joshuaNo Serious Politician Will Decamp Outside His Electoral Ward, Abejide is Yagba’s Popular Choice, Says Jide Ikubolaje
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Yagba West Local Government, Kogi State Dr Jide Ikubolaje has reacted to Sunday’s news reports indicating that some political actors in Yagba Federal Constituency decamped from their various political parties to the ruling party in Abuja stating that such could only happen in the politician’s individual electoral wards. Ikubolaje, a medical expert who is Regional Manager, Exus Pharmaceutical Nigeria Limited, North Central, said what happened in Abuja could only be likened to a meeting of likeminds and not decamping. He noted that with the group of people listed in the Abuja parley hosted by Lagos parliamentarian, Hon James Abiodun Faleke, and their level of experience, he expected them to be more knowledgeable in the art of politics.
He cited the occasion of his recent return to the APC, which held in his Ward 02, Odo-Egbe last Wednesday as an example of how to join or rejoin a political party and not through the back doors.
Speaking with Journalists in his Egbe residence on Monday, Ikubolaje said, “Politically speaking, what happened in Abuja yesterday when some politicians from Yagba met with Hon. Abiodun Faleke was just a meeting of likeminds. It is not defection or decamping from one political party to the other, as reported. As politicians and with the level they have attained in politics, they should know that they can not go to Abuja to decamp or join APC. The process must start from your electoral ward. See the one I did last week when I officially returned to APC, despite that I am one of the founders of APC in Yagba West, and with the fact that the first APC exco in Yagba West had my imprimatur before I left, when I decided to return to APC, I still came to my ward”.
Responding to a question on the widespread allegations of conspiracy against the incumbent member of House of Representatives for Yagba Federal Constituency, Hon Leke Abejide, Ikubolaje retorted, “I don’t like to hear the word gang up. Gang up to face who? The same set of people, in the past election, they all ganged up against Elder Leke Abejide, but they failed. So, why are people disturbed about ganging up or not? We know ourselves politically. Are you now telling me that somebody that contested election and could not win his polling unit will now say he is ganging up against someone who won over 1,000 votes in his polling unit? Politics is local, politics is practical”.
Asked if he believed the stories making the rounds that Faleke may have been recruited as part of the plot to stop Abejide’s third term in the House of Representatives election in Yagba, the Pharmacist replied saying only Yagba people can determine who represented them.
“Those Abuja stories and old glories can not work anymore. I said it before that what Abejide is doing in the House of Representatives, no past member in Yagba history or anywhere in Kogi matched his achievements. I will repeat it again and again that what he is doing is not by his powers, but it is God’s doing, and he is God-sent. I called one of the people who gathered in Abuja, a personal friend, and he confided in me that they did not go to Abuja to decamp. He said they only went for a meeting. I stand to believe what he told me because I told him that with your experience in politics, you should know better.
He said the meeting was to discuss a future plan to officially join APC and that Faleke assured them that whenever they were ready, he would take them to the governor. Even if they were lying or they initially thought they could enter the ruling party through the back door, with the attacks coming from home here and there, they are now having a rethink. Yagba people are too wise; we are politically sophisticated. Nobody can take us for a ride. APC is a big platform. Let everybody come, express yourself, and then we go for the best. Even if you must gang up to stop someone from going for a third term, is it someone who is already on his fourth term lthat you will run to to help you stop another person from another federal constituency? Faleke is on his fourth term, and I believe he still wants more. Is he now the right person to teach us that third term in the House of Representatives is not good for others? Something that you have enjoyed! We know the benefits of continuity in the National Assembly. Again, Faleke is originally from Ijumu, we saw that all the juicy appointments he influenced, he gave them to people from Ijumu and Kabba. What did he give us here in Yagba? Yagba people are too wise to be dragged under an outsider to control our destiny. Our destiny is in our own hands. We decide what is best for us. Leke Abejide is best for us. And he has not even told anyone he wants third term. He is busy working, touching lives, that’s why you see they are afraid of him. When the time comes, it is not even up to him to say he wants to go back, it is we the people of Yagba that will tell him to go back there because he has performed exceptionally”
