Prior to 1992, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Lee Atwater, had only one task and that was to ensure the re-election of George H. W. Bush. No other aspirant posed serious risks to the success of this task as Arkansas Governor William Jefferson Clinton (Bill Clinton) who was seeking re-election as governor and also taking a shot at the presidency on the bill of the Democratic Party.
Atwater’s strategy was to pull Clinton down before he had the chance to emerge as the Democratic presidential candidate, and to do this, he got Democratic congressman Tommy Robinson to defect to the Republican Party and contest the Arkansas governorship election against his former ally and party man, Clinton.
Not knowing he was being used as a “battering ram”, Robinson probably concluded that he was popular and loved by Atwater while in actual fact the only thing Atwater cared about was returning the Bush Senior for a second term in office, as he observed in a meeting he had in Washington with some political operatives from Arkansas: “You boys have to remember, I don’t give a fuck who the governor of Arkansas is. My only job as chairman of the Republican National Committee is to get George Bush re-elected. We’re going to take Tommy Robinson and use him to throw everything we can think of at Clinton – drugs, women, whatever works. We may or may not win, but we’ll bust him up so bad he won’t be able to run again for years.” And did they rip Clinton open? Maybe. But the bottomline was that they failed to stop Clinton who went on to win the presidential elections.
And Robinson? He didn’t even win the Republican Party primaries to make the election and had since lost every election he contested, up until 2002 when he was whitewashed by a since-retired Democratic candidate Marion Berry in an election to the US Congress. He even lost the farm (Ag-Pro Farms II) he retired to due to financial difficulties.
This is what happens to a battering ram, or a mop; it is used to mop up spilled liquid and afterwards dumped, or at best squeezed and put in the sun to dry.
It is a religious fact that in politics, especially prior to elections, the tactic is always to make the other person look bad, but not without limitations. This is not to say there had never been politicians who threw all caution to the winds, but maybe sometimes, we expect more from some people, not because they are in any way more decent than the average politicians, but because of the dictates of our culture – the African culture.
For some time now, I have watched the line being towed by the representative of Ado/Irepodun/Ifelodun Constituency in the lower chamber, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele. I have watched how he manages to see the ill in every achievement of the Fayemi administration. I have also followed what I would call his one-sided altercation with Babafemi Ojudu (because he seemed to have done all the talking). My decision was to stay on the sidelines because as a Nigerian, Bamidele, whom most know as MOB, has a right to talk and he also damn well has a right to aspire to the position of the governor of his state. Even when he gets up and utters things like: “The Ekiti that I see is one that still grapples with the problem of over 25,000 people who are blind, over 7,000 people with hearing defect and over 9,000 people with speaking defects”, I am hardly bothered because I know in politics statistics are usually bandied by politicians because they know most people are too lazy to cross-check the facts or challenge its source.
But this is the same Ekiti where nearly all the roads are now motorable. The same Ekiti where those above 65 years of age get N5, 000 stipend monthly from government for their upkeep. The same Ekiti where Ikogosi Warm Spring, long abandoned, is now the cynosure of all eyes. The same Ekiti where Ire Burnt Bricks Industry that was abandoned for 23 years has now come alive. The same Ekiti where every school child owns a laptop computer. The same Ekiti which capital, Ado-Ekiti – my town- has become the pride of all. At least this much was acknowledged by NLC and TUC Presidents when they visited Ekiti.
This is the Ekiti that I see! I do not say everything is alright with Ekiti, but then nowhere is completely perfect, and Ekiti is miles from where Fayemi met it. Ekiti is a work under construction, but the engineer (Fayemi) in charge is sure doing a good job. If another engineer wants his job, he should be telling us how he hopes to do a better job, not going to town with tales of woes, for Ekiti is not a land of woes. The words of Bill Clinton during the second term campaign of Barack Obama keep ringing in my head: “In order to look like an acceptable alternative to President Obama, they couldn’t say much about the ideas they have offered over the last two years.”
Part of the attributes of a good leader is the ability to appreciate the good in others. Anyone who sees only the ills in people cannot be a good leader and he definitely is not a good person. Someone once wrote: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, but the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
I am seriously bothered about MOB because he seems to also play politics with important things, especially grief and for the past few days, I have been wondering what kind of governor he would be, or the kind of representative he is now. As a thoroughbred journalist, I’d discard with the allegations and focus on the facts. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele represents Ekiti Central Federal Constituency 1 where Adunni Olayinka, the late Deputy Governor hailed from. Though a Deputy Governor, the fact was that Adunni was one of those MOB represents in the lower chamber and one would think that while the 7-day mourning period lasted, MOB would dispense with politics and show pity and sympathy to the family of the late Olayinka, especially the Famuaguns, who are also MOB’s constituents. I would personally expect that he would do Adunni the honour of being a decent representative in death, because if he couldn’t bestow such honour on Olayinka who was eminent, what then is the fate of common Ado and Irepodun/Ifelodun people like myself whom MOB represents? Do we count for something at all to him? Aren’t we just votes to MOB?
While we were and are still mourning Adunni Olayinka in my great town, Ado-Ekiti, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele was, in his words: “I was in Igede-Ekiti to complete the negotiation for an office accommodation for my situation office in Ado-Ekiti.” This was where he claimed to have been attacked. One may ask why he would wait for almost two years to have a situation office, or is it his governorship campaign situation office? Oh, it must be! Because if it isn’t, he would have called it a constituency office. So while we grieved, MOB was more concerned about politics. I am not saying he shouldn’t or couldn’t rent a space for his situation office; I am asking if he couldn’t put it on hold until after the 7-day mourning period, at least as an honour to the dead, a fellow party member? Does that mean everything is politics to MOB, even grief? While Ado people whom he claims to represent were mourning one of their own, MOB seemed to have been greatly concerned about his governorship ambition.
I know kindness is not a constitutional prerequisite for leadership, but kindness is a prerequisite for being human and it is what makes us feel the grief of others, and their joy too. I do not in any way support the attack on MOB, if it was true (as politicians are capable of staging attacks on themselves to attract public sympathy) as I am not an apostle of violence and I also believe MOB has a right to be governor. What he, however, does not have a right to do (though not constitutionally stated) is to play politics-as-usual while his constituents grieve. What he has no moral right to do is to continue to junket up and down placing more importance on a governorship ambition than the loss of one of his constituents. What he has no right to do is to continue to utter vain political rhetoric at this time that we are mourning the late Deputy Governor. If he, however, says he damn well has a right to do all those things, we will let him, after all he is a lawyer and should be able to quote one or two constitutional jargons that give him such rights.
We will let him continue to play his politics of know-no-grief, but we may just warn him to remember Tommy Robinson, the congressman who was used as a battering ram against Bill Clinton, but lost in the end.
I leave MOB with the words of Bill Clinton: “When times are tough, constant conflict may be good politics, but in the real world, cooperation works better.”
May Adunni Funmilayo Olayinka rest in peace!
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