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Former Ekiti State House of Assembly Speaker, Rt Hon Richard Olufemi Bamisile, is not new to the politics of Ekiti State in its fullest complexities, courtesy of his chequered political journey as a young activist in the university politics and a full-blown political gladiator that cut his teeth as a partisan in both progressive and conservative political persuasions.
Having tasted politics at his youthful age in the university, he put his experience in school into practical politics of the state in 2007 when he contested his constituency seat in Ekiti East in the House of Assembly under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and won. He was later elected the Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly of 26 members that had 13 PDP members and 13 members for the Action Congress.
Because of his background as a man with the grassroots appeal despite his upbringing in cosmopolitan custom with its upscale bias, Bamisile popular called Bafem, has always seen himself as more active within the ranks of the masses, for everywhere he goes, common people mill around him in a camaraderie that buries his urban nuances.
Having seen progressivism as his constituency in politics, Bamisile sought the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) mid last year but lost. But for the progressive fire in him, he refused to work against the interest of his party but worked assiduously to ensure victory for the winner of the primaries of party, Dr John Kayode Fayemi. Fayemi himself saw Bamisile as worthy of the representation of his people in Ekiti South Federal Constituency Two not only for his avowed commitment to the success of his party at polls, but also for his commitment to the ideals of APC as a progressive political party at both the national and state levels. For this, he was returned as the candidate for the House of Representatives for his Ekiti South Constituency Two unopposed by the leadership of the party.
After securing his ticket, Bamisile retreated to his political study to develop a strategic political agenda that takes humanity at the heart of his development strategy, taking into consideration the primacy of the development policies of his party at both national and state levels.
Consequently, his development agenda is woven around the programme appeal of his party at the national and state levels.
In his development agenda encapsulated in a blueprint tagged ‘Octopus Agenda’, Bamilsile listed human capital development as a driving force for his mission in politics, a mission already cast in iron in his everyday conduct among the people in any environment he finds himself.
Like his party at the national and state levels, Bamisile identifies food security as first in the hierarchy of human needs, hence his focus to support and initiate bills that will strengthen agricultural production that will provide food, industrial raw materials, employment, including exports and creation of jobs for rural populations through a comprehensive agricultural production.
Infrastructure development, Bamisile surmises, provides opportunities for the people to unleash their creative energies for other development initiatives for productive living. For him, regular electricity, rural roads, bridges and affordable housing scheme, among others, are the minimum requirements needed to build a strong foundation for productive living that provides all other needs of the people in the society.
He also believes that economic and industrial development plays a vital role in larger human development while also listing education as critical to the emancipation of the people from the shackles of underdevelopment and disease, hence his support for free and compulsory education that increases enrolment in public schools that also takes the youth from the streets for productive engagements.
In the mix is also health sector development that takes health facilities in the most effective and efficient manner to all nooks and crannies of his constituency to tackle the risks of avoidable and curable diseases, including the benefits of relieving the people the pains of exorbitant costs in private health facilities.
Also on the card is a social security scheme that takes care of the elderly and the indigent in his constituency.
All these, also adopted by his party at both national and state levels, drive Bamisile’s passion to represent his constituency in pursuit of those agenda for the benefit of his people. And everywhere he went in the last two weeks, Bamisile dwelled much on these schemes as he sought votes from his people in the run up to the February 16 parliamentary election.
So far, he has visited all the communities in his constituency in a campaign trail that also had three candidates of the House of Assembly in his Federal Constituency Two. They are Juwa Adegbuyi and Lateef Akanle (aka Kongo) who joined Bamisile in campaign visits to several communities in his constituency, such as Omuo-Ekiti, Eda-Ile, Kota, Araromi-Ugbesi and Ayegunle. Others include Omuo-Oke, Araromi, Ikun and Ilasa-Ekiti.
In the Gbonyin axis of Bamisile’s constituency, he was joined in campaign rallies by Princess Teju Okuyiga, who is APC candidate for Gbonyin Local Government in the House of Assembly election.
The two candidates visited Ode, Isinbode, Iro, Egbe, Agbado, Imesi, Aisegba, Iluomoba and Ijan-Ekiti with massive supporters on campaign trail where they urged residents to vote for APC in the forthcoming presidential, National and House of Assembly elections.
Bamisile, who at the palace of Olode of Ode-Ekiti, Oba Adara Aderiye, said a vote for APC is a vote for freedom and development, added that President Muhammadu Buhari had taken the nation to a new heights with Nigeria’s foreign reserves reaching a new level in six years.
He urged residents to vote massively for the President and Ekiti South Senatorial candidate, Dayo Adeyeye, to enjoy full benefits of good governance by APC.
He added that Governor Fayemi’s second coming would add value to governance having gained more experience as a minister, which, he said, would enable him perform better than his first term.
At rallies with impressive presence of students unions, drivers and other trade groups where they sold APC’s development programmes to the people, Bamisile noted the deplorable conditions of roads linking Ekiti East with Gbonyin Local Government under PDP-led government, regretting that the roads were left undone after Fayemi left office.
They sought the residents’ support for victory.
At the Emure Local Government flank of his constituency, Bamisile led APC’s candidate for the House of Assembly, Olubunmi Adelugba, in visits to Emure and Eporo-Ekiti where they visited the communities’ traditional rulers for royal blessings before taking their campaigns to the towns’ main squares where they addressed rallies attended by impressive crowds of party supporters and residents.
In the campaign trail that included Bamisile’s wife, Jayeola, and daughter of the Deputy Governor, Bolaji Egbeyemi-Olagbaju, the APC candidates said a vote for the party was a vote for progress and prosperity.
Warning against politics of bitterness and acrimony, Bamisile expressed delight over the building of a strong relationship with Emure and Eporo people over the years, saying that such a relationship had ensured victories for him in all the elections he had contested in the past irrespective of political platforms.
Stressing that Ekiti people cannot afford to lose out in the service delivery to all Nigerians by APC-led Federal and state governments, he said the administration of Governor Fayemi had demonstrated that it is the best for service delivery and care for the people.
He listed agriculture scheme, health, free education that includes free JAMB and WEAC fees for students and other social security services that Fayemi has in stock for Ekiti people. To enjoy the dividends of these schemes, he urged residents to vote for the administration of APC at both national and state levels. He also urged residents to register in their wards to enjoy the dividends of APC’s electoral manifesto.
Egbeyemi-Olagbaju, who described Adelugba as a woman of honour and integrity who always champions the cause of the masses, urged women to come out enmass to vote for one of their own. She urged residents to take Adelugba’s election as a gateway to rural empowerment and good life for the people.
Bamisile’s wife spoke in the same vein, saying that Emure people should not be left behind in the journey to prosperity being promoted by APC.
Bamisile urged residents to register in their wards to enable them benefit from the programmes, even as he said that Fayemi and other candidates of the party deserved support, as the governor had paid four months salaries in two months of his administration.
Describing Buhari and Fayemi as leaders with records of service, he urged residents to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari, Prince Dayo Adeyeye himself and other candidates of APC in all the elections to enable them benefit from the life-lifting programmes of APC.
Adelugba, who described Buhari and Fayemi as honest leaders, urged Emure people never to look back but join the progressive train of APC and vote for the President, Adeyeye, Bamisile, herself and other APC candidates to enable them enjoy the dividends of the party’s lofty programmes.
In all the communities he visited, Bamisile reaped the dividends of his pro-people conduct as both the royalties and people in the communities embraced him and expressed delight in the APC’s candidate as the friend of the masses. They also described him as a man of his words but at the same time urged him not to change his conduct like the present occupier of the seat in the House of Representatives.
February 16 election date is around the corner and more people are joining in the campaign trails for a victorious result, even as Bamisile begins a house-to-house campaign for an election in which Bamisile enjoys a rare limelight in his campaign activities as he has already seized the field in an election hitherto considered a cliff-hanger contest.
• Olujobi, on the campaign trail
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