The National Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Bisi Akande and the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday endorsed Ekiti State Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi for a second term.
They said he is eligible to contest next year’s governorship election.
At a well-attended event held at Jibowu Hall, Government House complex, Ado-Ekiti, Chief Akande and Asiwaju Tinubu gave Governor Fayemi “a clean bill of health” as the party’s standard- bearer in the poll.
They hailed him for “his sterling performance in the governance of the state.”
On the entourage of Tinubu are former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State, Chief Dele Alake, National Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Senator James Kolawole.
At the event were Deputy Governor Prof. Modupe Adelabu, former governor, who is also the Southwest Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Otunba Niyi Adebayo, former governor of the old Ondo State, Evang. Bamidele Olumilua, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin and Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Yemi Adaramodu.
Also present are Senators Babafemi Ojudu (Ekiti Central), Tony Adeniyi (Ekiti South) and Olubunmi Adetumbi (Ekiti North), Ife Arowosoge, commissioners, special assistants, local government chairmen and other party functionaries across the state.
Employing anecdotes, proverbs, jokes and illustrations, Tinubu, who spoke for nearly one and a half hours, said the visit was to settle misunderstanding within the party in preparation for the coming election, noting that similar visits would be made to Anambra and Osun states where governorship elections are also being awaited.
Tinubu went on: “We have not come to impose somebody on you. We have come just to settle a quarrel. America would normally say if the bicycle is not faulty, you don’t take it to the repairer. Fayemi has passed; will you promote him or not?”
Cautioning Opeyemi Bamidele on his purported plans to contest the 2014 election, Tinubu said: “When we got there (the political headship of the state), why would we not know how to manage our success?
“If anyone here knows Opeyemi, tell him that Jagaban has sent you to him to drop his ambition. Invite him and appeal to him. We will return later to do official endorsement.”
He noted: “Koko lo’ju Abe to ba ma fari” (meaning, the knife that will shave must be sharp.)
Asiwaju Tinubu urged Fayemi and the party leadership to make amends within the ranks. According to him, “there is no shame in politics, everyone’s turn would come sooner than later.”
He urged that measures must be made to reconstitute ward executives, adding that for the administration to succeed, “party patronage must be controlled.”
The media has been awash with reports that Bamidele, who represents Ekiti Central Federal Constituency I, is planning to contest the governorship election next year. It was, however, uncertain under which party he would be doing that.
Akande said the task of the ACN was three-pronged, how to merge with other parties without experiencing cultural hiccups, how to position the party for the coming elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states and how to unseat the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from national leadership.
Said he: “We are going to merge with another party, but is our culture going to change? Three elections are on the way, but how do we prepare for them? The last task is how do we remove the PDP from Abuja?
“Our mission today is to set in motion processes to settle our in-house misunderstanding. If any exists, we must settle it to move ahead.”
The ACN National Leader described the PDP as “a burden, which Nigerians must eliminate in the 2015 elections for the country to progress.
In a parley with reporters at the Government House, Tinubu said the PDP “has failed in justifying its control of the country’s resources for the past 14 years.”
Assuring Nigerians that APC would bring the much- awaited hope to the country’s disenchanted citizenry, Tinubu said: “The APC is about change; positive change for this country.
“Unless Nigerians are satisfied with punishment, unless Nigerians are satisfied with the level of poverty, unless Nigerians are not angry with the level of unemployed youths in this country, that is the only way they could decide not to change PDP.
“But we are determined to oust the PDP. They have been in power for so long and they have not been able to use the power to develop humanity and the Nigerian populace; what a waste.”
Source: The Nation
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