There is no way to twist the facts: Senator Solomon Adeola is just not an indigene of Yewa in Ogun State, Raheem Ajayi insists
I read a rejoinder by Kayode Odunaro, media aide to Senator Solomon
Adeola, in response to my article of February 13, 2017, titled: “Adeola
and the Burden of Ancestral Ties” wherein I, on behalf of the good
people of Yewa, sought clarification on the origin of the incumbent
Senator representing Lagos West and an aspirant in the Ogun governorship
election in 2019.
Instead of addressing pertinent questions raised in my article,
Odunaro merely went on red-herring and introduced innuendos, insinuating
that I was a “brotherly associate” of the Senator amongst others. By
making reference to an invitation I honoured from Senator Yayi to a
programme in Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos, several months back, Odunaro
attempted albeit futilely to compromise me and vitiate my position
against the Senator.
One of the things Odunaro forgot to add was that it was his
principal, who invited me to discuss Ogun politics in continuation of an
earlier interaction. Odunaro should ask his boss about my position
regarding his political ambition in Ogun State when we met a year
earlier at a function in Lagos. When Senator Yayi could not convince me,
we decided to continue on the discussion at a later date.
That was why I agreed to meet with Odunaro’s boss on June 12, 2016.
My meeting with Senator Yayi wasn’t a secret. It was an assignment
undertaken on behalf of my people. If Odunaro would be truthful, the
outcome of my meeting was made public and I dare him to come out with
“details of any financial transaction” as being insinuated. It is an
open secret that Odunaro splashed my picture with Senator Yayi’s on the
Social media after the meeting, an indication of how much they wanted my
support.
Why then attempting a blackmail now, if not for naked desperation. I
bet Odunaro didn’t know Senator Yayi has been making frantic efforts to
reach me since my article was published. Just how pitiable can people
become when they work with a boss with whom they are not on the same
page and for whom they will readily sacrifice integrity and if not
cheaply trade away their ancestral root?
Odunaro’s rejoinder deviated totally from expatiating on why Senator
Yayi initially picked Ishaga in Abeokuta North local government in Ogun
Central as his home origin and later shifted to Joga Orile in Yewa North
local government and recently Pahayi in Yewa South Local Government. I
wouldn’t have written since I had asked him in private, even though he
couldn’t give a satisfactory answer.
My write-up was a follow-up to reactions elicited by a letter
addressed to Senaror Yayi by Omooba Damilare Oloyede, another concerned
Yewa man on the subject matter. If building houses in a place is enough
to make an individual an indigene, I should be able to contest for the
office of Governor of Lagos State because I also have a house in Lagos.
It is condescending for Odunaro, a true born of Yewa, to deride the
ancestry of Yewa the way he and his cohorts have been indulging.
How would Senator Yayi’s monetary contributions to festivals in
Yewaland confer on him the status of an indigene? I know a friend – a
native of Ekiti State who wouldn’t want his name mentioned and who had
contributed to such festivals in Yewaland in the past without making a
fuss.
A good number of people have been elected into various positions in
states other than their states of origin without having to lie or cook
up stories to covet indigeneship at whatever costs. Why the desperation
and feeble attempts to present fictions as facts? Should we then ask
Odunaro why his own origin hasn’t been a subject of controversies? I
don’t have a problem when people work to earn their pay but it is
however sickening when people stand the truth on its head for whatever
the attractions could be.
I challenge Odunaro to ask his boss why he has enlisted several
persons to talk to me in the last few days over this matter. Why would
there be need for such intervention if truly Senator Yayi has no issues
with his Yewa ancestral claim? Odunaro has more herculean tasks to do
forcing the falsehood of Senator Yayi’s ancestral ties down the throats
of conscientious bonafide sons and daughters of Yewa and Ogun West.
This will be my last take on this matter for now. The people of
Yewaland will definitely respond appropriately when the time comes. It
is all about us, our homeland and our collective future!
This piece was written by Raheem Ajayi from Imasayi, Yewa North Local Govt. Ogun State.
