THE member representing Ekiti Central Federal Constituency I in the House of Representatives, Mr.
Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, has replied the interim chairman of the Ekiti State chapter of All
Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Jide Awe, saying “I cannot be recalled or forced to resign as a
member of the National Assembly over my insistence to contest against Governor Kayode Fayemi in
the 2014 governorship election.”
Bamidele, who is also the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Legislative
Budget and Research, made the declaration in a statement signed by his media aide, Mr Ahmed
Salami, and made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti on Saturday.
According to the release, Bamidele declared that he could not be recalled or forced to resign as a
member of the National Assembly over his insistence to contest against Governor Kayode Fayemi in
the 2014 Governorship election.
Awe had told newsmen on Thursday that it was not enough for Bamidele to just resign as the Ekiti
State caucus leader in the House of Representatives, but that he should resign his membership of
the party and also resign as a member of the National Assembly.
But Bamidele said in the statement that he expected Awe “as a political leader and experienced
politician to have been well-informed that APC is yet to register its members across the country”
and pointed out that “under the Electoral Act 2011, APC is a newly-registered political party that
has not carried out any membership registration drive.”
He said for Awe to have asked him to resign from the party “smacked of ignorance.”
According to the statement, Bamidele “does not have to resign from APC to pursue his aspiration,”
pointing out that “he has no membership card to claim that he is a bonafide member of the party
likewise Awe and other members of the new party.”
Bamidele added that it was demeaning for Awe to have made the pronouncement on the premise
that “the leadership of the Ekiti caucus was just a political arrangement that has no legal backing.
Which law did I breach to warrant this unnecessary criticisms?”
He advised the APC interim chairman and those he said were threatening to recall him from the
House of Representatives over his interest in the 2014 governorship race to bury the ‘wild’ thought.
Bamidele said: “I am carrying the mandate of my people who elected me on the platform of the
Action Congress of Nigeria in 2011. As things stand today, ACN is no longer in existence, having
merged with other parties to form APC.
“So I have never defected from any party even if I decide to contest on the platform of another
party because that party under which I was elected is dead.”
“I was quite aware of the lacuna created by the demise of the Action Congress of Nigeria that was
why I decided to write my resignation letter as a caucus leader to APC National leaders and
Governor Fayemi, since I knew the state leadership has not been constituted.”
In the letter addressed to Governor Fayemi and National Leader of the party, Senator Bola Ahmed
Tinubu, dated Wednesday October 23, Bamidele had announced his resignation as the Ekiti caucus
leader in the House of Representatives, saying he decided to bow out as the leader of Ekiti caucus
following his “avowed interest to contest the 2014 election based on people’s requests.”

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