In profile, Femi Gbajabiamila presents the sharp, narrow silhouette of an aggressive jester. He could easily pass as the best light comedian in the country, any day. Those who are familiar with his antics believe that he can easily build an illustrious career doing stand-up comedy.
This is because Femi, like an unrepentant high school miscreant, is back on his grind again, telling people stories and lifting their hopes, so that he could dash them against the jagged rock of disappointment.
Yes, like every other politician, Femi Gbajabiamila is led by eternal lust for power and perks. Little wonder he has resorted to more desperate measures to keep himself in Nigeria’s power corridors.
Few things peeve constituents like a representative who takes them for a ride and continues to project himself as the only viable option in a constituency peopled with exceptionally brilliant and resourceful souls who have capacity to deliver even better. Right now in Surulere Federal Constituency 1 where Femi Gbajabiamila has been representing for 15 straight years at the House of Representatives, the number of dissenting constituents against his representation and his politics is increasing by the day, and the drumbeats of rejection are resounding louder at each passing day from all angles.
The compensatory role of the House Leader may have come as palliative to him after his infamous trouncing by Honourable Yakubu Dogara as Speaker of the House of Representatives after that intriguing politicking that heralded the 8th House of Representatives; Gbajabiamila still has his eyes covetously on the ultimate seat of the Speaker. As such, he has left nobody in doubt about his ambition to be returned to the House for the 5th time – an aspiration which many have dubbed as self-centred.
Gbajabiamila, who will be rounding up his fourth term of 16 years in 2019, has been running helter skelter to perpetuate his stay in the lower chamber of the National Assembly beyond May 2019 in the hope that his 2015 botched ambition of becoming the Speaker would be revived and realized.
This Gbajabiamila’s covetous aspiration has driven him to go all out to become political adversary to anyone who has indicated any interests in truncating his return to the seat which he has been occupying since 2003. Consequently, this ‘It’s all about me’ demeanor is not sitting well with many who have their eyes on the same seat. And more miffed by Gbajabiamila’s posture of indispensability and invincibility are a high number of constituents who believe Gbajabiamila’s legislative deliveries have been underwhelming.
To these groups of opposition, the allegation keeps flying high that only his cronies, who are in the extreme minority, have been the only beneficiaries of his representation while the better part of constituency remains in shambolic neglect.
He has severally been accused of planting his members of his clique in political offices at national, state and local government levels. Constituency projects are also said to have been lopsided while his meagre empowerment programmes have not been evenly spread. Besides accusation of high-handedness, the Majority Leader has also been accused of playing god as he brooks no constructive criticisms or complaints from people he considers unfriendly.
A coalition of socio-political groups, called ‘Surulere Unite’ from Gbajabiamila’s constituency went public to register their grievances against him and the rationale behind having a single person from one ward represent them for 16 years. They strongly spoke about their resolve to terminate this sole representation in 2019, even it takes actualising that in a party different from the ruling APC.
It has gathered that some of Gbajabiamila’s supporters have advised him to make way for another candidate even it has to be from his inner caucus, as they cannot guarantee his return with his dwindling popularity in Surulere. With this type of advice coming from his own sympathisers, Gbajabiamila should be reminded about how fickle human supports can be and learn from the betrayal he suffered in the hands of immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives and incumbent Governor of Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwal, and others whom he had counted on in 2015 to help realise his Speakership dream.
