By Kunle Johnson
— OKÉTÉ is at it again
The caption is revealing enough. Everybody knows the writer of the warped diatribe against ex-envoy Sola Iji. He is the serial betrayer, malicious blackmailer, pathological liar and vindictive backstabber from the riverine area of the Sunshine State. No wonder, he has earned the OKÉTÉ sobriquet in the Politics of the state. Whenever he authors a balderdash, he keeps his distance and puts forward pseudonyms. An extremely desperate and treacherous blackmailer. Who does not know him?
The jaded author who is now in Abuja described Amb. Sola Iji as battling for relevance. Only from the cretin’s febrile imagination could such a blanket description of the elder statesman proceed. Ex-envoy Sola Iji does not have to contend with anybody for relevance. It is an anathema for men of substance.
Ambassador Sola lji is a man of substance. He is an ex-envoy and South West Coordinator of the Asiwaju Tinubu/Shettima Coalition for Good Governance, ATSCGG; Secretary of the Labour Directorate of the defunct APC’s Presidential Campaign Council, PCC; Former Senatorial Aspirant and Ex-Ondo State Chairman, successively of the defunct AD., AC., and Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN., which fused into APC. What sort of relevance does he want?
Ambassador Iji is one of the eminent progressives who labored to lay a solid foundation for the APC. that has now provided opportunities for the likes of OKÉTÉ today. Iji deserves nothing, but sincere appreciation from the exultant opportunist who struggles with a banal record of destroying all his benefactors. Gov. Akeredolu may not be an exception!
It is laughable that the accursed author accused Amb. Iji of ‘seeing party funds as a bailout for personal gains’ among others in his days as ACN.’s Chairman. Quite puerile. Iji’s records as Chairman of AD., AC., and ACN. are in the public domain. What else will a die-hard blackmailer do differently? The ex-envoy is never fazed by such a frivolous jejunity. It is simply diversionary.
Ambassador Iji is a consummate comrade who cannot be silent in the face of provocative hypocrisy. How does Gov. Akeredolu’s grandstanding portray him as a fighter of inequity and injustice? Does he have the moral fortitude to challenge imposition and imbalance anywhere? In all elections in Ondo State, Akeredolu handpicks his preferred candidates against the wishes of party members.
He coarses Party EXCOS and his appointees to work for his preferences. Akeredolu has a rich history of slaughtering fairness, equity and justice on the political slab of imposition in Ondo State. Gov. Akeredolu is the principal promoter of what he is crying against. It is the cry and crow of a lame fowl.
Sola Iji does not have anything against Gov. Akeredolu. The ex-envoy has only expressed deep concerns regarding the outburst of the Governor against the zoning of principal offices of the 10th assembly. Iji believes that Governor Akeredolu is close enough to the president-elect and members of the National Working Committee (NWC). After all, he is the Chairman of the South West Governor’s Forum. His views would have been more honorably expressed indoors. Only a deadly poseur like the disillusioned author will be delighted to see his principal glide into such an ungubernatorial abyss. Ambassador Iji will not.
OKÉTÉ stereotyped Iji as a ‘political jobber and bootlicker.’ When will wonders cease! If the ex-envoy were a ‘political jobber and bootlicker’, how come he consistently followed the Peesident-elect from the days of AD. through AC. and ACN. to APC. without any history of defection? The disgruntled writer revealed that nobody gets any appointment from the president-elect in Ondo State without Gov. Akeredolu’s approval. If this was the case, and Sola Iji could express his mind in defense of the party’s decision, not minding his personal interest being at stake, then Iji deserves a medal for courageous altruism.
The embittered Akeredolu’s minion said Ambassador Iji has never been and will never be Governor of Ondo State. He must be reminded that only God gives position. He must be reminded also that he has touched the heart of God for the ex-envoy who has toiled and labored for the party. The deadly sycophant should note that no castle built on malice, blackmail, treachery, lies and desperation has ever lasted. A word is enough for the wise!
