There are strong indications that former gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party in the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State, Hon. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, may dump the party for the All Progressives Congress on Saturday at the presidential rally of Major General Muhammadu Buhari in the state.
It was gathered that Bamidele, representing Ekiti Central 1 Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, has struck a new deal with the national leaders of the APC to work together to ensure the victory of Buhari in the February 14 election in the state.
Bamidele, it would be recalled, dumped the then Action Congress of Nigeria, on which platform he got to the National Assembly, to contest the governorship on the LP platform when the ACN and other opposition parties formed the APC and denied him the opportunity to contest the governorship ticket of the party with former Governor Kayode Fayemi, who was adopted by the party as the sole candidate.
Both Fayemi and Bamidele lost the poll to Ayo Fayose, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate.
Media aide to Bamidele, Ahmed Salami who confirmed the new development, said Bamidele and some leaders of the APC met at the Lagos home of a national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, where a new deal to record a landslide victory for Buhari was sealed.
Ahmed said Bamidele, who led Ekiti Bibire Coalition in Ekiti State, has decided to work with the state APC.
He added: “The Ekiti Bibire leader, Bamidele, had consented not only to the idea of deploying his enormous political network in Ekiti to mobilize crowd for Major General Buhari, who will visit Ekiti State tomorrow (Saturday) in furtherance of his electioneering campaign, but to ensure that he clinches majority of the votes during the presidential poll.
“In the new political realignment, Bamidele had met with the national leader of the party and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, where a deal to coalesce the two structures to ensure landslide winning for APC Presidential candidate, General Buhari in the February poll, was sealed.”
Ahmed listed leaders on both sides at the Lagos meeting to include Chief Diran Adesua, former Commissioner for works; Chief Yimika Olumilua ,wife of former Governor old Ondo State; Bishop Gabriel Oloniyo; Hon. Ropo Ige, Director General Ekiti Bibiire Coalition; Chief Remi Oguntuase, Chairman Ekiti Bibiire Coalition; Hon. Odunayo Ategbero, former Commissioner of Information; Akogun Bunmi Ogunleye, former Chairman House of Assembly Service Commission; Prince Akin Olayisadem former Chairman of SUBEB in Ekiti State; Hon. Adebayo Morakinyo, former Member Ekiti State House of Assembly.
Before the extended meeting with the Bibire leaders, the Deputy National Chairman of the party and ex-governor of Ekiti State, Engineer Segun Oni, had met with Bamidele and his supporters in Iyin Ekiti last Saturday, where they got a green light that the deal would be successful.
It was reliably gathered that Bamidele’s group had a fruitful deliberation with Tinubu and efforts to deliver Ekiti State for the APC presidential flag bearer is now the main agenda.
A source in the meeting revealed that Tinubu appealed to Bamidele to continue to strive hard to ensure that the APC regains its strength in Ekiti State, describing him as a reliable compatriot that has the capacity to turn the fortunes of the party around.
The source said: “Tinubu said he believes that the two sides, both Bibire Coalition and APC, can work together having shared the same political ideology and common agenda.
“I believe that the APC did not lose Ekiti election because the Peoples Democratic Party and his candidate, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, were strong, but because Bamidele and ex-Governor Kayode Fayemi allowed their ranks to be polarized.
“I still believe that if you return to the party, the PDP will run into trouble in Ekiti.
“My own concern now is how you can win Ekiti for General Buhari and that task must be achieved through all constitutional means, which is to go home and campaign vigorously.”
Tinubu was said to have told the members of the coalition that their experiences and grassroots mobilization ingenuity are needed to launch the APC back to reckoning in Ekiti State, the idea the members had rejected, saying defection en-block to the APC is not on the card for now.
A leader of the coalition, who spoke copiously about Tinubu’s generosity and sense of forgiveness and love for his protégés, had said the party would only work for the victory of Buhari in the presidential poll, having considered him the best of all presidential candidates that can liberate the country from the pangs of Boko Haram attack, obscene corruption, unemployment and other social ills that had eaten deep into the nation’s fabrics.
Knowing that the Bibire leaders were resolute to remain in their party and fight for the 2015 State and National Assembly elections, where they had fielded candidates, Tinubu was said to have given them the option of being allowed to go home, ruminate over the option and consult widely to know the next line of action.
Tinubu was said to have told them another meeting will be held before the February elections to take a final decision on the future of APC together.
He was quoted as having said: “I want you to know that in my mind, I believe that we are all products of the same political family. We share the same background and ideology together. It was only political differences that divided us but our minds still coincide and that is to ensure that the country is put back on the path of political and economic rebirth in the interest of all of us.
“The APC should be seen as our baby and I believe that by the time we hold the next meeting, we will reason together and know exactly where we are going.”
The beauty of it all was that Bamidele and other Bibire leaders, however, consented to work for Buhari and they would be on ground on Saturday at the Ekiti Parapo Pavilion with their teeming supporters to rally support for the APC presidential candidate.