Why the choice of Dupe Bakare as consensus candidate cannot stand. My attention has been drawn to a consensual arrangement that purportedly produced Mrs Dupe Bakare of Temidire-Ekiti in Ekamarun Ward, Ijero Constituency I, and I wish to make my position known on this crucial matter of political concern.
I am a true born of Iloro-Ekiti, bona fide member of Iloro Ward B, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a Nigerian. I state, and I stand to be challenged, that political representation in Ijero Local Government Area, from time immemorial, has always been based on the time-honoured principle of rotation. Hence, House of Assembly and local government council chairmanship, the two positions that combine the communities and the 12 political wards of the local government area have always been rotated on a 2-constituency basis.
For clarity, Ijero Local Government Area initially had three State Assembly constituencies at the inception of democracy in 1979. The Babangida administration during the controversial political experiment of Third Republic reduced the three constituencies to two, with Ijero Municipal (4 wards) and Ekameta and Ekamarun wards becoming Constituency I, and Ipoti wards A and B, Iloro A and Iloro/Ijurin Ward B, Ikoro and Odo-Owa wards constituting Constituency II. The political positions that combine the entire local government area are, therefore, rotated in such a way that they are not concentrated in a single constituency.
It is quite apposite to state here that the General Sani Abacha, during his own political transition programme, again reduced the two constituencies to a single one as we have it today. But the rotational principle has endured, though Abacha’s transition programme was truncated owing to his abrupt demise in 1998. Consequently, at the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999, the 2-constituency rotation did not abate, in spite of the fact that Ijero Local Government Area had regressed to a single constituency. This principle of rotation has always engendered peace and order and forestalled rancour among our people.
A cursory look at the history of representation in the State Assembly from 1999 – date would suffice:
1999 – 2003 – Yinka Obasa/Kole Obaweya (Ijero) – Constituency I
2003 – 2007 – G. S. Eyeowa (Ijero) – Constituency I
2007 – 2011 – Lai Oke (Ipoti A) – Constituency II
2011 – 2015 – Wumi Ogunlola (Ijero) – Constituency I
2015:- 2019 – Akinleye Maxima (Ijurin/Iloro B) Constituency II
2019 – 2023 -:Demola Ojo (Ijero) – Constituency I
2023 – 2027 – Demola Ojo (Ijero) – Constituency I
From the foregoing, it is evidently clear that from 1999 to date, we have had seven terms, out of which Constituency I has had five while Constituency II has only had two.
The present House Assembly man from Constituency I has been there since 2019, just about to complete a second term now. It is, therefore, against the law of natural justice, fairness and equity for the State Assembly slot to move from Ijero to Ekamarun, the sixth ward of the same Constituency I in 2027. Justice demands that Constituency II be allowed to have a shot at the State Assembly seat. Even in the Constituency II, it’s Iloro A that is the most rightful of all the wards in the constituency, having had her last shot at the State Assembly seat in 1979 – 1983 in the Second Republic in the old Ondo State when the local government area consisted of three constituencies.
It is, therefore, not only surprising, but rudely shocking that the name of Mrs Dupe Bakare, the current chairperson of Irewolede LCDA suddenly surfaced as the consensus candidate of our great party, APC, for the 2027 State Assembly election.
In politics, I think performance and sterling personal attributes should be the major yardstick for determining representation. But the outcome of the purported consensus has failed to justify this.
For the records, I challenge her to avail the constituency of her achievements as a two-term chairperson of Irewolede LCDA..
I also challenge her to deny that she was requested to assist Iloro-Ekiti, the headquarters of the LCDA she chairs where water from Aiyetoro-Ekiti (less than 1 km to her office) water substation was cut off because of a mere broken pipe during road repairs. Iloro and axis have lacked pipe-borne water throughout her two tenures as chair of the LCDA.
Let me state unequivocally that I’m in total support of the 2026 Electoral Act, particularly as it concerns the emergence of political parties’ candidates.
I also wish to put it on record that my support for Governor Abiodun Oyebanji’s re-election remains unwavering. And as the leader of our great party, his wisdom is urgently sought in resolving the issue of the candidate that will represent Ijero Constituency in the State House of Assembly come 2027.
Abiodun Borisade
