Opeyemi Bamidele Is Exaggerated- Chief Jide Awe, Ekiti APC Chairman

Jide_AweLet’s begin with the formation of APC by mostly opposition parties. What does it translate to in Ekiti State?

As you are aware, Ekiti state was carved out of the old Ondo state in 1996 and all along has being a progressive state politically. That has been a part of our inheritance, from the old western region. The
spirit behind APC is what you can referred to as progressive ideas all along the party that has being in helm of affairs for the past 14 years in Nigeria; that is the PDP, does not have the element of progressive
ideas in terms of making lives better for the messes and we are of the opinion that if after all this long years there have not being any improvement in the well-being of the common man in this country. That
is what actually informed the progressives to come together with a view to make a formidable impact by teaming up to form a party that an rescue the country.

How will it affect the next election in Ekiti State?
Well, to a very large extent the other opposition parties are now interested in coming together and in political palance the more we are the merrier so when people of like mind come together to put aside
what has divided them over the years, and now form a union, that is; a political party under one belief that they are progressives and have progressive ideas it will go a long way. So coming together of all
these forces, no matter how minute they are Ekiti State. I believe our collective effort will ensure our victory comfortably. So also it will enable us serve our people better than we have been doing before.

Are you not envisaging that there could be challenges in terms of allocating party office?
That is one of things that the political parties and political practitioners are out to solve, there must be challenges people must agitate to occupy position, our ability to be able to distribute this position equitably will actually triumph us so there could be challenges, we envisage that, but we are up to the task.

Even up to distributing political offices after the election?
Definitely, we cannot run away from that. Then the other issues I want to take you upon is that, recently there was a crisis in Erijiyan Ekiti, your home town, what really happened? Well apart from being the fact that I am from Erijiyan, I am also a community leader in Erijiyan Ekiti, and I want you to believe that I have been leaving consistently in that town for the past forty years, and if by one way or the other, the PDP, the opposition party, making my place as one of their area of influence and this has happened not
in Erijiyan alone, it has happen in Ikere it has happen in Oye Ekiti, it has even happened at Isan, so it is their making and if am in a community I cannot say I wasn’t there. The whole episode occurred
around 10pm in the night, so under the cover of darkness, it was very difficult for one to say this was actually what happened, but as an abiding citizen of that community, the whole scenario started on
Friday 29th, when I heard gun shut at night severally, I reported to the police officer in that community and when the gun shut again started the following day I equally phoned the inspector of police in
that community and he also make comment that he has reported the case to his superior boss. So it very difficult for me to be giving an account of what really happened. The only account I can give vividly
was that I was in that town and that was not my first time of staying there. But on that fateful day sir, was there any clash between supporters of ACN and PDP. Are we having rally at 10pm in night? What would have resulted into clash between us? We have never clashed in that town, and what is the
strength of PDP in Erijiyan Ekiti? But you see there are some people who are after you when you’re making progress and to say that 1000 people will decamp from ACN to PDP in Erijiyan Ekiti is all fuss.
Ordinarily those of us who are registered members of both parties in Erijiyan, are we up to 1000 in that community? So we now know that issues in that place are being exaggerated and it was all because Jide
Awe comes from that place.

Ok, sir, let me take you back again to the APC issue, very soon there
will be a state congress will you run for the position of chairman
again?

Why not? My tenure still remains one year plus, so if after discussing
with my political colleagues and the people is still interested in me
going for it. Why not?

On the issue of violence that is creeping back into Ekiti politics, what’s your view on it? Do you have any fear that it will affect the forth coming election?
You see when you talk of violent coming into Ekiti state politics of recent, I will say emphatically no because the history of violence in in Ekiti state politics started in 2003 that was when Fayose was in
power. Since we took over in 2010, it has been very minimal. But of recent some of the happening which people may refer to as political violence, we have not had much in Ekiti State, the Erijiyan incidence
was an unfortunate situation. It’s unfortunate that some people may just cook up one issue or the other and turn it political. As far as am concern I cannot categorically say there is political violence going on in Ekiti State.
What is your comment on development in Ekiti ACN as regards Hon Bamidele Opeyemi gubernatorial ambition.
The issue of Bamidele Opeyemi, like I used to tell you people from the media, should not be exaggerated as far as I am concerned, Opeyemi Bamidele is a member of the large family called Action Congress of
Nigeria and he’s still serving the party as a member of the House of Representatives. And up till now have not discovered any notification whether he’s running for one position or the other. The one we have voted him for, he has not even made a report of it back to the community that elected him. So the Opeyemi issue should not be exaggerated at all.

In view of development in the House of Representatives by the Ekiti State House of Reps caucus removing him as their leader, you think is still a non-issue?
Yes, because they said he uttered some unprintable words against our leaders and that position belongs to them in the house. May be what he said about Asiwaju and Baba Akande did not go down well with his colleagues.
What is the leadership of the party in Ekiti state doing to bring out peace in ACN as regards this Opeyemi Bamidele issue?
You see, even in churches today, in mosques, we have different opinion being expressed by the members of the congregation, does that bring disaster to the church or break it down? We are here to manage human beings, and our views may not be the same at times. That is why I said you should not exaggerate what is going on in ACN, Opeyemi and the rest of us. Opeyemi still have our mandate with him. So the best he could do is to satisfy the people who elected him to the House of Representatives.

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