I hope you will read this unbiased, in-depth and true analysis of why the people of Ekiti State will not and never give Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu 10 per cent of their votes in this coming presidential election.
No matter what Asiwaju does or doesn’t, the people of Ekiti will never honour him with 10 per cent of their votes.
Tinubu’s going to the campaign is just a ritual for him because whether he campaigned there will not change Ekitis’ attitude toward him.
I swear with Ogun, the god of Iron. Yes. That is a fact. You may not believe this. I also swear by the spirit of my late grandmother, Iya Oniru of Usi Ekiti. I also call upon Sango, the god of thunder, to shatter me into smithereens if Asiwaju Tinubu gets 10 per cent votes from Ekiti.
Never.
I am publishing this analysis so that you will not be shocked or embarrassed and will not be paralyzed after the Ekiti result for Tinubu is announced.
Many of you will be shocked by the reaction of the Ekiti people to Tinubu through their votes.
Tinubu, too, will be shocked. Of course, he deserves it.
And this is why you should sit down and read this insightful memo with an open mind and without bias and sentiment.
I am not stricto sensu a politician. Far from it. I am only an expert in tourism development, marketing and promotion. I am a tourism journalist who consciously believes that Nigeria’s wealth lies not in crude oil, which is exhaustible, perishable and will be very soon of less use, but that our economic strength dwells in the humongous tourism potentialities buried within the cultural and geographical entity called Nigeria, which is crying for enhancement.
But sadly enough, no conscious efforts have been made or orchestrated to enhance this inexhaustible gold for seamless revenue and development of our nation. Pity us.
However, I am a political animal with a progressive ideology. As a graduate of the Awoism Institute of Politics, I have biases in political analysis and forecasting and exceptional ability in precision political prediction.
My analysis is always logical, apt, valid, accurate, correct and ultimately realistic.
Also, I am a rustic Ekiti man who has taken more than a passing interest in the political trajectory of Ekiti State right from the year of creation in 1996, when I accompanied the first military administrator of Ekiti State, the late Colonel Inua Bawa, to Ikogosi Warm and Cold Spring Tourism site in Ikogosi, to the inauguration of Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, the brand new peoples’ governor of Ekiti State.
Hence, whatever I am telling you is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Look, I know what the Ekiti people can and will never do.
It is a truism that we, the people of Ekiti, are heady, stubborn, tenacious and positively aggressive.
It is a fact that we are educated, learned and logical in reasoning, critical in analysis and downright honest and faithful.
We in Ekiti are forthright, straightforward, outspoken, candid, sincere, and bold, not ingrates. We don’t repay good with evil. Though we are not vindictive nor vengeful, we always wait for the payback day to those who have wounded or wronged or crossed our lines brutally. We always pay back.
And our attitude is not rash. We always employ the style of the vulture, which is a patient bird. ‘Revenge is good when it is served cold. Hence, the Ekiti people will serve Tinubu appropriately on 25 February 2023, the news of which will tingle the ears of many.
Look, can Ekiti people forget the stupid act of Tinubu, who out of all the coterie of politicians and statesmen in Nigeria, including retired and serving military officers, went out of his way, to renovate, complete and remodel the design of the only uncompleted old structure, which the late Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, the Ekiti State-born army officer, who was the governor of Western State, but who laid his life down for the preservation of Nigeria as a country left behind?
You may have forgotten that the late Colonel Fajuyi was the old and defunct Western State governor.
He was hosting the late General Aguyi Ironsi, the then Head of State, in Ibadan when some young officers stormed the governor’s residence and demanded that he release his guest, Aguiyi Irosi, to be killed and that his life is guaranteed.
But Colonel Fajuyi told the coupists that if they ever wanted to kill his visitor, an Igbo man in Ibadan, the political headquarters of Yorubaland, they must kill him too.
After all, the putschists could not kill the visiting Head of State, when he was in other states.
So why should he be killed in a Yoruba state? Thus he submitted himself to be killed along with his visitor, an Igbo man who was then the Head of State.
The late Colonel Fajuyi left behind an uncompleted structure, where his wife lived and a newspaper featured the selfless service that the late national hero and the Ekiti legend offered Nigeria.
Immediately After reading this feature article, Tinubu summoned Babafemi Ojudu, one of the bright lights of Ekiti, to find an architect to enhance the building’s structure, renovate it, and make it beneficial. Ojudu diligently carried out this task, and the old structure was turned into a beauty to behold!
And you think Ekiti people who see Fajuyi as their first-ever hero and the greatest Ekiti man will give only 10 per cent of their votes to Tinubu in the coming presidential election?
No way! Ekiti people are not stupid ingrates.
For that alone, Tinubu would be coasting home with over 15 percent of the total votes from Ekiti, for adding value to the late Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi.
I can assure you that Fajuyi’s votes will be garnered from all parties, for the love of Fajuyi is not a one-party affair.
I can also bet that the majority of the members of the three major parties in Ekiti—the All Progressives Congress, APC, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the Social Democratic Party, SDP—will cast their votes for Tinubu, just because the potentates in these parties have one way or the other benefitted from the large-heartedness and aura of Tinubu, which they must have sprinkled on their followers. At least, from this set of people who are on the borderline of the political calculation, Tinubu will gather nothing less than 10 per cent.
Will Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Dr Kayode Fayemi sleep or saunter while Tinubu garnered just a 10 per cent vote from Ekiti State? Capital NO! Otunba Adebayo, a minister with a dignified pedigree and a sizeable die-hard follower in the state will in his capacity as leader of the APC generate and guarantee massive votes for Tinubu. At least his goodwill will fetch only 10 per cent of the expected total votes from Ekiti. This one is sure.
Are you telling me that the immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Dr Fayemi, will not do everything humanly positive possible to garner over 10 per cent of Ekiti votes for his leader, boss and mentor, being a political prodigy who is loved and cherished by indigenes of the state?
Are you sure that going by the recent convivial relationship between Tinubu and Chief Segun Oni, the Asiwaju of Ifaki will not mobilize votes for Tinubu?
Do you think Dr Ayodele Fayose, Oshokomole, a two-term governor of Ekiti State and a man who is visibly in love with Tinubu, stay cool in Afao and allow the votes of his die-hard supporters to go to any other presidential candidate other than Tinubu?
Wait, have you forgotten that the brand new governor of Ekiti State, His Excellency Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, is not only a Tinubu person but also the political rave of the moment. He has secured the confidence of all the state’s indigenes and will guide them in the presidential election.
Are you telling him he cannot mobilize more than 60 per cent of the votes cast in Ekiti State for Asiwaju?
Let me also remind you that the South West Agenda for Asiwaju, SWAGA, coordinator, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, is from Ekiti and trust the Ise-Ekiti prince will unleash the votes of his formidable and powerful members for Asiwaju. Should I remind you that Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, Senator Femi Ojudu and Egbon Dele Alake are all mentees of Tinubu, who have massive followers and supporters in Ekiti? And lest I forget, you know that Ekiti is an in-law of Tinubu. Have you forgotten that Oyetunde Ojo from Ekiti is the husband of the Iyaloja General of Lagos, Chief Mrs Shade Ojo?
These and other reasons explain why Tinubu cannot secure just 10 per cent of Ekiti’s votes but at least 95 per cent.
I travelled through this long journey purposely to prevent some people from having hypertension and stroke by the time Ekiti votes for Tinubu/Shettima is being announced.
It will be a block vote!
10 per cent ke! Never. 95 per cent solid votes. Sure banker.
•Ojo-Lanre writes from Usi-Ekiti and can be reached via 08033490986, Usi- Ekiti.
