BAYO OSINOWO vrs GBENGA ASHAFA: When Brothers Of Parents Fight For Their Father’s Properties, TREAD WITH CAUTION.

Hon. Bayo Osinowo & Sen. Gbenga Ashafa.

I learnt a few lessons during and after the 2015 General Elections in both Lagos and at the Presidency that I wouldn’t like to RE-LEARN, especially with the 2019 elections gathering momentum and this is what I believe everyone supporting candidates of political parties should learn from.

My desire for Nigerian in 2015 was to have President Muhammadu Buhari sworn in as President and I fought, being an Igbo son living in Lagos, with all my brothers and sisters, disagreed, abused, insulted and in some cases, maligned people on behalf of the President In Absentia, made enemies, even as I vehemently refused over-chores made to me by the ruling party then and their supporters and stood my ground on whom I wanted and we won.

Today, most of the people I maligned and fought because of President Muhammadu Buhari do not talk nor associate with me and I began to ask myself what I gained apart from the fact that I won my polling booth for the APC in Lagos and made sure the President won.

Fast forward to 2018 when the issue of candidacy and choice of who will be and will not be the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the Lagos East Senatorial District was on the front burner, I knew whom I wanted, Campaigned for him the best way I could, spoke on his behalf and stood for him till he became the candidate of the party for the zone. Not for once did I insult nor abused his opponent for whatever reason or reasons, all I did was to present my issues as I knew them for my preferred person and that was it.

Hon. Bayo Osinowo was and still is the best man to me for the Lagos East, I stood firm for him, but never joined the bandwagon to abuse anyone on his behalf, for the fact that I had listened to him speak, eulogize and talk positively about the person of his strongest contender for the seat, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, whom he had referred to as ‘’MY BROTHER’’ in my presence, making me wonder why I would abuse or insult someone’s brother for him, when he did not send me because of politics?

Having come close to Bayo Osinowo so far, I have never seen him confrontational or affront against anyone, even in the slightest of provocation, so, how justifiable would my actions be when I stand to confront a man he refers to as Brother and Friend for political reasons on his behalf?

Now, a few days ago, my attention was drawn to Billboards situated at different locations in the Lagos East Senatorial Zone, especially in the Ibeju-Lekki area with the name of ‘SENATOR GBENGA ASHAFA’’ as the sponsor, which had the pictures of the President, Muhammadu Buhari, that of the Governorship candidate of the APC in Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and then, the candidate of the APC for the Lagos East Senatorial District, Honourable Bayo Sikiru Osinowo as candidates of the party for various positions and I was WOWed with sober reflections of how some people would have made enemies for and amongst themselves for these two (Gbenga Ashafa & Bayo Osinowo) and today, the Senator had to support and congratulate his brother, who took over his ticket to return to the Senate.

One of the Billboards erected by Senator Gbenga Ashafa.

ARE YOU SEEING WHAT I’M SAW?

On seeing those billboards, I started making enquiries on why Gbenga Ashafa would come out publicly to support Bayo Osinowo and my attention was drawn again to branded vehicles parked at his Constituency Office in Lagos which were bought in support of various candidates, including Hon. Bayo Osinowo.

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A few days back, the picture of former Vice President and Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, Former President, Goodluck Jonathan and current Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo emerged seating and gisting together at the burial ceremony of the mother of Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson in Yenagoa and still, our youths will not learn how not wage wars against themselves for politicians who are associates and friends, even brothers in some cases.

In Anambra State for instance, a Member of the House of Representatives and PDP’s Governorship Candidate during the last election in the state, Hon. Tony Nwoye is being challenged at the polls in the 2019 election by his own BIOLOGICAL TWIN BROTHER, same mother, same father, came out of the womb the same time and how dare anyone kill himself on their behalf, YOU ARE JUST A WASTE.

Coming back to Lagos East, Senator Gbenga Ashafa by virtue of these billboards he erected to celebrate the choice of the party over him, has demonstrated such POLITICAL MATURITY that everyone in the zone should emulate and I wonder if anyone in Nigeria’s political history had ever done anything such as he did before.

I therefore urge those supporting one politician or the other to sheath their swords in the pursuit of their preferred candidate’s mandates at various levels of government, as these politicians will eat, drink, merry and sleep on same beds if necessary in our absence while the enmity we created amongst ourselves will linger for a long time, if not forever.

Like Hon. Bayo Osinowo said to me in one of my interviews with him: “It is natural politically to have crises. If you are a Christian who goes to church, all you will be hearing everyday is, My God is Good, My God is Good Always. If you go to the Mosque, the same thing, that is in religion. In politics, that is also the format, that is the system, a lot of problems here and there, disagreements here and there, that is the beauty of politics.

What you people outside are looking at as problem is the beauty of politics, ability to contest, ability to say no, ability to disagree, ability to say I won’t support you, ability to say, I will support you, you are not fit for the job, you Eze, go and collect form to contest tomorrow, then you see people accuse you of things you’ve never heard of before, then you will know you have enemies, they will talk about you, your school mates in Primary School will come out to accuse you of stealing a ruler that did not belong to you and because of that, you are not fit to hold public office. We are used to that, though it’s not funny, it is only funny to those who don’t understand the workings of politics and politicians”.