WE HAVE MOVED ACCORDINGLY. TINUBU IS AWARE. LET THERE BE PEACE!!!
Joining Accord Party was the easiest political decision I have made so far.
The decision came at a time in which I had one of four options:
(1) Remain in that other party and engage in the pervading “If you can’t beat them, join them” bandwagon;
(2) Remain in that other party and engage in the other pervading culture of silence;
(3) Withdraw completely from Nigerian politics; or
(4) Move over to another party to fly the flag of serving my people. Anyone who has genuinely contributed to building anything (even a bird cage) will know how tough it may be to leave that thing behind. For someone like me, it wasn’t the funds expended that mattered, it was the time not being spent with family or making more money – people who are in professions in which time is of the essence like mine will understand. It was the continuous believe that, if Nigeria was to become great, one must continue to sacrifice no matter how big or small. I was convinced that it wasn’t big names that made great countries, it was a collection small men and women who sacrificed for what they believed should obtain instead of the status quo.
I lost no sleep whatsoever over moving to Accord Party. I found exactly what I was looking for in a political party and the people who fly its flag, knowing well that, as a human establishment, there won’t be perfection in any way and the party will end up being what we make of it. I saw to a great extent, the genuineness of the persons who shoulder the leadership and served as the vanguards of the party. It wasn’t a new party by any means, but when we woke it up, the leaders showed they had all it took to move a party forward. We weren’t waiting to be fed about the movement, we were part of the movement. We did not have to keep asking questions, we were assigned leadership roles which meant we must be ready to answer questions posed by those who looked up to us. There was no air of arrogance or complex around the older, wealthier, more experienced, and/or more connected among us. The goal was simply to give our people the credible alternative they genuinely yearned for at this moment in Nigerian history and Oyo State in particular. It appeared that suffering injustice collectively has a way of burning genuine bonding towards achieving a fair goal in the victims’ minds and hearts. It may also serve as the tonic they and their people needed to face and overcome the challenges ahead - this is not new. The battle cry for the mission was clear – we are in this together to serve our people. We are the credible alternative!
We moved to Accord as a team. In that team, especially from Oyo Federal Constituency is Adesoji Ojoawo for Oyo East/Oyo West State Assembly, Nurudeen Faozey Oladotun for Oyo Central, Joel Adedapo Adeniran for Atiba State Constituency, and Akinrinola Tosho (Toshiba) for Afijio State Constituency. I had no qualms accepting to serve as the Rep for Oyo Federal Constituency, knowing that my people actually needed that viable voice that could genuinely serve them from the bottom up.When that opportunity was given to me, I did not have to blink to take it, knowing my people and their crave for real, God fearing and community-loving representative. It was a task for which I am fully prepared, and I look forward to the debates that will involve other persons aspiring for the same position, so people could make up their mind on who is best to represent them.
AbdulWaheed Adebayo Adelabu Penkelemes, our Governorship Candidate, is the Class Captain for the candidates. He is a First-Class brain (in Accounting, Ife) gentleman who has no airs around him. I admired him the first time I had occasion to meet with him in 2017. I listened to what he intended to bring to the table for the people of Oyo State. I was moved knowing his pedigree and background, especially by the fact that he would leave the certainty of being a Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, to delve into the uncertain waters of Nigerian politics while being less than 50 years old. He was never a Students Union leader, but you could feel the spirit of agitation for the people boiling in him. He had a clear vision and mission, alongside a clear blueprint which covers all aspects of the yearnings of Oyo State people. From that moment, I made up my mind that I will not only project myself for the aspiration ahead, I will do my best to project Adebayo Adelabu Penkelemes as well. That promise I made has not changed. It actually grows better the more I know him. Even in the face of dog eats dog, bareknuckle crude politics my people are now being exposed to, there is that need for a First-Class brain to steady our affairs, and let our kids know that Oyo State is actually a State where having a moral compass is the standard and not the exception. We owe the coming generation that duty. I have sat before and admired a First-Class brain who later led Oyo State and made a difference before, in the person of Chief Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja (First Class in Chemical Engineering, Liege University, Belgium). It is so coincidental that the name mostly associated with Accord is no other than that of Chief Rashidi Ladoja. I have no doubt that if given a chance, AbdulWaheed Adebayo Adelabu Penkelemes will make a big difference at this peculiar time. And so are other members of the team as candidates whom I mentioned above. Thus, when he and other core progressives asked me to be part of the team, I ACCEPTED WHOLEHEARTEDLY.
It feels good to be part of a team that believes in hard work. I once asked an aspirant what he banked on to emerge victorious as that other party’s candidate as the primaries approached. His response was, “Barrister, which primary, aa ko ni. Aa ko gbogbo e ni…” (Meaning, there won’t be any primary, numbers will just be allocated). And by God, they succeeded in allocating numbers. When that guy and his friends were asked again their plan for the general elections, their response was the same, “Awa ma n ko ni. Aa ko gbogbo e ni. Which general election?” Followed by the open boast that the girlfriend of one of their candidates will be the one who will be sent from Abuja to conduct the general elections in Oyo State, everything is sealed, the numbers are already allocated, and they are only waiting for the announcement. You cannot but cry for Nigeria seven months ahead of its general elections. The level of arrogance was unpardonable.
Then, GBAM, Osun Gubernatorial Elections of Saturday, July 16, 2022 happened and reality sets in! Folks were shown that Nigeria is capable of conducting an election that is reasonably fair and could move beyond priorly sealed or number allocated chicanery manned by bought over blind folded machineries. Folks then realized that good name, hard work and the people really matter. The toga of arrogance flew off in a jiffy. If you see or read about conciliatory tones from otherwise seemingly untouchable dudes, that is the result of nothing else but the Adeleke phenomenon in Osun. Surely, overnight and latter-day fake remorse can’t get anyone. My people are far smarter than that. The people have one chance of deciding their leaders in 2023 and I doubt if they’ll let the chance slip by.
TINUBU’S STEPS TOWARDS VICTORY WILL HAVE NO IMPACT ON OUR ACCORD DECISION. SO, LOOK FOR ANOTHER LIE.
My friends, do not be in doubt, WE have moved ACCORDingly. Before the move, I pointedly asked the same question (which bothers many) of our leaders and our class captain, Chief Bayo Delabu Penkelemes, about the effect of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu clinching a Presidential ticket from any party will have on our Accord decision. The response was very resounding and cohesive – NONE. Obviously, before venturing into moving as a team, those in our upper echelon had deep discussions with genuine progressives at the very top about the move, and the approval and support was clearly given. Suffice to say that, the situation in Oyo progressive camp was known to all and sundry, and there were no ill feelings whatsoever regarding the need to port over to ACCORD. The lost fight for a fair transition preceded the move to Accord. The other great part of the move was that it involved a great number of leaders and members from all zones in Oyo State; thus, no one could attribute the action to a “few aggrieved fellows” since a great majority of that other party was aggrieved and moved en masse.
The body language of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in Oyo State leaves no one in doubt – he knows what is going on in the State like the back of his hand. He knows when people put up window dressing displays or decoys. He has been too long in the game to be fooled. He actually took no prisoner in his utterances during all his recent visits to Oyo State and his words are definitely clear to the discerning minds. Bola Tinubu knew the game of his own primaries and the part played by the key players from each State of the Federation. He could smell a real progressive from a mile away. He fully understood the yearnings and the pains of the people at the grassroots. He knows his people, and his people know him. That progressive leaders will allow water to find its level in Oyo State is deliberate. No doubt all progressives will vote Tinubu, but progressives know who deserved to be voted into other positions – and it won’t be those who colluded to destroy progressivism in Oyo State. If it were to be otherwise, the Tinubu machinery nay APC at the National level would have been involved in the patchwork and bandage diplomacy currently going on in that other party.
To be clear, NO ONE in ACCORD will drop his ticket or step down for anyone from any other party. Tinubu or any other progressive leader WILL NOT support or take any action that will be seen as boosting the chances of beneficiaries of injustice – they know what is at stake and how that will tarnish their names and records. The state of things, as of today, is that each and every candidate, including Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will sell himself/herself as separate products in the political market in an age in which the electorate vote candidates over parties.
Therefore, my friend, sell yourself to the populace using your name recognition, your records, your qualifications, and whatever else will boost your candidature. Telling the blatant lie that Tinubu will force a reconciliation on anyone or force Adelabu or any other ACCORD candidate to step down will never work, as progressives don’t impose, boost or support the imposition of nonprogressive elements on the populace. ACCORD Party and the ferocious movement of Chief Bayo Adelabu Penkelemes and other candidates on his team towards success in the 2023 elections, is a plane that is already in the air, waving for it to stop or fabricating lies to slow it down, is a sheer waste of time. So is making harassing, intimidating, threatening and/or prosecutable calls to those who have moved ACCORDingly, in the hope that with a few sugarcoated statements will make them forget the untold injustice which they ran away from, but which is still fresh in their minds.
I am proud of my people and how well they have embraced ACCORD accordingly while throwing away the shackles of unfairness they once suffered as they embrace liberation in droves and determinedly. I am even more glad that, this time, genuine progressives in APC and genuine lovers of the people in PDP are united in seeing ACCORD as the viable and credible alternative that could get us all to the promised land through good performance and leadership that is people oriented.
If we learn nothing else from Osun, at least we learnt that our people are smart enough to make their choice and to protect their votes. We learnt that INEC is smart enough to perform its duties and has improved beyond candle light manipulations. And, we learnt that our law enforcement is smart enough to know that people’s decision supersedes and will overcome parochial machinations. These lessons from Osun are enough for the wise.
We have moved ACCORDingly. You called us paperweight politicians and we said it’s okay. You said your party is Oyingbo market that doesn’t care about anyone’s absence and we clapped for you. Now, Let each focus on his/her project. And, let there be peace!!!
A word should be enough for the wise. May God uplift Nigeria...WE HAVE MOVED ACCORDINGLY. TINUBU IS AWARE. LET THERE BE PEACE!!!
Joining Accord Party was the easiest political decision I have made so far. The decision came at a time in which I had one of four options: (1) Remain in that other party and engage in the pervading “If you can’t beat them, join them” bandwagon; (2) Remain in that other party and engage in the other pervading culture of silence; (3) Withdraw completely from Nigerian politics; or (4) Move over to another party to fly the flag of serving my people. Anyone who has genuinely contributed to building anything (even a bird cage) will know how tough it may be to leave that thing behind. For someone like me, it wasn’t the funds expended that mattered, it was the time not being spent with family or making more money – people who are in professions in which time is of the essence like mine will understand. It was the continuous believe that, if Nigeria was to become great, one must continue to sacrifice no matter how big or small. I was convinced that it wasn’t big names that made great countries, it was a collection small men and women who sacrificed for what they believed should obtain instead of the status quo.
I lost no sleep whatsoever over moving to Accord Party. I found exactly what I was looking for in a political party and the people who fly its flag, knowing well that, as a human establishment, there won’t be perfection in any way and the party will end up being what we make of it. I saw to a great extent, the genuineness of the persons who shoulder the leadership and served as the vanguards of the party. It wasn’t a new party by any means, but when we woke it up, the leaders showed they had all it took to move a party forward. We weren’t waiting to be fed about the movement, we were part of the movement. We did not have to keep asking questions, we were assigned leadership roles which meant we must be ready to answer questions posed by those who looked up to us. There was no air of arrogance or complex around the older, wealthier, more experienced, and/or more connected among us. The goal was simply to give our people the credible alternative they genuinely yearned for at this moment in Nigerian history and Oyo State in particular. It appeared that suffering injustice collectively has a way of burning genuine bonding towards achieving a fair goal in the victims’ minds and hearts. It may also serve as the tonic they and their people needed to face and overcome the challenges ahead - this is not new. The battle cry for the mission was clear – we are in this together to serve our people. We are the credible alternative!
We moved to Accord as a team. In that team, especially from Oyo Federal Constituency is Adesoji Ojoawo for Oyo East/Oyo West State Assembly, Nurudeen Faozey Oladotun for Oyo Central, Joel Adedapo Adeniran for Atiba State Constituency, and Akinrinola Tosho (Toshiba) for Afijio State Constituency. I had no qualms accepting to serve as the Rep for Oyo Federal Constituency, knowing that my people actually needed that viable voice that could genuinely serve them from the bottom up.When that opportunity was given to me, I did not have to blink to take it, knowing my people and their crave for real, God fearing and community-loving representative. It was a task for which I am fully prepared, and I look forward to the debates that will involve other persons aspiring for the same position, so people could make up their mind on who is best to represent them.
AbdulWaheed Adebayo Adelabu Penkelemes, our Governorship Candidate, is the Class Captain for the candidates. He is a First-Class brain (in Accounting, Ife) gentleman who has no airs around him. I admired him the first time I had occasion to meet with him in 2017. I listened to what he intended to bring to the table for the people of Oyo State. I was moved knowing his pedigree and background, especially by the fact that he would leave the certainty of being a Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, to delve into the uncertain waters of Nigerian politics while being less than 50 years old. He was never a Students Union leader, but you could feel the spirit of agitation for the people boiling in him. He had a clear vision and mission, alongside a clear blueprint which covers all aspects of the yearnings of Oyo State people. From that moment, I made up my mind that I will not only project myself for the aspiration ahead, I will do my best to project Adebayo Adelabu Penkelemes as well. That promise I made has not changed. It actually grows better the more I know him. Even in the face of dog eats dog, bareknuckle crude politics my people are now being exposed to, there is that need for a First-Class brain to steady our affairs, and let our kids know that Oyo State is actually a State where having a moral compass is the standard and not the exception. We owe the coming generation that duty. I have sat before and admired a First-Class brain who later led Oyo State and made a difference before, in the person of Chief Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja (First Class in Chemical Engineering, Liege University, Belgium). It is so coincidental that the name mostly associated with Accord is no other than that of Chief Rashidi Ladoja. I have no doubt that if given a chance, AbdulWaheed Adebayo Adelabu Penkelemes will make a big difference at this peculiar time. And so are other members of the team as candidates whom I mentioned above. Thus, when he and other core progressives asked me to be part of the team, I ACCEPTED WHOLEHEARTEDLY.
It feels good to be part of a team that believes in hard work. I once asked an aspirant what he banked on to emerge victorious as that other party’s candidate as the primaries approached. His response was, “Barrister, which primary, aa ko ni. Aa ko gbogbo e ni…” (Meaning, there won’t be any primary, numbers will just be allocated). And by God, they succeeded in allocating numbers. When that guy and his friends were asked again their plan for the general elections, their response was the same, “Awa ma n ko ni. Aa ko gbogbo e ni. Which general election?” Followed by the open boast that the girlfriend of one of their candidates will be the one who will be sent from Abuja to conduct the general elections in Oyo State, everything is sealed, the numbers are already allocated, and they are only waiting for the announcement. You cannot but cry for Nigeria seven months ahead of its general elections. The level of arrogance was unpardonable.
Then, GBAM, Osun Gubernatorial Elections of Saturday, July 16, 2022 happened and reality sets in! Folks were shown that Nigeria is capable of conducting an election that is reasonably fair and could move beyond priorly sealed or number allocated chicanery manned by bought over blind folded machineries. Folks then realized that good name, hard work and the people really matter. The toga of arrogance flew off in a jiffy. If you see or read about conciliatory tones from otherwise seemingly untouchable dudes, that is the result of nothing else but the Adeleke phenomenon in Osun. Surely, overnight and latter-day fake remorse can’t get anyone. My people are far smarter than that. The people have one chance of deciding their leaders in 2023 and I doubt if they’ll let the chance slip by.
TINUBU’S STEPS TOWARDS VICTORY WILL HAVE NO IMPACT ON OUR ACCORD DECISION. SO, LOOK FOR ANOTHER LIE.
My friends, do not be in doubt, WE have moved ACCORDingly. Before the move, I pointedly asked the same question (which bothers many) of our leaders and our class captain, Chief Bayo Delabu Penkelemes, about the effect of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu clinching a Presidential ticket from any party will have on our Accord decision. The response was very resounding and cohesive – NONE. Obviously, before venturing into moving as a team, those in our upper echelon had deep discussions with genuine progressives at the very top about the move, and the approval and support was clearly given. Suffice to say that, the situation in Oyo progressive camp was known to all and sundry, and there were no ill feelings whatsoever regarding the need to port over to ACCORD. The lost fight for a fair transition preceded the move to Accord. The other great part of the move was that it involved a great number of leaders and members from all zones in Oyo State; thus, no one could attribute the action to a “few aggrieved fellows” since a great majority of that other party was aggrieved and moved en masse.
The body language of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in Oyo State leaves no one in doubt – he knows what is going on in the State like the back of his hand. He knows when people put up window dressing displays or decoys. He has been too long in the game to be fooled. He actually took no prisoner in his utterances during all his recent visits to Oyo State and his words are definitely clear to the discerning minds. Bola Tinubu knew the game of his own primaries and the part played by the key players from each State of the Federation. He could smell a real progressive from a mile away. He fully understood the yearnings and the pains of the people at the grassroots. He knows his people, and his people know him. That progressive leaders will allow water to find its level in Oyo State is deliberate. No doubt all progressives will vote Tinubu, but progressives know who deserved to be voted into other positions – and it won’t be those who colluded to destroy progressivism in Oyo State. If it were to be otherwise, the Tinubu machinery nay APC at the National level would have been involved in the patchwork and bandage diplomacy currently going on in that other party.
To be clear, NO ONE in ACCORD will drop his ticket or step down for anyone from any other party. Tinubu or any other progressive leader WILL NOT support or take any action that will be seen as boosting the chances of beneficiaries of injustice – they know what is at stake and how that will tarnish their names and records. The state of things, as of today, is that each and every candidate, including Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will sell himself/herself as separate products in the political market in an age in which the electorate vote candidates over parties.
Therefore, my friend, sell yourself to the populace using your name recognition, your records, your qualifications, and whatever else will boost your candidature. Telling the blatant lie that Tinubu will force a reconciliation on anyone or force Adelabu or any other ACCORD candidate to step down will never work, as progressives don’t impose, boost or support the imposition of nonprogressive elements on the populace. ACCORD Party and the ferocious movement of Chief Bayo Adelabu Penkelemes and other candidates on his team towards success in the 2023 elections, is a plane that is already in the air, waving for it to stop or fabricating lies to slow it down, is a sheer waste of time. So is making harassing, intimidating, threatening and/or prosecutable calls to those who have moved ACCORDingly, in the hope that with a few sugarcoated statements will make them forget the untold injustice which they ran away from, but which is still fresh in their minds.
I am proud of my people and how well they have embraced ACCORD accordingly while throwing away the shackles of unfairness they once suffered as they embrace liberation in droves and determinedly. I am even more glad that, this time, genuine progressives in APC and genuine lovers of the people in PDP are united in seeing ACCORD as the viable and credible alternative that could get us all to the promised land through good performance and leadership that is people oriented.
If we learn nothing else from Osun, at least we learnt that our people are smart enough to make their choice and to protect their votes. We learnt that INEC is smart enough to perform its duties and has improved beyond candle light manipulations. And, we learnt that our law enforcement is smart enough to know that people’s decision supersedes and will overcome parochial machinations. These lessons from Osun are enough for the wise.
We have moved ACCORDingly. You called us paperweight politicians and we said it’s okay. You said your party is Oyingbo market that doesn’t care about anyone’s absence and we clapped for you. Now, Let each focus on his/her project. And, let there be peace!!!
A word should be enough for the wise. May God uplift Nigeria...