I have kept saying it, whatever it is, that Governor Makinde thought are going to be the strength of Bimbo Adekanmbi as his anointed gubernatorial candidate, being a former Deputy Chief of Staff and Commissioner for Finance under the late former Governor Abiola Ajimobi, are also going to be his albatross and undoing.
I have watched several clips and full video of Bimbo Adekanmbi’s interview on the ARISE NEWS program, The Morning Show, anchored by Dr. Reuben Abati, Rufai Oseni and one other broadcast.
I watched those clips several times and I took a very deep and critical look at the performance of the Allied People’s Movement, APM gubernatorial candidate for Oyo state.
In the end, I concluded that Bimbo Adekanmbi went to the show, he saw but unfortunately for him, he was completely rattled and taken apart.
If he thought he was going to the show to shake off the ” Seyi Makinde stooge” garment, he ended up coming out worse.
In actual fact, there was a point I started feeling for the gentleman. Like, I felt pity for him.
Before today, I usually do not have any sympathy for him. I used to believe that whatever happens to him in the course of harvesting where he did not sow, should be considered as his choice. However, today, I saw things differently.
Sometimes, you convinced yourself that you were doing the right thing. Most especially, in your bid to aspire for higher positions.
Bimbo Adekanmbi contested to become a Senator under the All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2023 and he lost.
He must have convinced himself that the manner with which he was “denied “the ticket was enough reason for him to leave the APC.
I have two problems with that, first, he has been saying that the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi head-hunted him and brought him to politics from private service.
He must have been proud of this as it reinforced the belief that he was doing something right in the private sector but there is a second leg to it and it doesn’t favor Adekanmbi.
While he was building his career in the private sector, a lot of people were sacrificing their time, energy and resources to ensure that Ajimobi became governor.
Many of them didn’t enjoy any benefit close to what Bimbo Adekanmbi enjoyed as a Chief of Staff and Commissioner for Finance.
These people didn’t leave the APC because Bimbo Adekanmbi was brought to eat a fat meat on a table, where, he, perhaps contributed nothing.
Failing to get a senatorial ticket at one try is not a good enough reason for Adekanmbi to leave the APC.
Secondly and fortunately for him, those who interviewed him were not aware of this fact. While it is true that Bimbo Adekanmbi actually submitted a letter of resignation to the APC sometimes last year, there are sufficient evidence that only his shell was in the APC until the time he submitted the letter of resignation. His soul had been with Governor Seyi Makinde long before the time.
For the avoidance of doubts, Governor Seyi Makinde actually submitted Bimbo Adekanmbi’s name to president Bola Ahmed Tinubu for appointment as a Minister and this was done immediately after the 2023 general election.
So, how would he explain that? Is it that Governor Seyi Makinde just woke up and saw him in a dream, prompting the Governor to submit his name to Tinubu?
Bimbo Adekanmbi is a very brilliant man, no doubt, but he is on the wrong side and the embarrassment of Tuesday morning is just the beginning. More will come.
He was completely overwhelmed throughout the program, struggling to answer, otherwise, very simple and straightforward questions.
For example, he was asked to defend a statement he made sometimes about the alleged disappearance of the sum of 30bn under the government of the late Ajimobi and he started to stammer!
” For me, the 30b… I didn’t say it went missing…. you must separate the Oyo state Government from the Local Governments…I didn’t attend any JAAC meeting…. the records are there…..”.
I listened to him and I asked, is this the same Bimbo Adekanmbi or someone else who resembles him?
This is someone who was so vocal about this allegations in 2023 but is now suddenly drawing a line between the Oyo State Government and the Local Governments.
In fact, towards the tail end, the man aspiring to take over from Governor Seyi Makinde became so confused that he started mistaking Oyo state for Ogun state!
When his attention was drawn to the fact that he didn’t answer a question about what he was going to do about insecurity as Governor of Oyo state, he kept saying, ” the security in Ogun state.., the security in Ogun state “!
He repeated Ogun state twice!! Who did this to Bimbo Adekanmbi? The gentleman is outrightly not capable of saying anything different from whatever Governor Seyi Makinde has been doing for the past seven years plus! That is the only area he would get his bearings right.
I am so sure that if he had been asked to defend Omi Tuntun 1.0 and 2.0, he would have been singing like a bird and this is the one who is saying he is not going to be a puppet for Seyi Makinde?
The first set of questions fired at him were for him to introduce himself and speak about his key projects for Oyo state.
While our friend utilized the time allotted to him to answer that question to speak glowingly about himself, he completely forgot to speak about Oyo state. He was lost and forgot to address the question about the key projects he has in mind for the state. Imagine that!
Even at the later stages when Dr. Reuben Abati repeated the same question, Adekanmbi started talking to himself.
He missed the opportunity to address the poor state of our secondary and primary education. The infrastructural problems bedeviling our public primary and secondary schools. The yearly decline in the results of WAEC and NECO.
He failed to address the critical issues on Local Government Administration.
I did not for once heard him discuss the peculiarities of the problems of each of the zones of Oyo state and this is a man who just completed a jamboree across the six geo-political zones of the state.
It follows that he saw nothing during his political jamboree. He identified no problems not to talk about the solutions to the problems.
He failed to address the crisis at the Broadcasting Corporations of Oyo state, BCOS.
He didn’t say anything about the debts profile of the state.
He didn’t address the infrastructures in the rural areas. Most especially, the state of our Trunks B, C and D roads.
He failed to address the issue of consultants who have been running our tertiary institutions and Government Agencies and which citizens have been complaining about.
He told us nothing about agriculture and the health sector didn’t catch his attention!
I am surprised that Bimbo Adekanmbi forgot to tell the crew that he is also into selling of Land and Estate Development. He knew that was a red flag, considering Governor Makinde’s penchant for selling of Oyo state assets.
I am also surprised that Adekanmbi agreed that security is a “local thing”. Did he tell Governor Seyi Makinde this when he was trying to exonerate himself from any blames when Bandits attacked Oriire Local Government?
Perhaps, the most embarrassing moment of the whole day was when Rufai Oseni told Adekanmbi that he doesn’t have enough resources to fund his campaign and that Seyi Makinde is going to be responsible for the funding of his campaign.
Honestly, I don’t know why Adekanmbi started arguing with Oseni on this point.
There is no shame in you admitting that, though you wouldn’t have enough for your campaign but you would be relying on goodwill from friends and well wishers.
I think it was ego that did Adekanmbi in, concerning this question.
That question is not as easy to answer as it sounded and Adekanmbi fell into the trap. He wanted to proof that he was rich enough to fund his campaign without the involvement of Governor Seyi Makinde and he fell into a trap of scrutiny and Oseni gave it to him really hard.
Like I said, Bimbo Adekanmbi is a brilliant young man but in the present circumstances, he is a shadow of himself and Oyo state can not afford to take a risk with such an individual.
Presently, he doesn’t have a mind of his own and even, as Governor, he can not have a mind of his own.
He admitted on the program that Governor Seyi Makinde anointed him as his successor.
That statement sounded harmless, but it carries very heavy meaning.
It also contradicts the claim that Bimbo would not be a puppet for the outgoing Governor.
You are not saying that you were anointed by your party and you are looking forward to be anointed by the electorates. You just admitted right away that only the Governor anointed you!
So, how will you now be answerable to the people of Oyo state?
I think we now have enough to confirm our fears about Bimbo Adekanmbi.
He wants to be the Governor of Oyo state to serve as Governor Seyi Makinde’s third term Agenda and we don’t want such a Governor in our state.
Sola Abegunde.
