The Oyo Progressives Front (OPF), a group within the Oyo State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has appreciated Senator Olufemi Lanlehin (SOLAN), for his courageous stance, and particularly bold move, in warning opposition parties in Ondo State against endorsing the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in this Saturday’s poll, Eyitayo Jegede SAN, citing the “duplicitous and dishonourable nature of the PDP and its then governorship candidate, now Oyo State governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, at honouring gentlemanly agreements”. OPF recalls that Makinde is Jegede’s lead campaigner in his role as Chairman of the PDP Governorship Campaign Council.
Lanlehin, OPF maintains, deserves commendation for such honourable position, not minding the ill-advised and amateurish backlashes he has been receiving from those enjoying crumbs from the Makinde government.
In a release signed by its Chairman, Com. Kola Aderoju and Secretary, Com. Fatai Akanmu, the group however averred that the series of statements lampooning Lanlehin weren’t totally unexpected, though nonetheless, remain patently comical and deeply farcical.
“Whether in the statements credited to Engr. Akeem Olatunji, Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Barrister Bayo Lawal, Chairman, Oyo State Housing Corporation, Barrister Bimpe Adelowo, Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), or even those still being cooked by these Makinde recruits, the common denominator, is that of a frantic effort to defend the indefensible, play to the gallery, and paint white, a man whose integrity is already terribly dipped in the mud,” OPF reasoned.
Continuing, the group asked rhetorically: “Isn’t it childish to blame Senator Lanlehin for the dubious and devilish decision of Makinde to dishonour the coalition agreement? Isn’t it distasteful to believe Makinde’s dribbling of Lanlehin and other coalition partners is a smart move by Makinde, and a tactless one by others? Isn’t it also amateurish to claim, without covering one’s face in shame, that Makinde negotiated with the ADC, and not Senator Lanlehin? OPF would wish these set of bootlickers to name their representative at the coalition meetings, because Architect Bashiru Lawal, Director General of the Lanlehin Campaign, was definitely not.”
OPF believes that in a bid to please Governor Makinde at all costs, signees threw caution to the winds, believing that their latest shameful defence of their paymaster will hasten their appointments into positions in his government, or ensure their retention, after all, the current anthem in the Makinde administration is you either publicly display your loyalty, or get the boot. “These hurriedly written press statements from Makinde’s lackeys, is only a fulfilment of an age-long Yoruba adage, that one would have to spin foolish history to benefit from an unentitled will”.
“We only wish Engr. Olatunji and Barrister Adelowo the very best in their never-ending, but fruitless search for appointment and relevance in a government that doesn’t even know they exist, while Barrister Lawal is free to continue his bootlicking, save that we know that should he be sacked today, his latest Fuji album will change to rhythm-less Hiphop track immediately.”
OPF, while celebrating Lanlehin for his principled approach to politics, as well as his unwavering commitment to the advancement of true democracy, noted that party politics and indeed representative democracy will grow in leaps and bounds if the likes of Senator Olufemi Lanlehin (SOLAN) populate the polity, and not those whose life ambition is to be crumb-eaters from the table of the powerful or renegers of gentlemanly agreements.
