That the people’s senator and voice of the voiceless and the under privileged was denied by the power that be a return ticket to the green chamber of the National Assembly to represent the good people of Kogi West senatorial district is no longer news. The news is the level of political gang-up deployed for the sole purpose of stopping the senator because of his rising political profile that threatens their political relevance as the race to the Lord Lugard House come 2023 thickens.
The people of the Kogi West senatorial district are today still surprised by the way delegates that voted in the recently held APC primaries were surreptiously handpicked by some vested interest in the state and rail roaded to vote against the most performing senator from the state, Senator Smart Adeyemi.
It is really surprising that the senator who no one can accuse of not paying his dues in the Senate is today the focal point of this gangup and to what purpose and intent, our people are left to guesstimate.
Smart Adeyemi, undeniably has earned for himself much accolade and applause because of his pro-people agenda and loquacious advocacy for the masses is today sacrificed at the alter of greed and inordinate amount. The loss of his presence in the hallow chamber alone is a bitter pill which would take our people a longer time to swallow and this is true when his performances is being peer-reviewed with his peers in the Senate from the state.
We have indeed lost going into the Senate, a high ranking senator that has provided a responsive and quality representations to his people’s benefit and in the process stimulated developments to his district.
This piece was not written to mourn the ‘loss’ of the senator but it is more about exposing the gangup sponsored and implemented by some vested political rent-seeking individuals that has sacrificed one of the most experienced and vocal senator of our time in the name of politics of who occupies the Lord Lugard House in 2023.
Despite his loss in the senatorial primaries and the opposition of the known vested interests against his political aspirations that are people close to the governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, Senator Adeyemi has shown maturity by exhibiting over and over again that he had no regrets by supporting the aborted presidential bid of the governor because he feels it was the right thing to do.
There was wide spread irregularities at the primaries that was occassioned by the changes in the names of delegates and imposition of a particular candidate to serve the destructive interests of this manipulative vested interest. That he, Senator Adeyemi, contested the primaries against the state chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Bello, who asked him to step down and only work fully for the presidential ambition of the governor shows his love for his people who he knows yearn for more years for him in the Senate to continue to deliver the dividend of democracy to them.
The conditions set for him to step down by this vested interest in the state, for the benefit of those who never knew, was for him to take on the chief of staff, which is technocratic in nature when the governor eventually emerged as president. This does not in anyway align to the senator’s personal goals as a journalist and a crusader for the masses.
When he declared against the wish of this vested interest that he is going ahead to contest for the Senate seat of the district, he knows he was going to face one of the bumpiest voyages of his political life. No wonder he was greeted with injustices, intimidation and above all elites conspiracy. This vested interest against senator Smart Adeyemi are not interested in the people’s development or that of the district that the senator’s impact in the Senate have brought to bear a lot of developmental bearings.
That he immediately turned down this offer and informed the state chairman, unambigiously, that his training as a journalist would not permit him to aspire to this role and as such there was a need to fine- tune things to accommodate everyone was the main reason for the gangup against his going back to the Senate and this is not in doubt.
When has jealousy become a norm in politics? I say political jealousy because the political credentials of Senator Adeyemi is becoming intimidating to this vested interest that they insist he must be stopped.To them, no one has got a fourth term chance in the sentorial district or in the state and Adeyemi would not be an exception.
The leadership of the APC and some highly positioned appointees of government led by the chief of staff to the governor were empowered to work against the ranking senator in the primaries and the fact is there vividly for all to see. The masses are still stunned by the way things played out and are worried that they have indeed been denied the quality representation of the senator and the benefits of what a ranking senator brings to his district in the mould of developments.
Considering the fact that Senator Smart Adeyemi was one of those that worked assidiously hard as the director-general of the Bello campaign organisation to give the governor a second term in office and also one of the chief backer of the governor when he was seeking to contest for the presidential ticket of the APC at the recently held presidential primaries of the APC, many are surprised that under his watch as governor and political leader of the APC, he looked the other side when Senator Smart Adeyemi was been politically persecuted and sacrificed.
Senator Adeyemi, known for his politics without bitterness stance will always be regarded as the voice of the masses and his contribution to the robust discussions in the Senate would be greatly missed.
For the people of Kogi West senatorial district who has shown consistently through their votes that they recognised a good leader when they see one and they saw one in Senator Smart Adeyemi, the time to rise up to the occasion and defend their constitutional right by always insisting that they remain the recruiter of leaders as this is their constitutional entrenched rights.
Senator Adeyemi has done really well and his best would always be his political capital as he towered higher than all his traducers put together.
The political capital of Senator Smart Adeyemi can never be diminished by any one. This is amply demonstrated previously when even though the Kogi West people have decided to vote for Engr Musa Wada, the PDP governorship candidate, the senator led his people massively to vote for Yahaya Bello, as the candidate of the APC to overwhelmingly win the election in the district. This is a demonstration of the people’s confidence in him as their political leader.
The political environment of the Kogi West senatorial district has a dentist factor leader recruited by the people and this leader cannot be changed by any vested interests. It is advisable that the APC should do all they can to assuage the feelings of injustice and political betrayal seemingly seen to have been done to the people of Kogi West during the primaries in the district.
A stitch in time saves.
– Musa Wada writes from Abuja.
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