From different angles, I have read how All Progressives Congress, APC, members sympathetic to the cause of Barr. Rotimi Akeredolu, gubernatorial candidate of the party in the coming Ondo State election have been bashing APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing him of scheming to hijack political power in the state by his alleged support of the candidacy of Olusola Oke of Alliance for Democracy, AD.

Unfortunately, most of these APC members are selective and biased in their reasoning. If Tinubu from South-West allegedly supports Oke, what about Akeredulu who is being largely supported by El Rufai, a Northerner and Odigie Oyegun, a south-South man?

Without mincing words, I call on our people in Ondo State to reject Barr. Rotimi Akeredolu and we must reject him expressly at the coming polls. In truth, Akeredolu is our son and we love him for being a filial son (though this might be contested in some quarters, for he is more Ibadan than Ondo State) but, given our intellectual fecundity, our love should not becloud our ability to see beneath the lines. Beneath the lines! I mean, he, being an imposition of a powerful cabal from the North.

The manner of his emergence and forcefulness of the consolidation of his candidacy should not be summarily dismissed in our intellectual productiveness as a mark of Nigerian type of politicking. No. Far from it! We should not be deceived. It is pure and blatant raw power play, orchestrated by some arrogant but powerful force from the North and shameless abetted by some ‘wannabe’ power bloc from our fellow South Westerners.

I stand to be corrected, but it is no longer news that some past and sitting Governors in dire need of regional power from South-West are scheming, with collusion from these powerful Northern cabal, to wrestle power from Tinubu.

I still stand to be corrected, none of these Governors, who mostly are one or two times beneficiaries of the benevolence of the leader has come out to debunk any of these news. Invariably, this gives credence to the fact that this is for real.

Hence, I want to state unequivocally that, given the manner of his controversial emergence, characterized by padding of delegate lists, failure of the party to honour cancellation verdict of the primary appeal panel, our dear son, candidate of APC in the forth-coming Ondo-State gubernatorial election is a product of fraud 'married' with treachery.

In order for us to learn from history since we are being asked to 'ronu' by not giving Tinubu a chance of imposing on us. kindly permit me to digress for I want to remind us of a Yoruba historical account. I believe it is a story known to all students of our native historical college and it is a story I want to deploy as an analogy to the present state of things as regards the election in our beloved Ondo State.

It is the story of Afonja, Alimi, Solagberu, the Fulanis and how Ilorin was lost.

According to history, after the death of King Aole, King of Oyo, and ruler of Yoruba land, Afonja of Ilorin, the then Kakanfo became the most powerful chief in Yoruba land, after overseeing the death of the King and break-up of the unity of Yoruba kingdom by being one of the first to proclaim independence from Oyo.

In order to achieve his aim of being the most powerful chief in the land, he invited a Fulani Moslem Priest to Ilorin.

This Fulani man, named Alimi, while coming brought along his Hausa slaves and Afonja found these slaves useful as soldiers in fighting wars against his fellow Yoruba chiefs. These foreign soldiers became known as Jamas.

At the same time, Afonja also invited a rich and powerful Yoruba man to Ilorin. This man was known as Solagberu.

After many victories, Afonja became powerful as he wanted but along the line, he has offended all his friends including Alimi and Solagberu. And at this same time, Alimi’s Jamas were now very powerful.

Realising the dangers posed by the ambition of these lawless foreigners, he decided to destroy them but it was too late. He realized his error late. They had grown too big for him to handle.

However, in efforts to make amends, he sent for some powerful chiefs among the Yoruba chiefs to come and help him eliminate the Jamas but the Jamas got wind of this and they rose against him before help could come from other Yoruba towns.

He sent another message to his powerful Yoruba friend, Solagberu, in the other side of the town (Oke Suna) but treacherously, Solagberu detained the servants and refused to help Afonja hold the marauding Jamas at bay until help comes from other Yoruba towns.

With this, by subtly playing our chiefs against each other, Ilorin, one of the most prominent Yoruba towns fell into the hands of foreigners to this day. And many Yoruba lost their lives trying to take Ilorin back.

Consequently, the above story is one of the reasons, why as proud people of Ondo State, we must refuse Akeredolu in its entirety. We must refuse to be the reason for a broken Yoruba nation by the North through their imposition. We should say ‘No’ to their tentacles in our politics, son or no son.

All things being equal, I know some Akeredolu’s supporters might want to dismiss the above story as bearing no relevance to issues on ground in Ondo State but if by one high-handed reasoning of theirs, they mischievously fail to understand its connotative lessons that using foreign people, especially Hausa, Fulani, to attain powers is dangerous, then, kindly permit me once again to simply put it this way that we lost Ilorin to this day because Afonja rebelled against his nation with the help of Alimi and his Fulani fighters. Through this, unity of the Yoruba race was shattered.

And in this scenario, some powerful Northern cabals fronted by El Rufai are promoting Akeredolu, fighting his fights for him against his fellow Yoruba leaders.

Remember, a man who brings home maggot infested firewood invites visits from the lizards.

I also understand some will want to rationalize that situation like the above is far-fetched in this modern era and Ondo State political situation will make little impact on the destiny of Yoruba race. I beg to disagree this; Ondo State is the testing ground. If they can succeed in influencing who rules us in Ondo State, then they can easily play us against one another and dominate Yoruba race consequently since they can influence who governs us anytime.

Now, on a practical level, let us just assume that all the rumours out there that Bola Ahmed Tinubu is tactically supporting the candidacy of Olusola Oke of Alliance for Democracy (AD) as it is being alleged in some quarters. Let’s just say it is real. And based on this, like I noted earlier, some quarters in APC are calling on Ondo State people to reject his incursion from Lagos into our politics by voting for Akeredolu of APC, who is being painted as a man without godfather, yet, a product of fraud, (as revealed in the controversy surrounding his emergence as the gubernatorial candidate of the APC) and a candidate imposed with the backing of some powerful northern forces, Odigie Oyegun, a South-South man and some treacherous wannabe power brokers from the South-West.

Politically and as rational thinking Ondo State person, for I know we are brilliant people, let’s do the mathematics here and now. Let’s still assume Tinubu is a Yoruba man from Lagos, backing Oke while Odigie-Oyegun, a South-South man, El-Rufai, a northerner, fronting for the Northern cabal, Fashola, Fayemi, Yoruba men from Lagos and Ekiti respectively and who largely owe many of their successes to the magnanimous of Tinubu , backing the candidacy of Akeredolu.

So let us break it down this way.

On one side, Tinubu, at worst, a domineering godfather who produced Fashola, Fayemi, Aregbesola, Amosun etc.

On the other side, Fashola, Fayemi, (If indeed they are working against Tinubu's relevance) conniving and treacherous beneficiaries of Tinubu’s benevolence and some powerful northern cabals who wish to dominate all other zones at all cost with Odigie Oyegun, a south- South man in need of Northern backing as a result of his desperation to hold on to power as the APC party chairman at all cost.

Among them, which of the two groups is injurious to us as Yoruba and Ondo State people, is it our fellow Yoruba leader who has been largely instrumental in raising leaders in our region or some conniving and ungrateful power seekers in collusion with power drunk elements from the North?

U see what hatred has done to ur life. So u wrote this long and nonsense epistle filled with tribalistic comments aimed at deceiving gullible fellows like you to reject Akeredolu at the poll simply because Tinubu is at loggerheads with him. Now i truly understand the meaning of Zombie. Why did u not tell us the qualities ur preferred candidate possesses and his capabilities? U only hinged ur support on the premise that El-rufai and Oyegun are the ones supporting him and ur pay-master Tinubu has been side-lined. In other words, if both factions of Apc should unite including Tinubu, u won't hesitate to come back here with another long sermon on why Apc with its candidate should be supported at all cost. It then means that all u peoples rantings and support for Apc all these while is just due to ur god Tinubu. Egbon, Zombeism is not just real but worse than all diseases put together. Lastly, tell ur pay-master that he is engaging in anti-party activities and we all know that. One must not get everything he wants, u gain some and lose some, that is the beauty of life. As for this coming Saturday, my friends and I (Igbo boy living in Ogbese) will go out and vote enmasse for the one and only candidate worthy of our votes. The next Governor of this peaceful and nice state. He is no other person but Akeredolu (Aketi) of Apc.

Sentiments

U are simply a ethnic jingoist. Power must change hands. Must it always be tinubu candidate at all cost? Akeredolu promised him a shocker and he is indeed shocked. From your write up u are a WAILER. And u can cry me a RIVER maybe dis another sponsored write up from mimiko camp. #ONDO4APC