Bimbo Adekanmbi is a puppeteer haunted by the ghost of his own puppet.
On Saturday, on a popular Ibadan radio, the APM candidate threw decorum to the dogs. For two long hours, he mounted the soapbox not to tell us what he will do, not to show how he is different from his principal, Seyi Makinde, whose almost eight-year reign has been dogged by whispers of land conversion and strangulation of grassroots governance, but to sell beer-parlour gossip as gospel against Senator Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli, the APC gubernatorial candidate.
It is said in Yoruba: enu opuro kii s’eje. You will never see blood in the mouth of a liar. But you will hear the rattle of an empty calabash. That was Bimbo last Saturday, an empty calabash making loud noise.
Why this descent? The answer is not far. The camp of his boss is depleting daily. Aides are resigning in torrents. Key officials are leaving a ship they know will sink. And there is no known political figure of substance left to galvanise votes for APM. So what do you do when your house is on fire? You throw stones at the neighbour whose house is being built.
And whose house is being built? Sharafadeen Alli.
Go to Bodija, go to Alesinloye, go to Oja’ba, go to Iseyin, Ogbomoso, Kisi, Oyo and Ibarapa, Alli is the name in every street – his statewide consultations, his quiet parley with religious leaders including the Chief Imams who pray, the CAN leaders who bless, the traditionalists who pour libation. Alli’s daily broad-based engagement with stakeholders and the talakawa, is giving APM sleepless nights. Alli is daily becoming the Achilles heel of the outgoing government. His popularity is not hired. It is earned. It rises like harmattan fire every day.
And so Adekanmbi, instead of strategizing on how to cope with the daily resignation of key officials in Seyi’s cabinet, resorted to the oldest trick in a failing politician’s bag: pull him down or what politicians call ‘Ibon Oselu’ in our clime.
He accused Senator Alli of misappropriating funds meant for hectares of land during his tenure as Chairman of Ibadan North. A grave allegation. But history does not forget. And facts are sacred.
That lie has now been put to rest by a man who knows, a man who was there; Hon. Yinka Akinbode, former Chairman of Ibadan North Local Government during the second term of the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
Akinbode wrote:
“I write to put the record straight regarding your unfounded claim that Senator Sarafadeen Abiodun Alli misappropriated funds meant for the purchase of hectares of land for his personal use during his tenure as Chairman of Ibadan North.
“I am Yinka Akinbode, former Chairman of Ibadan North. Your claim is not only entirely untrue, but it also amounts to deliberate character assassination.
“To set the facts straight: During my tenure as Chairman, I personally treated the file regarding the said land located at Erumu in Egbeda Local Government. Not only did I review the file, but I also led a delegation of the Head of Local Government Administration, Director of Finance, Director of Agriculture and the Auditor for an on-the-spot assessment.
“I even directed the Council Engineer to clear the site with a bulldozer to prepare it for agricultural initiatives by youths interested in farming. These official records remain intact and are open for verification.
“The real story: It was approximately two to three years ago that a local government chairman under the current administration of Governor Seyi Makinde subdivided the land into plots and sold them off. When I received the news, I reached out to several past chairmen, including Senator Alli, Hon. Ademola Omotosho, and Alh. Omilabu Gandi, to inform them. There was nothing any of them could do, as the current administration held the reins of power.”
That is the truth. A former Chairman, with file, with delegation, with bulldozer, against a candidate with microphone and malice.
Oyo is too sane for this brand of politics. The Agodi stool is not for apprentices of falsehood who parrot outright lies in pursuit of power.
It is a big stool. It needs a man with calm, with character, with administrative memory. The likes of Bimbo Adekanmbi are aberrations in our politics; men who think governance is about shouting on radio.
Oyo, shine your eyes!
Alli need not dissipate energy replying him. The man whose time has come does not wrestle with the man who is struggling against time. The eagle does not learn to fly by listening to the chirping of sparrows.
The tide is moving. It is Alli’s time.
