By Emmanuel Oladesu
Eminent Nigerians recently converged in Lagos, Abuja, and Iyin-Ekiti to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele. Deputy Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the contributions of the famous student leader, lawyer, and politician to progressive politics, nation-building, and development.
His life is a lesson in courage, focus, perseverance, loyalty to the progressive cause, resolve to make history, and a testimony to the power of God.
As a youth, he had donated himself to the struggle for an egalitarian society. He was bubbling with ideas, energy, and resilience while holding on tenaciously to his principles. Many youths adore him because of his exploits in activism. But, only a few can afford to tread the thorny path to stardom.
Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, a former student leader and renowned agitator for a better society, became a risk-taker. His life, like many of his compatriots, was online. There was no retreat, there was no surrender. He spoke truth to power and dared the consequences. For those in the movement, not all consequences were palatable.
Under military rule, he was not afraid of barrels of guns as he challenged the soldiers of fortune and misfortunes to a duel. It was a titanic battle for the soul of democracy in Africa’s most populous country, the account of which should be documented for the instruction of the younger generation who thought that civil rule was achieved on a platter of gold.
At the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, MOB, as he is fondly called by admirers, mobilised for action as he decried injustices in high places. An eloquent President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), he often held his audience captive while marshalling his points against the junta. He was not afraid of military repressive tactics, incarceration and brutal murder.
Those attributes of boldness and bravery also became his invaluable assets as a politician.
In the exercise of his personal liberty, Bamidele joined the political fray, learning at the feet of a great tutor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who is now president of Nigeria. As a Legislative Aide/ Personal Assistant to the Third Republic Senator, he under-studied his strategies, his mobilisation prowess, his fidelity to principles and progressive causes, his bridge-building capacity, nurturing and sustenance of networks, preparation for disappointment, and winning formula.
As a youth, he vied for a seat in parliament during that ill-fated Republic, losing the primary narrowly to a rival in the Osodi-Isolo Constituency. It was actually his first baptism of fire. Around the same period, Rauf Aregbesola also lost the primary for the House of Representatives at Alimoso Constituency. Both disciples of Tinubu ran on the platform of the proscribed Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The whole experiment by military President Ibrahim Babangida was designed to fail. It collapsed, following the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election won by the late Chief Moshood Abiola. Efforts by the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and other pro-democracy groups to make the military retrace their steps also failed. Bamidele picked up the gauntlet, firing salvos at the Evil Genius. To his consternation, June 12 was, in part, a lost battle. Abiola was never inaugurated as president.
But, having placed his hand on the plough, there was no going back. As Governor Tinubu began to govern Lagos state, Bamidele was beside him as a loyal and trusted aide. He is not an ordinary technocrat, but an active political worker who served as media and publicity director of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) before serving as commissioner for youths and sports, and later, Information and Strategy under the Fashola administration. Up to now, he is still referred to as a leader in his old constituency.
Ahead of the 2011 electioneering, Bamidele relocated to his native Ekiti, seizing the politics of Ekiti Central by storm. He built a formidable structure and became the candidate to beat at the Action Congress (AC) senatorial primary, where two dependable loyalists of the indomitable Tinubu- veteran journalists Babafemi Ojudu and Dele Alake- were co-aspirants.
It is expected that Bamidele should reflect on the episode in his memoir or autobiography. Field reports indicated that he was winning across the five local governments, Ekiti West, Ijero, Ifelodun/Irepodun and Ado. But, according to the party, the custodian of the ticket, Ojudu carried the day. It was final. The party is supreme.
To pacify and compensate Bamidele, the party gave him the ticket to the House of Representatives, where he later became spokesman. He was among the top shots who led the senatorial campaign. Ojudu defeated opposition rivals, due to Governor Fayemi’s and Bamidele’s backing, and the support of other leaders.
In 2014, Bamidele tried to wrest the governorship ticket, but his arsenal crumbled before the power of incumbency. The former commissioner hurriedly left the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for the Labour Party (LP). The ruling party became divided in the Fountain of Knowledge
The struggle between the two comrades-Bamidele, a lawyer, and Dr Fayemi, a war scholar-unleashed a sort of tension on the platform. The battle was unnecessary. There was a report that Bamidele’s father was shoved aside as a ward chairman. The governor said he had no hand in it. The party was divided. Its leaders later paid for the division, polarisation and acrimony on poll day.
In a colourful manner, Bamidele, who rode from Ikere boundary to Ado, was hailed by his supporters as he waved at the crowd in his sports utility vehicle. He passed through the state capital and stopped around the old Textile Area, along old Iyin Road. He was given five minutes to address the crowd by the police commissioner.
Before the expiration of the time, police teargassed the crowd. Many people, including reporters, sustained injuries during the stampede.
Amid the confusion, a reporter scaled a fence and landed in the bathroom of another building where a woman was bathing. The woman cried for help thinking that a rapist was on the prowl. Many bags, shoes and other personal effects served as a reminder of the stampede.
At the close of the poll, both Fayemi and Bamidele lost to Ayodele Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In 2018, Bamidele, fully instructed by the lesson of the past, retraced his steps to the APC. His leader, Tinubu, who announced his return at the governorship rally in Ado-Ekiti, said: “Opeyemi has come back, he said he won’t be a labourer again”, a direct repudiation of the LP by the APC national leader.
Bamidele had managed to survive in those terrible times as an activist and mobiliser under the military regime. It is ironic that in peacetime, he nearly lost his life. He was hit by an unintended bullet from a police gun at the party secretariat in Ado-Ekiti and rushed to the hospital in a pool of blood.
Iyin-Ekiti, his cradle, was enveloped in anxiety because his father’s corpse was in the morgue. The family was preparing for the funeral of the old man.
The coast was clear for Bamidele to move to the Senate in 2019. Although he renewed his bid for governor last year, his claim could not be sustained at the primary, which Governor Biodun Oyebanji won. It never diminished his popularity. In February, he was re-elected as senator by Ekiti Central constituents.
Oyebanji, who heaped praises on MOB, described him as a vocal advocate and ideological prefect of progressive politics. He thanked him for his support and advice, saying that he was a patriot and a dependable party leader. He also ruled out any friction or repressed distrust, saying that it is a figment of imagination.
Tinubu showered praises on his birthday boy. To the Commander-in-Chief, faithful servant MOB is a long-term political associate and trusted ally, who diligently served him as a legislative aide when he represented Lagos West in the Senate.
The president applauded his steadfastness, loyalty, commitment to progressive politics and hard work in the promotion of the welfare of the people.
“I know of Senator Bamidele’s sense of duty and extraordinary talent, having worked with him for many years. His passion, energy and dedication have continued to propel him and will continue to serve him into a greater future,” Tinubu added.
Bamidele is not without honour at the homefront. To the Oluyin of Iyin-Ekiti, Oba Adeola Ajakaye, he is a true son of the soil and a lover of growth and development who rose from a humble background to national fame.
Elder statesman Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) said that a celebrator is a man of impeccable character, an Omoluabi, whose conduct is worthy of emulation.
Many Ekiti politicians who hold MOB in high esteem, including Deputy Governor Monisade Afuye and House of Assembly Speaker Adeoye Aribasoye, wished him much more meritorious service to the country.
Mrs. Afuye noted that the eminent politician is a man of immense influence and great tentacles, adding that he is generous, competent, calculative, dexterous, cerebral, widely loved and acceptable.
Aribasoye, who hailed Bamidele’s humility, also described him as a charming personality, and an embodiment of service, loyalty and commitment to the public good.
In Abuja, where a book was launched as part of the events marking the birthday, Iyin, where a Christian service officiated by Ven. Zacchaeus Ibitoye held at Babanboni Anglican Church, and Lagos, the venue of the birthday bash, Bamidele lived to expectation as a crowd puller.
The Senate Leader also tendered his stewardship. No fewer than 20,000 constituents have been empowered in the last four years. Beneficiaries included widows, unemployed youths, and indigent people. Also, over 100 graduates have been assisted to secure jobs.
“I have also attracted a university of medical science to Iyin Ekiti and the Law school to Ilawe Ekiti. The FG will soon begin work on them. If you go round the Ekiti Central Senatorial district, I have sunk boreholes to supply potable water to our people across the five councils in the area. This has reduced water scarcity, boosted access to good water and reduced incidences of waterborne diseases.
“During my time as a member of the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2015, representing Ado/Irepodun/Ifelodun Constituency, I attracted 89 projects like libraries, health centres, and ICT centres to my constituency. I have never disappointed my people and I remain steadfast with this philosophy,” he added.
The politician is accessible. He is in constant touch with the five councils making up his district. At the cement launching of the Efon Day Development Fund in Efon-Alaaye, where he also received an award for diligent service, he donated N5 million to a worthy township cause.
Bamidele is a ranking senator and a power broker. But, he is not a politician without a second address. He is the Founder, Principal Attorney and head of Chambers at the Law Office of Opeyemi Bamidele & Associates (with offices in Asokoro District, Abuja and Lekki Phase 1, Lagos).
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Bamidele graduated in 1986 from OAU with a Bachelor of Arts Degree and, later, from the University of Benin, Edo State, Nigeria, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) Degree with honours, in 1990. He obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M) degree from Franklin Pierce Law Centre in the University of New Hampshire Law School, Concord, New Hampshire, United States, specialising in Intellectual Property Law-International Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law, and Licensing of International Transfer of Technology.
Bamidele is an active member of the New York and Nigerian Bar, American Bar Association, and International Bar Association.
He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Nigeria), the Chartered Institute of Management Consultants, and the Chartered Institute of Local Government and Public Administration, Nigeria.
Bamidele was appointed a member of the Body of Benchers. He is a former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Budget and Research in the 7th National Assembly and Chairman of the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO) between July 2011 and June 2015.
In recognition of his contributions to national development, the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) was conferred on him by former President Muhammadu Buhari in October 2022.
Also in July 2023, Bamidele was appointed as the Leader of the 10th Senate.
Culled from TheNation
