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We woke up this morning to be confronted with the rude news that one Abayomi Ogundipe, (aka Agarawu) descended on the posters and billboards of our Lead Compatriot, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, tearing, defacing and burning them. Agarawu is a follower of Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, a perceived friend of Babafemi Ojudu and also a leader in the All Progressives Congress, APC.Information reaching us indicates that Agarawu, ostensibly acting on instruction, woke up early in the morning, hiding under the cover of darkness to perpetrate the crime. At the end of his operations, billboards and posters costing several thousands of naira were wickedly vandalized and destroyed. This is callous and unexpected from the camp of a perceived friend and a fellow party man.
Senator Babafemi Ojudu is currently on tour of the 16 Local Government Councils in Ekiti State. The exercise aimed at sensitising party loyalists for the pending party primaries slated for May 5, 2018, commenced on Tuesday, April 17, 2018.
In addressing party members in all the councils that have been covered so far, Our Lead Compatriot, Ojudu has been preaching peace and unity. He has been telling delegates that all the 33 aspirants have the quality and the wherewithal to lead well and that there is no rancour, no animosity among them. He has been proclaiming that all the aspirants are friends and that the followers should see them as such and channel their energy towards rescuing power from the opposition.
It will be recalled that Senator Ojudu was first to congratulate Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (MOB) after his declaration of intent to run for the Ekiti State governorship seat. To now trace this kind of naked display of intolerance to his camp is most disappointing and condemnable.
This is a display of territoriality that should be adequately condemned. This is one action that has put political tolerance within our party to question. This is a betrayal of trust and wanton manifestation of leadership deficiency.
We have supporters, loyalists who believe so much in our course to the point of seeking reprisal. They are seeing MOB’s posters littering all nooks and crannies of Ado Ekiti, hometown of our Lead Compatriot. They know where his campaign office is located in the town. We are not afraid of battles.
We shall not be deterred. We will not do anything capable of bringing our dear party to ridicule. We will be civil, we will remain matured. We canvass our agenda and allow Ekiti people to decide.
But we have taken enough insults and we are not ready to take more. We will resist every action suggesting attempt to gag or intimidate us. We will not fold our arms and allow our energy, our hope for a better Ekiti, to be cut short by people pregnant with hate and aggrandisement. We will fight back if further troubled.
However, we are calling on all aspirants to let us eschew bitterness and embrace peace in the ongoing struggle to liberate our state from the painful grip of our common oppressor. Ekiti people are looking unto us to liberate them from the current mess and take them to the Promised Land. We should show more commitment to the people and be selfless. It is in doing these that we can return leadership to our party and move on to develop our state.
Chief Ranti Adebisi
Director General , Ekiti Rebirth Organisation
