By Dapo Akinrefon
Mr Opeyemi Michael Bamidele is the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy. In this interview, he faults the judgement delivered by the Ekiti State Election Tribunal, describing it as a sorry situation.

MOB, as he is fondly called, however, expresses optimism that the Court of Appeal will rule in favour of the Action Congress in Ekiti State. Bamidele, who is also vying to represent Ekiti Central Senatorial District explains that he is in the race to make a difference, among other issues. Excerpts:

Reactions still the recently delivered judgement on the governorship tussle in Ekiti State. What is your position?

Opeyemi Bamidele

My reaction immediately as a politician was that I felt sorry for this country. I felt sorry for our polity and nascent democracy and part of the reason I was feeling sorry was because the lead judgement
stared us in the face with the fact that we are still where we had left in terms of the extent to which the judiciary serve as an arbiter and unbiased umpire in trying to nurture our nascent democracy.

It was really a sorry situation because that judgement was against the weight of evidence available before the tribunal known even to the average citizen. It also showed a lot of indignation towards what happened in Ekiti in April and May 2009.

The judgement was against public expectation. So, I felt disappointed as a statesman and as a politician but then as a lawyer, I had a different view, I felt the law must take its course because the tribunal was not the court of appellant jurisdiction in election matters.

I believe the whole legal story was just beginning. I was excited as a lawyer at the dissenting judgement not because it recognized that Dr Fayemi won the elections and declared him as the governor-elect, not because he was supported by two people. I saw it as an improvement fromthe situation of the previous tribunal that decided five to zero.

I was excited because the dissenting judgement raised fundamental issues of law. You will discover at the end of the day that it is no longer about Dr Fayemi and Engineer Oni. It’s about tendencies and justice. It’s about rule of law and ensuring a correct application of law to facts as made available; and for me, the two judges that delivered the dissenting judgement cited some Supreme Court cases that were incontrovertible that were similar to the facts before the tribunal.

And for me, I felt the dissenting judgement had set a tone for the Appeal Court..But I know as a lawyer that it was a misapplication and what could have been responsible is yet I’m yet to understand.

Are you satisfied with the level of development in Ekiti State?

In the last seven years, there has not been any serious governance in that state. I must say that if it continues like this for the next few years, Ekiti might become a failed state and we must not allow that to happen.

You have declared your intention to vie for the Senate in Ekiti Central Senatorial District. Why the Senate?
Let me put it this way, I have not left my position as Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State.

But I know at some point, depending on INEC time table and the time table of my own political party as well as what obtains within the discretion of the governor of Lagos State in whose cabinet I am serving, given all of these considerations, I know, we will get to the point where I need to be on ground in Ekiti.

At that point, I will be announcing my exit, as guided by the governor and by the party. Let me just say that I believe that Ekiti and Lagos State have a lot in common. If I leave Lagos, I will continue in service of humanity through Ekiti State.

Senator Bode Ola, Mr Babafemi Ojudu, your predecessor, Mr Dele Alake and you are vying  for the same seat. Are you not bothered about the number from the same party?

It’s not only that I’m interested. I am in the race. Let me put it this way, the four of us that you have mentioned are bonafide members of the Action Congress. Secondly, it’s also my assumption and conviction that the four of us are eminently qualified to represent our people on the floor of the Senate.

Thirdly, I also very sincerely think that what has happened is a demonstration of the health and vitality of our party, the Action Congress. I will be more concerned, if I were running for the Senate
in Ekiti Central and I didn’t have a serious challenge. That will not be consistent about the antecedent and character of Ekiti as a fountain of knowledge. There will always be a lot of people who will be interested.

How I wish that people were interested in 1999, a lot of people got into office because a lot of decent people were not just interested in politics.

As far as I’m concerned, Mr Babafemi Ojudu, Mr Dele Alake and I, are friends and brothers, essentially, the three of us have had things to do together and I know the three of us have developed in life, a very strong sense of resentment to injustice, military dictatorship and any form of threat to the growth of democracy.

The three of us have interacted as members of the civil society family. I also know for a fact that the three of us have paid our dues in terms of unlawful arrests and illegal detention by the military dictatorship because of our commitment to what we really felt strongly about. So, whichever way you look at it, relationship  could mean everything.

I will not because of my political aspiration, take a relationship to the abattoir and place it on a slaughter slab,  no. But when it comes to whether or not, we all could run, I believe  it’s a fine situation, it’s healthy development, we’ll become proud of its history of the growth of our democracy because we do not talk of democracy without subscribing to the concept of internal democracy.

If you were asked to step down for anther aspirant, would you do so?

Nobody is going to be asked to step down.