BATCO-MANDATE SHENANIGANS: HOW THEIR COOKIES CRUMBLED

Honestly, maybe due to the humanity in us, we really feel for the Batco-Mandate warlords, who had held Alimosho in captivity for the last two decades, but are now crying from one LCDA to the other, when the harvest time came for them to reap what they thought they had sowed. Though they had wrecked so many havocs and have not even stopped with the way they are running the six councils in Alimosho, however, they just realized that, their days are numbered and so, the unwarranted outburst. Nevertheless, there is the need to set the records straight, may be, for the sake of those that may feel they deserve any kind of pity.

The major import of their recent 'campaigns' was that they have been accused of voting for Labour in the last presidential elections and that was why they have been denied of the commissioner-ship slot of Alimosho. Well, that is the truth! The question is, how?

There is this Yoruba saying, that, 'bi eniyan ba nyo'lda, ohun buburu a maa yo iru won se'. During the primary election between Sir Ayo Akinyemi and Hon Yemi Adedeji, your boss, Aregbesola, queued behind Sir Ayo Akinyemi, while others were behind Hon Yemi Adedeji, please, who did Aregbe vote for?

In Ondo state, when Asiwaju preferred Segun Abraham as our party's flag bearer, who did Aregbesola 'vote' for? Fast forward this to the recent Osun drama, who did Aregbesola 'vote' for?

Now, let's come down to his ardent followers, during the last local government elections, which party did these Batco-Mandate adherents vote for in most of the wards they believed that our party's councillorship candidates were not from their fold, despite the fact that they had 26 out of the 36 councillorship slots inAlimosho? The case of ward A in Agbado Oke Odo was even worse, as the Council Chairman under APC, was parading a fake court injunction from Accord party against the candidate of his own party! Haba, our fathers are quite wise when they submit that, 'owu iya gbon, 'lo'mo o ran'.

At the leadership meeting held at state house, where Asiwaju himself addressed all the leaders in Lagos state, are you guys doubting the information released by Asiwaju himself on Alimosho, or are you saying that Asiwaju, by his status, cannot get the correct information on what was happening in Lagos? He told Enilolobo face to face, that how dare you collect money from me and still use my money against me? Enny was there, Uzamat was there, Bisi Yusuf was there, are you saying that Asiwaju was acting on a bias information? The PYO youth campaign that was held in Ibadan had the full attendance of Alimosho youths, sponsored by the 6 council chairmen in Alimosho, was that influenced by Princess Joke Orelope-Adefulire again?

Finally and the most unfortunate one, was the position of Alh Abdulahi Enilolobo, when he stood up to speak at the reconciliation panel set up by the state and headed by Hon Danmole. Your apex leader stood up, arrogantly as usual, and analyse how he had been in charge of the 100 percent power in Alimosho and suddenly, it was slashed to 55 percent. He then asked that alarming question in Yoruba language, 'se eyin naa le gba'rue'. As if Alimoso is his personal inheritance! 'Aje ke lana, omo ku l'oni,...'.

These are just a few of your antecedents, for you to know that, the art of betrayal, unwholesomeness and disloyalty had been the traits from your political grandfather, Ogbeni Aregbesola, to your 'father' Enilolobo and so, you guys are already caught in that web.

Should you have any doubt with the above facts, we will try to give you some facts and figures from the last presidential elections that really gave your group away as having worked assiduously against Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu which had made it sacrilegious for any of you to benefit from the hard earned victory that pervades Alimosho federal constituency.

A study was carried out on the election results from the major gladiators from Batco-Mandate group and ASM group, the outcome was devastating.

Before that, let's quickly make a very important clarification over these bogus claim that Batco-Mandate group had always put forward the most popular and acceptable aspirants for primary elections. That is not correct. Party faithfuls in Alimosho progressive family had always adhere to the pronouncement of the leaders when the leaders were seen to be just and fair to a reasonable extent. At that time, all tendencies were carried along once the selections were made. The advent of Enilolobo brought about the highest bidder, where people, even, living outside Alimosho are being considered over hard working party faithfuls. Despite the fact that they had the total state machinery in their control, they still resort to assaulting and intimidation during primary elections. So, there is no way they can now claim to have won any primary elections.

The last house of Assembly primary elections they are now claiming to have won had been initially skewed in their favour via the state machinery that had been in their possession. They had used the state Chairman, through Alimosho LGA party chairman, Mr Fatoki, to share the delegates in their favour, after using Army and Civil defence to disrupt the election of delegates within Alimoso. Then, I want to ask them, where do they conduct the primary election for the House of Representatives which they presently occupy after disrupting the official one conducted by the state where two lives were lost?

In that video of their meeting held in Mosan-Okunola, where Alhaji Yisa Yusuf was seen, sweating profusely and lamenting on the devastating effect the loss of power will have on him, it was quite understandable, as he is the sole beneficiary of all political dividends in that council. Alhaji Oriire was obviously not interested even when Alh Y.Y. asked if anyone had anything to add to what he had said, because he (Alhaji Orire) knew that they were only using him to authenticate all their shenanigans. Alhaji Yisa Yusuf and his wife remains the major beneficiary in Mosan Okunola lcda. Unfortunately, Alhaji Y.Y. is already preparing a soft landing for himself under Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire's leadership. At the last birthday celebration of Hon Abel Badejo, a known stalwart of the ASM camp, Alhaji Y.Y. was seen present at that man's house as early as 7am, to receive the early callers at Baba Badejo's birthday, a place he had never visited in the last ten years, yet, their followers are 'banned' from relating with this same group! I hope the zombies following them will wake up on time.

Anyway, let's come back to the fact and figures table. The presidential election results from the polling units of the principal stakeholders of the two groups in the 6 LCDAs.

The end, they say, justifies the means. The above dismal performance by most of their apex leaders in their areas totally negates the wrong notion given to people at the state level that they have more followers than the ASM. A sane person would wonder why they could not transform their acclaimed popularity to votes during the general elections. They are merely using the state machinery handed over to them by Ogbeni Aregbesola to keep tormenting our people.

From the results above, the margin of win from 21 units of the ASM, more than double the margin of win from the 22 units of BATCO/Mandate at 679:261! These results are not mere coincidence but a proper reflection of the true facts on ground. Another painful aspect was that 75% of the total funds for the elections went to the BATCO/Mandate leaders who could not deliver, while the six (6) council chairmen who sat over the election funds for the Local Government election collectively failed the party.

 

1.  ASM gladiators polled 1,690 votes as against 1,251 votes garnered by Mandate gladiators

2.  Net votes (APC votes less LP votes) showed that ASM holders contributed more positively to total APC winning votes than Mandate votes by 418.

3.  Despite ASM not having any Council Chairman, they performed better than Mandate holders that have 100% of Council Chairmen.

4.  With all the party resources in the hands of BATCO/ Mandate group, the Council Chairmen collectively ended with negative net votes – (No value addition whatsoever).

5.   The 3 LGA Chairmen in ASM also outperformed their Mandate counterparts by 102

6.    Gladiators without any portfolio significantly performed better in ASM than their Mandate counterparts. 

7.    Council Vice-Chairmen of ASM domain outshine their BATCO/Mandate Council Vice-Chairmen.

'Oro agba, bikose l'owuro, bope titi, ase lojo ale'. This brings to mind, one of the powerful songs that is common in the political circle.

'... B'iro ba loo, l'ogun odun… Ajantiele…

Ododo mboo, bii baalu ni, ... Ajantiele… 

A maa le'hin, oro yi a maa le'hin ... Ajantiele…

Your lies had actually lasted for the said 20 years and the truth had just caught up with it, so, why the unnecessary wailings and curses? Infact, you are just creating more problems for yourselves as those curses are surely coming back to you who had worked for it.

Now, let's burst your brain a little, did you even know that your political grandfather, Aregbesola, actually foresee this calamity befallen you and actually tried to caution your father, Enilolobo, by advising him on what to do to avert or, better still, postpone the evil day? Some years ago, sensing the danger in all the political steps he was taking, Ogbeni Aregbesola called Enilolobo and one particular politician to his house, and warned Enilolobo seriously that he should make sure he works hand in hand with this said politician to protect his leadership for long. Enny never yielded. Again, after the hullabaloo that followed the emergence of Sanwoolu's first term, Ogbeni still had the opportunity of calling this same man with Enilolobo to his house again, but pride and ego will not allow Enny to see the danger his political father had seen looming, even if he had wanted to, the greed of his closest ally, Alhaji Yisa Yusuf and co will not allow him. Enilolobo will not deny these fact.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, how we wish that your 'apex' leader was aware and conscious of these, he might not have gotten into this mess. Ask Enilolobo, how he had once looked down on Engr Hamzat and insulted him, today, he is the deputy governor of Lagos state. Your almighty Enilolobo, once walked up to the speaker, Rt Hon Obasa, denigrated him and boasted that they will deal with him, why now crying that Obasa is behind your predicament? Oh, have you forgotten what your boss came to do in one of Agbado Oke Odo LGA general meeting? He caused the puppet leadership of that LCDA under Hon Yemi Adedeji to remove Hon Lateef Ibirogba and some leaders in that council from 'their' party and you think nemesis will be watching? Today, that Ibirogba is the Southwest Organizing secretary of our party at the national level.

Just like one of the leaders warned Aregbesola then, that the monster he was building in Enilolobo will soon consume him, this had just been fulfilled. This is a guy that became so intoxicated with power and threw away the values that Yorubas are known for, he addresses those that are old enough to be his father as if they are mates. From Aregbesola to late Adimula, Hon Bisi Yusuf, Alhaji Oriire and the rest, how many of them does he care to accord that respect to whenever he wants to call them? And you think there will be no repercussions?

Another thing that beats our imagination is the ease with which these pathological liers tell lies and look straight, forgetting that Yoruba wise saying, that, 'eniyan meji kii padanu iro, bi eniti won ba nparo fun ko ba mo, eniti o nparo a saa mo pe iro ni oun npa'.

When we heard Sanjee, the LGA Chairman of Egbe Idimu's lamentation, one can understand, but his submission on the person of Sola Popoola was ridiculously. How can any sane political leader in Alimoso doubt the competence of Sola Popoola when it comes to election matters in Alimoso as a whole! This was a man that was literarily nick named the 'Jega of our time' in Agbado Oke Odo lcda! He was one of the six men that always head the INEC contact committee in Alimoso, whose sole aim then was for election purpose. Others were Mrs Alamu from Alimoso, Tope Ogungbemi from Egbe, Abiodun Agbaje from Ayobo, Lawal Adesina from Mosan and Wale Azeez from Igando. This was the same man whom all other party agents were asked to defer to in the local government election that led to the temporary taking over of Agbado Oke Odo lcda secretariat by Jawe of the PDP. He stood his ground for the party in court against that fearful PDP SAN, Barr. Kalejaiye to the extent that the judge had to order that he should not be allowed out of court when the court went for break in one of the proceedings. He damned all forms of intimidations from the PDP and was actually beaten up at the secretariat one day, yet, he was unwavering. It is therefore a disservice and an art of ungratefulness for someone like Alhaji Akibu, who was a nobody in the party at that time, order than a political thug, to openly denigrate a loyal, committed and dedicated party man like Sola Popoola.

Come to think of it, how did the incompetence of any agent affect the dismal performance of most of the Batco-Mandate leaders at their polling units? Was it these 'sleeping agents', as claimed by your leaders, that wrote the polling unit results of all the ASM gladiators that performed excellently in their polling units against yours? 'Efi ete s'ile, e npa lapalapa kaakiri', bunch of failures.

'Amukun r'eru, e'lowo l'ori, wo isale wo, isale lo mu ori wo'. Can't you guy's see that you are actually the architect of your misfortune? What is manifesting today is the explosion within the Mandate group in Alimoso, where majority of those actually working for the party are being maligned and denied by the powers that be. These people left and join forces with Her Excellency and today the result of the last presidential elections from various polling units had now shown very clearly those who are actually behind the electoral successes of Alimosho federal constituency.

However, it is pretty clear that the major objective behind that Batco-Mandate meeting held across the 6 LCDAs was to quickly do some damage control to curtail the dwindling membership of your drowning caucus. You needed to tell more lies and draw sympathy from your few remaining innocent followers. It's quite unfortunate that no lies had ever lasted forever.

Castigating and cursing of Her Excellency, Princess Joke Orelope-Adefulire, cannot be the way out for you order than to go back and retrace your steps, for God is a merciful One. What we see happening in Alimosho is not anybody's doing, but that of the Almighty and the more reason why we will conclude by warning those who may feel they are the champions today, to be careful for the architect of good tidings in Alimosho is watching closely.

Alimosho is too large a constituency to be administered by an individual, rather, a system of administration be mapped out that will decentralize power from the center and have capable hands in each LCDA's to man the affairs there and only defer to a central body on constituecy issues. By so doing, each of the six will develop faster under an autonomous leadership system.