Osun West Senator, Lere Oyewumi, has lost grip, desperate for attention from Country Home.... By Abdullahi Ogunsola

In the last one week, the distraught senator representing Osun West, Akogun Lere Oyewumi, has been running helter skelter in order to prove to his paymasters in the Ede Country Home that he is still politically relevant in the Irewole/Ikire politics. 

Three things must have contributed to his recent uneasiness: one, the recent grading and rehabilitation of roads across the federal constituency energized by an APC Chieftain and former Commissioner for Finance in the state, Asiwaju Bola Oyebamiji. Oyebamiji is now the Managing Director/CEO of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) under the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. Two, the Eid (courtesy) visit paid on the NIWA boss by Lere Oyewumi's arch rival, Dr Peter Babalola ( Peter Power). Both Oyebamiji and Peter Power are from Ikire as Oyewumi. And three, the influx of angry PDP members into the APC, a development that has got to the hearing of the feudal lords at the Ede Country Home.

In Ikire, Oyebamiji is noted for his deep generosity and unflinching service to his community. He is not only loved, he is loved across party lines, reason the people of the town usually queue behind his interest in any election. His popularity, coupled with the effort of other grassroots politicians in the area, has always taken the shine away from the PDP.

Tested APC leaders such as Rt Hon. Patricia Etteh (First female speaker of the House of Representatives in Nigeria), Ex-Deputy Governor Benedict Alabi ( BOA), Hon. Ayo Omidina ( ex-federal legislator) and Hon. Remi Abass (ex- council chairman) have over the years collaborated to make Ikire, headquarters of Irewole LG, a no-go area for PDP.

Remember Gov. Ademola Adeleke lost scandalously in Irewole Local Government in the 2022 governorship election. Oyetola defeated Adeleke there with a wide margin of 3,982 votes. In fact, Lere Oyewumi, the PDP's pointman, only managed to win 2 of the 14 polling units in his Ikire Ward 9! If the PDP senatorial primaries had not been concluded before the guber election, I am sure, the Adeleke-led PDP would not have gifted him the party ticket to run for the Senate. 

 Even with the Ikire Agenda in his favour during his own election in 2023, Akogun Oyewumi struggled to deliver his hometown. He had to rely on Tsunami votes from Ede to scale through in the election.

Since that time, he has fallen out of reckon with the Adelekes as he is regarded as an expired politician with no credibility and electoral value at home.

There is a reported plot to replace the loquacious senator in the 2027 senatorial election with a more vibrant candidate, most possibly Yeye Modupe Adeleke-Sanni, Governor Adeleke's sister or the nephew, the ace singer, David Adeleke ( popularly known as Davido).

Since he was confronted with the reality of being replaced with another formidable candidate in 2027, Oyewumi has been engaging in series of eye service to placate his paymasters and be in their good book. One of his adopted schemes is to issue weekly press statements to burnish the image of the mediocre governor and his bumbling government.

Another recent effort of Oyewumi designed to project his image is to celebrate the cross-carpeting of some political dregs from APC, led by one Tunde Ayandosu, a professional drummer who in recent past was given cash reward and four motorcycles by leaders of the APC without any traces of the largesse. The offence of the leaders in the area was their decision to force Ayandosu to step-aside to give room for fresh minds to paddle the affairs of the party in view of the fact that he had been in charge as a ward chairman for close to 20 years. The disgruntled  drummer, alongside few of the political ingrates, who are still nursing and questioning the decision of the APC to replace them with younger politicians after many of them had served for 16-20 years as ward executives, were the ones paraded like a cheap article meant for sale by Akogun Oyewumi.

These political remnants are the new-brides the troubled senator believe he could deploy to lure the committed members of the party in Ikire Ward 4 to shore up his terribly damaged perception within his party, PDP.

The reality is that Lere Oyewumi, with his selfishness and stinginess, lost the grip of Ikire a long time ago. He made allusion to this fact during the event welcoming Ayandosu that he did everything within his power to penetrate Ikire, including mobilizing his agents with huge money to purchase votes for him, all which proved abortive. The vote-buying confession of Oyewumi  is an emerging story that would be discussed later.

Senator Oyewumi, no doubt, is an invalid politician banking on old glory. His political fall started a long time ago. Even when he was the campaign manager of Omisore/Adejare for Governor in 2014, the PDP lost in his SS Peter and Paul Primary School, Ikire with APC polling 151 votes against PDP 108. Is it now that APC have more formidable and high-flying political team in Ikire ( Irewole) that he wants to resurrect and enliven his comatose political credentials in his hometown?

As exemplified during the last APC Ward 4 meeting in Ikire, where the real election winners and vote poachers hitherto relied upon by the disgruntled decampees were in attendance, it is clear that one million Lere Oyewumi can't dislodge the progressive party in the ancient town, now or in future.