Re: Melaye, Olafemi: Betrayal and Opportunism in Kogi State
Naturally with my position as a former governor and former speaker and a member of a board of trustees (BOT) or our great party, all the progressive congress (APC) I would not have responded if not for the misinformation the content of the write-up has given to the uninformed public about the happening in KOGI state.
First, the write-up laboured to portray me as anti-okun agenda, whereas in the history of Okun land in the last 40 years that I have been in politics no single individual who has attained office(s) in one position or the other , both dead and living has done as much as I have done for the Okun people to advance their socio-economic and political development.
It is on record that I have made the Okun nation proud by remaining the only speaker that served and completed 4 years without being impeached . it is also on record that when given the opportunity to serve as governor of KOGI state for just 60 days ,I established the college of education (technical) kabba and the special science school mopa and awarded many road contracts in Okun land .there is no local government in Okun land that I did not touch in the provision of amenities; electricity, motorised boreholes , provision of transformers , and supporting all the ongoing projects in Okun land ,which are not contestable .
It is a sad irony of events that those now crucifying me in social and print media including that of the 19th December 2015 published in the nation newspaper ,cannot point to a single thing that they have done in Okun land that is worth mentioning since the issue at stake is now being personalized and they have resorted to character assassination of myself I wish to challenge Faleke to come and point out what he has for Okun people other than to import disunity and hatred among our people using his personal interest as a platform . I have tolerated with maturity the various attacks on my person on social media platform which he mostly conjured from his Lagos base to be attacking a highly respected and highly honoured son of Okun land who has made his mark in the political terrain of Okun land ,to the glory of God and to the development of Okun as a whole long before he arrived .I wonder why somebody will not think that after my 40 years in politics and my first class in mathematics which they themselves acknowledged, if not for the myopic interpretation of political events will think I can now be a nonentity or novice in politics ,like him and his recruited attackers .time will tell on who is right and wrong .
When late S.B Daniyan contested the governor of kwara and lost, there were Okun people who did not support him because of their political believe ,and referring back to history, when Architect Olorunfemi contested to governor in KOGI state there were Okun people who did not support him either , and when I contested for governor in 2011 and 2015 and lost there were Okun people people that were against me. None of these assassination on the type being embarked upon by faleke and his sponsored agents. I wonder if all these names that I mentioned are not Okun people and did not constitute Okun agenda and worth insulting and castigating those who do not share common views with his present approach to the crisis on ground?
When Faleke was imported as deputy to Audu people like me accepted it as a party decision, not because it was fair to those who laboured to build APC in KOGI state and ought to have been qualified .despite my illness of high level arthritis I was bandaging my leg and going round Okun land to market him. At the time I was not a bad Okun man despite the high level injustice of importing and imposing him as against those who laboured much for party .
His choice was referred to as party decision, and as a loyal party party man I embraced him whole heartedly and did my best to market him. However , following the death of prince abubakar Audu , our indefatigable leader and father of APC in KOGI state , the party also decided that ALHAJI yahaya bello should step into the shoe of prince abubakar audu , which was also a party decision similar to the party decision which brought Faleke. This was the point Faleke decided to go to court and reject the position which was where I did not agree with him. At a stakeholder’s meeting with over 50 prominent met in a meeting at my hotel in ABUJA and resolved that faleke should not resign as deputy governor , including some people who today are still with him but less than 48 hours after that he wrote a letter to the party resigning and published it in the news media ,went to court and from then the struggle became the purported Okun agenda.
At this point, as a party man and a Bot member I was left with no option than to support the party until a competent court of law decides otherwise. Faleke loses nothing resigning from the deputy governorship position and has no consideration for the interest of the Okun people or the consequential effect of his action on his people in the over 30 years that we have been working tirelessly to build the unity between the Okun and igbira, for which we have no record of his contribution. One is not surprised therefore that he wants to throw away the little gain we have made in this direction because of his personal interest.
On a second look, one will appreciate why he can do this without caution because he is still a member of the house of representatives and the chairman of the house committee on customs and excise which is a grade A committee of the house that goes to prove his selfishness thereby leaving us , particularly of Okun origin to our faith . this assertion has been confirmed by his return to the house to resume his duty while he continues to sow seed
Conclusively, Faleke should politely continue to pursue the cause he believes in and leave those of us who do not believe in his cause of action so that we do not continue to wash our dirty linens in the public as the asiwaju of Okun land, I promise to continue to strive for the unity and development of okun land and will never engage myself in destructive attacks on any Okun man or woman who do not share at one point of the other the same political view with me.
Okun people have their own traditional way of resolving disputes among themselves through our revered traditional institutions and association which Faleke because of his Lagos background is not cultured to understand .there is no permanent enemy in politics , it is only interest that is permanent.
However as a Balogun that I am , that have fought and won several political wars, I have no doubt in my mind that I will win this political war and the end will justify the means . nobody can be more Okun than I am.
