By Rotimi Makinde
With no shred of doubt, Senator Dayo Adeyeye is the National Coordinator of South West Agenda, SWAGA, a pro-Tinubu political pressure group and under his esteemed leadership, the group established a link between Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s candidacy and the late Chief MKO Abiola’s outing 30 years ago making history to repeat itself in favour of the ruling APC.
However, I am deeply saddened and utterly mortified by the way in which a certain commentator by name, Temidayo Akinsuyi misrepresented facts through his ill-conceived commentaries which are diversionary, laced with lies, deception and insincerity.
For those who are familiar with Senator Dayo Adeyeye, they will consciously attest to the fact that he is a man of principle, integrity and high moral rectitude. He truly epitomises hard work, perseverance, doggedness, humility, diligence and patriotism and the fact that he treasures the virtue of true friendship and loyalty to any cause he believes in, gives him the cutting edge.
To clearly put the record straight, he is not at war with anyone over ministerial or any other political appointment, he is a consistent man and he is convinced and genuine about his affiliation with All Progressives Congress (APC) having considered it as a party with vision and purpose and he has no regret jumping ship from opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to APC, for him it was a well thought out decision.
Also, by way of saying Senator Dayo Adeyeye and former Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi’s inability to clinch ministerial appointment was as a result of Dele Alake who stood out as a better beneficiary is also a vicious cynicism that must be dropped like hot potato.
Moreover, it is not right to whip up anti-party prejudice or sentiments at a time when an individual is expected to be rewarded for his decency, commitment and exemplary attributes.
More pointedly, Adeyeye left PDP for APC when he saw that the leadership of the APC has evolved and that evolution has attracted people, intellectual people, sharp, focused, people that want to keep Nigeria together and want to treat Nigerians as one regardless of religion or ethnic differences.
He sees the APC of today as a liberal party, not a hardline party, but accommodating. He sees a party that is prepared to drive growth and development and also an association of highly serious and disciplined individuals with national interest without bias.
Over the years, Adeyeye has dispassionately built bridges with APC, worked with the party and he is genuinely proud to be in the fold.
Whoever that might have sent Temidayo Akinsuyi to pen down such infantile narrative about Adeyeye has done that in bad taste. The truth is that by doing what he did he has spat on all our faces at SWAGA. His words and behaviour are a desecration of our values and a grave insult to the Yoruba people and APC as a party. While I am constrained to be gentle and restrained in my criticism of this commentator on this very sensitive issue, it is also important for me to set the record straight as an insider.
Bringing up some unsubstantiated statements purportedly credited to Senator Dayo Adeyeye at a time like this is most ridiculous and shameful and I urge the media to be careful in some kind of comments, features, analysis and opinions that they publish which utterly lack merit, substance and capable of stirring up the hornet’s nest.
It is on record that few years ago when the journey of the Presidency of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu begun, the only group who was first preparing the way for others to follow and did a very excellent job in evangelizing Tinubu Presidency across the South West of the federation prior to President Tinubu emergence as a party flagbearer, convincing other personalities to join the train is SWAGA ’23″.
The coordinating members were beset with cruelty and malignity in the hands of some state governors, only because they did not support Tinubu Presidency. Some of us as members of his team were denied elective positions in the party primaries, borne out of cruelty and malignity for championing President Tinubu course.
However, we did not succumb to pressure from these imagined mafias in their states. We suffered patiently, but hopeful that this day shall come to wipe our extreme pain off. Therefore it will be unfair, wicked, and patently absurd to treat distinguished Dayo Adeyeye and any members of SWAGA unreasonably perhaps to score some cheap political points.
As a stakeholder in APC and SWAGA, I am humbly making a renewed call for SWAGA members by appealing that His Excellency President Ahmed Tinubu should recognize and appreciate the efforts of those who played instrumental roles in its success. By including members of SWAGA in his key cabinet positions, the government can demonstrate its commitment to harnessing the full potential of its most dedicated members while also restoring faith and confidence in the party.This to me is an attempt by a miscreant to mock every one of us. Undoubtedly, posterity will be kind to us all.