SHARE/OKE-ODE: WHY GOVERNOR ABDULRAZAQ MUST DO AWAY WITH OM0 APARO, By Solomon Okeyode

I am Solomon okeyode, a disturbed, yet dedicated party member from Share/Oke-Ode State Constituency, Ifelodun Local Government.

I write this open appeal with a heavy heart, but with the firm conviction that sincere love for our leader, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, and our great party demands that we speak the truth even when it is uncomfortable.

While the decision of the party leadership is ordinarily binding on all members, it is the sacred duty of those who genuinely cherish the Governor and the incoming administration of Rt. Hon. Salihu Yakubu-Danladi to point out potential errors before they become irreversible liabilities. Posterity will not forgive us if we remain silent when we see a clear and present danger, yet refuse to avert it.

The rumoured anointment of Hon. Benjamin Oyinloye Dairo, the long-standing legislative aide of Senator Lola Ashiru, as our party’s House of Assembly candidate for Share/Oke-Ode State Constituency, is a decision that sends the wrong signals on multiple fronts.

Firstly, it undermines the principle of loyalty. Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has built a political structure founded on discipline, consistency, and reward for loyalty.

To hand the party ticket to a known aide of one of the major arrowheads of the renegade G15 group, a faction that has consistently questioned and opposed the Governor’s leadership, thereby calling him all sort of names and dragging his name in the mud, on national television, pages of newspaper etc, is to tell loyal party members that their sacrifices mean nothing.

It discourages those who have stood by the Governor through thick and thin, and encourages them to instead seek the patronage of disloyal elements.

Secondly, it risks planting a mole in the Assembly. Without mincing words, Hon. Benjamin Oyinloye Dairo is an omo aparo, one who cannot be trusted with power.

His entire political trajectory is tied to Senator Lola Ashiru, a man whose recent actions have been antithetical to the unity and progress of our party.

To place such a person in the State House of Assembly is to invite the destabilisation of the incoming administration of Rt. Hon. Salihu Yakubu-Danladi.

A legislator whose loyalty is first to a renegade leader, rather than to the party and the Governor, will not work for the collective good of our constituency or the administration’s success.

Thirdly, it sets a dangerous precedent. If we reward those who are undermining the party, what message do we send to the hundreds of loyal aspirants who contested fairly and waited patiently?

There are several credible, tested, and loyal aspirants from Share/Oke-Ode whose commitment to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and the incoming administration is beyond reproach. Any of them would be a safer, more dependable choice.

I therefore plead with the party’s leadership to retrospect. Let us not sacrifice the future of our constituency and the stability of the incoming government on the altar of political compromise.

Let us choose a candidate whose loyalty cannot be questioned, one who will be a true ally of the Governor and the incoming Governor, not a fifth columnist.

Our party must remain a house of loyalty. Let us not allow a fox into the henhouse.

Okeyode is a native of Babanloma,
Share/Oke-Ode State Constituency,
Ifelodun Local Government.