Ekiti 2022: Wole Olanipekun Says It’s Wrong To Deny Southern Zone Governorship

By Ayodele Oni

Legal icon, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, has thrown his weight in support of the agitation for the South Senatorial District of Ekiti State to produce a successor to Governor Kayode Fayemi.

He, however, blamed politicians from the zone for the seeming abandonement saying most of them prefer to play the second fiddle to their counterparts from other zones.

Chief Olanipekun, an Indigenes of Ikere Ekiti from the zone, spoke during an annual Christmas feast he sponsored for notable Indigenes.

The former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) pointed out that political marginalisation and misadventures of the zone in the State’s governance structure were caused by politicians.

“Political leaders of southern extraction are architects of their political misfortunes, they are too timid to speak out for the zone in its quest to produce a governor.

“Disunity among the ranks and files of politicians that are working at cross purposes, has made the struggle to produce governor impossible.

“Some of our prominent politicians in the south are midgets, they betray the zone’s cause to mount the governorship seat in exchange for political tokenism.

“They are willing tools in doing the dictates and biddings of those from the North and Central zones solely for their parochial and selfish interests.

“I pity those who say they are politicians from the Ekiti South. They want to play second fiddle because they think they are inferior.

“That is the way I see it. But if you say I want to be deputy governor and I want to play a second fiddle, then, they will treat you as a second fiddler.

“To me, I don’t blame the people from the North, if you so-called politicians from the South feel inferior and they give them political tokenism and they will accept it.

“They see themselves as nugget and see those from the North and Central as the giants. And they behave like zombies.”

He was not happy that the zone has been relegated to the background in the State’s convoluted political equations despite its humongous electoral weight in terms of population, the calibre of political actors and the number of Local Government Areas.

According to him, the District, which was reputed for being an anchorage of giants in all spheres of endeavours has become a laughing stock in the politics of Ekiti and victim of political chicaneries since the beginning of the state’s democratic journey.

Chief Olanipekun insisted that fairness, equity and justice demanded the plum position should be the turn of Ekiti South in the next political dispensation, adding that the marginalisation must stop to foster the indivisibility and homogeneity of the state.

“I am a lawyer and I thank God for what He has done for me but assuming Obasanjo did not become the president for two-term of eight years how would we, the Southwest feel.

“Look at what happened in 1999, when the two leading parties yielded the tickets to Obasanjo and Falae both from the Southwest.

“To me, whether you are APC, PDP, APGA or YPP they should say this time around the Ekiti South should produce the next governor come June 18, 2022.

“You see I hate cheating and God doesn’t even like it. When you look at your Bible after the people of God entered the promised Land and Moses was trying to share the land, he started with all the tribes.

“So, what are we talking about the power shift to the South come 2023, if we can’t practice what we are agitating against right from our home.

“We must not allow Ekiti state to become a state of landlord and tenant that some people are tenants and others landlords. Everyone is equal.”