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He was handsome, suave, debonair, dandy, urbane looking, cosmopolitanly stylish,
Yet he was an Ibadan man proper,
An original Omo oju oja tiolepo Loju !
He spoke good Queen english,
Yet his Omo Oja-Aba street smartness was there,
Eyi teba gbewa ni,
Bawo lesefesi ?
Oga wa kanpe !
But one thing was clear,
He was a great guy,
Who would always have his way,
Or ways would always part for him,
Without begging for it,
In 2002, Immediately after the death of Chief Bola Ige, the mentor of his late Dad,
People already assumed he was coming for the governorship seat,
And what did they expect the incumbent to do ? Step down for him ?
An incumbent Governor popular
At home , highly connected to the Presidency & with a right of first refusals to contest for a second term as Governor? But that was the clout Ajimobi brought with him from National Oil,
Where he came down after parting ways with the then new CEO, Otunba Mike Adenuga,
His entry into politics was thus coy but non silent, stylish but unsettling,
Setting rumour mill was agog,
With his popularity soaring all the way,
& before you could finish saying B-I-O-L-A,
He had gone from the National Bank as Director all the way to the Senate despite opposition from certain quarters, almost seamlessly !
& by 2007, he had gone round the state & raised one of the most formidable campaigns organizations in history almost barehandedly & without a trace of sweat on his agbada.He moved like a spirit !
Only a spirit could battle the Adedibu political machine on the field without confronting the old man & stopped only by the Supreme Court from being Governor at first attempt !
Even before then, Adedibu would look away from Ajimobi’s posters, saying ” Omo Oree Mii Nii” ! Adedibu never for once allowed Ajimobi to taste what made him tick & like oil sleeking over water , Ajimobi won the 2011 election against a highly formidable incumbent with iron clad grassroot support.
In 2027 @ Ibadan Day organized by CCII, he walked in as usual confident & unperturbed but Egbon, Mogaji Waidi Ekun felt he needed me introducing us to each other asking him to get hold of me for his future ambition. ” “Biola you need this guy “. I will forever be grateful for egbon Waheed for marketing me all over Ibadan but did Ajimobi actually need me at all in 2007 to become Governor? I doubt so now because his date with history in 2011 was as at that time a fait accompli waiting to happen & his path to the State House already cut by providence.
May the soul of the great history maker rest on !!!!
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