AYO FOLUSO
In the realm of bad leadership, ego reigns while empathy retreats. And when leadership becomes a comedy of errors and/or gaffes, the best of such comedies comes from bad leadership. The case with Ekiti State today is rather pathetic. It is bad enough that the state is plagued with bad leadership, it is worse when such leadership is now encouraged by those people whom the public thought should have known better. Today, Ekiti has become more of a laughing stock because a wrong person got the right job. Better put, a square peg was put in a round hole – making the state a recipe for satires, caricature and comedic-tragedy.
As a man that is highly exposed and widely read, it is expected that the leader of the 10th Senate, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele who’s simply known with the sobriquet MOB should know better, especially in the face of glaring gross incompetence as currently obtained at the Oke-Ayoba Government House. Typical of bad leadership traits, Simon Sinek, the American author and inspirational speaker on leadership once said, “Leaders with toxic behaviours thrive on controlling people instead of inspiring them.” Every move of the incumbent governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State has been about controlling the entire governance structure including party’s modus operandi through bullying, intimidations, and needless threats.
It is often a common cliché in Yorùbá setting that, ‘ibi tí ó bá ye kí á ti bá ogbón, a kìí bá agò níbè’ – wisdom is profitable in its literal meaning. One would have thought Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, a ranking senator and leader of the Senate of the Federal Republic would accord his office the much-needed respect and dignity it deserves than becoming an ‘errand boy’ for a clueless tyrant like Governor Oyebanji. It is more worrisome that in the obvious face of abysmal performance and colossal governance failure, Sen. Bamidele continues to back the misfit of a governor. How does Sen. Bamidele convince the public that his continuous support for the Kàlò-kàlò governor is not for pecuniary benefits? Can he tell Ekiti people his support for Governor Oyebanji is not for the money?
A governor pulled down over 50 public schools under the guise that they were dilapidated. He then said he had sunk N50billion into education, yet, not even one of such demolished schools has been rebuilt after one year. Where did the N50billin go? Ekiti is still understaffed in schools. The teachers’ welfare package has neither improved nor their salary increased in the last 3 years. Where, then, did the N50billion go to? Today, pupils learn under leaking roofs. Teachers and pupils alike have to continually bait water dripping from the roofs with nowhere to stand or sit in the class to be able to learn something however little. And this is the same man Sen. Bamidele continues to back to the villa because he is seen as Mr. President’s political godson. Ehn, Senator MOB, is this true? Why not fear your grave if you do not fear God?
Dear Senator Bamidele, have you decided to mortgage your political future because of a pot of porridge at the table today’s Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji? Or what is there to support in a governor whom after collecting billions in revenue has almost nothing to show for it? Are you saying you are comfortable with the statistics coming out from Ekiti in terms of poor performance? Or do you want to blind your eyes to data from credible sources indicating Ekiti is on a precipice of governance apocalypse? Oops! Apologies, Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic. You now sit with the governor to eat fat from the state’s resources. After all, Ekiti common patrimony has become cash cow for you and your ilks and speaking in disfavour of the incumbent implies a halt of the cashflow. Oh, Ekiti, how worse have thy become in the hands of esurient and rapacious leaders!
Dear Senator MOB as you are fondly called, you overtly are aiding and abetting a catastrophe of a governor, a desperado who has thrown all caution into the wind in his desperate bid to return for a second term. Have you any conscience at all? Or is your conscience alone about what comes to you in benefits? Do you not consider the education of generation you also hope to lead some day? Even if you do not care about your own tomorrow, in which case it is apparent you do not, how about your own children’s future? Or you think there is nothing called ‘nemesis’ or ‘karma’? Oh, Karma is a bitch and it will ultimately catch up with you and your wayfarers if you do not desist from foisting a gargantuan failure of a governor on our hapless people for another 4 years.
The last time I checked, you are elected to represent the people of Ekiti Central at the Red Chamber, not to act as political lobbyist for a failed gomina. Why not focus on legislation, the primary purpose for which you were sent to Abuja? Let Governor Oyebanji face his battle alone, not cleaving to President Tinubu’s coattails through your connect. His scorecard should be enough to return him to the Ekiti Government House, not through presidential photo-ops to hoodwink the public of a pseudo endorsement. It is flabbergasting that you are not even ashamed that your Oyebanji has not even invited Mr. President to commission any major project. Many governors who came after him had invited President Tinubu to commission projects in their states, including opposition governors. Can you beat your chest and be proud of Governor Oyebanji? If not, remember tomorrow is pregnant!
Dear Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic, can you therefore get busy, please?
– Ayo U. ‘Foluso
Ado-Ekiti
For: Ekiti Progressives Front (EPF)