On April 27th or there about, Senator Representing Kogi West Senatorial District broke down in tears on the floor of the Red Chamber following a hot debate by the House on the state of insecurities ravaging the country. Expressing his displeasure with the happenings and the APC led administration’s approach to handling the situation, Smart bent head to knees and wept bitterly.
“I’m a party man and I’m supporting APC but it has gotten to a point that as supporters we cannot keep quiet,“This is the worst instability we are facing. In fact, this is worse than the civil war” Senator Smart bitterly expressed himself.
Before he could finish the statements above, Senator Remi Tinubu who was seated beside him jumped on the discussion in an attempt to clap the Kogi Senator down, or perhaps cow him. I am beginning to agree that Smart was eventually cowed following his disappearance after these heated confrontations.
In 2007, when Smart began his first term as Senator; Kogi West experienced an exile style of representative and had to endured the mockery of having her Senator taking pride in investing heavily in neighboring states instead of his district or birth-state. This would continue even till his second term in office.
Senator Adeyemi lost touch with his constituents and was less accessible as time progressed. Following the birth of the All Progressive Congress (APC) before the 2015 general election in the country, Smart Adeyemi had vowed never to join the party and even placed a curse on himself if he should eventually becomes a member of the party. But things rapidly changed and we all witnessed a dramatic switch of Senator Adeyemi to the APC following a historic defeat by Dino Melaye during the general election in 2015, and it became a slogan that the Atári Ajànaku got tamed by a child.
Senator Smart applied a basic rule: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. He saw a crack in the bond between Senator Dino Melaye and Governor Yahaya Bello’s government, then capitalized on it. I do not blame Senator Smart for acting Smart; as he was only living up to his name, and we all understood why he had to make sure a crucial decision to save his ambition and pocket.
Now that the Distinguish Senator Smart Adeyemi is with the ballers and people he once called names, one could then consider Senator Remi Tinubu’s statement, calling Smart Adeyemi a wolf in sheep’s clothing as he made attempt to degenerate the party’s efforts to tackling insecurity.
Could this be the reason we all have not heard from the Kogi West Senator? What happened to the voice crying out in the wilderness for the masses? A messiah that only lasted for hours and vanished without a trace. Something must be happening in the background that we are all ignorant of. And since we elected him into that position, we deserves to know what suddenly happened to the voice of Senator Adeyemi.
In 2023 Smart Adeyemi would have clocked twelve years as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. His hometown, Iyara, is the headquarter of Ijumu Local Government Area, and this town is without road networks, basic amenities, and have youth roaming the streets without basic empowerments. What has the Iyara-born done to address these looming cracks in his hometown? Absolutely Nothing! It will interest you to know that Senator Adeyemi completed his residential home in Iyara to a befitting standard when he returned to Senate after defeating Senator Dino in court. This he recently did despite having mansions in Ilorin, Abuja, and other Nigerian states.
While I have been trying hard to avoid Adeyemi’s schemes of succeeding Governor Yahaya Bello as Governor, I can not help but mention it; as same question is on the lips of many. Even as we all have the right to vote and be voted for, I am urging the Ajànaku Senator to please focus on Kogi West Senatorial District and not be distracted by an ambition that is dead on arrival. He should learn from Governor Yahaya Bello who is focused on providing dividends of democracy in Kogi State, with tons of laudable capital projects across the state.
Judging from Adeyemi’s antecedents, he lacks the moral values of nursing a gubernatorial ambition. As Senator, he lost touch with his people for over a decade. How then can we trust him with a whole State?
The good people of Kogi West Senatorial District deserves quality representative and would not take a mannequin as Leader. Even if Smart is not ready or willing to invest in the Kogi West, we need him to be active on the floor of the Senate and not cowed.
– Kelvin Oluseyi Eleta, a writer, author and content developer, writes from Abuja, Nigeria.
