this period and what role did he play to be in a  position to pontificate on who is an "Awoist"?

"The pastime criticism of me by Chief Bisi Akande is that I have no electoral value and that I have never contested and won an election. If this is the criteria of judging an "Awoist" from the  jaundiced eyes of Chief Bisi Akande , I plead I am happy to be in the good company of past leaders of  the party like Chief S.O Shonibare (one of the founders of the A.G) Chief Afred Rewane, Chief S.O Lanlehin, Dr.J Akanni Doherty, Chief Ladipo Amose all of blessed memory who laboured faithfully to popularise the Action Group with the philosophy of  Awoism and never contested election.

"But let me state for the record and  political education of political neophytes  like Bisi Akande who was only brought to political  relevance by the late Chief Bola Ige of blessed  memory.   I contested and won election to Ijebu-Ode Local government from my ward in Ogbo/Okelamuran/Ikoto in 1976 under a zero party election following the ban of political parties by the military.

The election was more on the candidate's individual popularity, since political party platform was banned. It was an election that did not allow an unpopular candidate to be elected under a popular political party platform. The late Chief Bisi Onabanjo of blessed memory also won from Ijebu-Ode ward and was elected chairman of  the council.

"I have no regret that I with other Afenifere leaders visited  Dr Olusegun Mimiko to demonstrate our open  support for his declaration for  second  term election as governor of Ondo State. His performance in the  last three and a half years in Ondo State should  be a pride to any lover of good governance.

His achievements are consistent with the ideals and  philosophy of Awoism. Those who have been regular visitors to Ondo State in the last three and a  half  years would testify to the fact that the tenets of  his administration have been to the betterment of  the masses of Ondo State in all its  ramifications.

Don't forget Mimiko was himself a  member of the AD before he had occasion to  disagree with some individuals in the party that  made him to leave for another party – the Labour  Party.  His political programes show he is still  keeping faith with the ideals and philosophy of  Awoism. And for this he deserves our support;  just as I would have supported Governor  Babatunde Fashola if  Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had jettisoned him for his  second  term as he had threatened to do although I am not  a member of ACN.

"It is cheap blackmail and gratuitous insult  for  Chief  Akande to allege that our support for  Mimiko was to collect crumbs from his table. Chief  Akande should tell the whole world what crumbs I collected from his table when he was governor of  Osun State and I was the chairman of the party.

Such unguarded and irresponsible statement is  least expected from somebody who is a chairman of a national party however figurative he may be holding the post.  Afenifere stands behind Mimiko for his second term as solidly as the Rock of  Gibraltal".

Vanguard Nigeria