“If we don’t tackle this problem now, help this people out, our children
will not be able to visit this place, not to talk of live here in the
future.” These were the exact words used by Senator Babafemi Ojudu in a
prose elegy he wrote for late Olufunmilayo Adunni Olayinka, who died
while serving as deputy to the immediate past governor of Ekiti State,
Dr John Kayode Fayemi.
Ojudu titled the elegy ‘Adunni: The journey of an accidental
politician’. Though he claimed the words were not his and he credited
them to the late deputy governor, who happened to be a native of Ado
Ekiti like him, they could as well be described as a retrospection of
sort. Due to some characters displayed by Ojudu over time, which people
have described as alien to political conducts, it might not be wrong for
the Senator and Special Adviser to have on different occasions asked
himself why he was venturing into the rough tidal terrain of Nigerian
politics. But, again, Senator Ojudu is a resolute fighter, who would not
give up on his conviction. He would have consoled himself with the words
of the legendary Plato that one of the penalties for refusing to
participate in politics is that one ends up being governed by one’s
inferiors.
From being a journalist to a human rights activist to a pro-democracy
activist to a reformer, then a Senator and currently a Special Adviser
to the President of Nigeria on Political Matters, Ojudu’s journey of
becoming a politician is a highly inspiring one. Though he is neither an
infantile democrat nor a rookie progressive, his venturing into politics
must have been informed by the belief that politics was too serious a
matter to be left to the politicians. His mindset has always been that
whenever the rights of one man are threatened, the rights of every man
are diminished. This explains why he has contested and won an election
before, and has, as well, been appointed a political adviser. He is
well-known for his innovative ideas and initiatives raising
revolutionary consciousness in people.
As Ekiti State goes in search of a governor that will right all the
wrongs of the incumbent Ayodele Fayose, and as the progressives in the
All Progressives Congress jostle for the single ticket, which would
serve as the ace, certain factors must notch an aspirant above others.
And when one thinks of the character traits that make a good politician
like integrity and optimism, Senator Babafemi Ojudu soars shoulder high
above the rest aspirants, especially considering the following factors
that can just not be overlooked:
History of political activism: Senator Babafemi Ojudu rates very high
among those who fought for the return of democracy in Nigeria as
currently being enjoyed. Even as a journalist, Ojudu played a very
active part in not only reorientating journalists in the country towards
emancipation from dictatorship, but confronting the military
dictatorship headlong. He was unfairly incarcerated for fighting for the
entrenchment of democratic rule in Nigeria. He suffered other forms of
persecutions, but his spirit remained non-shattered until democracy was
achieved.
Boldness: In everything he does, Ojudu puts boldness into it. Boldness
in this contest doesn’t mean being rude, obnoxious, loud, or
disrespectful. Rather, Ojudu’s boldness makes him to be firm, sure,
confident, fearless, daring, strong, resilient, and not easily
intimidated. It means he is ever willing to go where he has never been,
willing to try what he has never tried, and willing to trust the team he
leads that they will always trust his leadership. Ojudu’s boldness is an
honest one, and it comes to him naturally. It is roused by the assurance
that he is always doing his best to right the wrongs. For instance, when
Babangida said he was interested in running for president in the 2011
democratic elections, Ojudu, yet a journalist, boldly said that the
second coming of Babangida to rule the nation should be resisted by
every Nigerian who wanted progress for the country. In his words,
“Babangida does not have anything good to offer us. We have suffered
enough in his hands… He is a trickster. Look at how many journalists
were killed during his time. Look at what he did to our colleagues
(journalists)… Look at what happened to our institutions when he was
around. He destroyed the system and he is now seeking to come back”.
Doggedness: Everyone who has ventured into pursuing a course alongside
Ojudu will attest to his doggedness and tenacity. According to Malcolm
Gladwell, success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the
willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes to make sense of
something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds. That
is Babafemi Ojudu for you. He is determined. Even in the face of
setbacks, you will find him displaying a high dose of enthusiasm and
persistence. His never-say-die spirit is not only legendary but
contagious, as he would always encourage those around him never to give
up. Ojudu remains the only person within the progressive fold that has
beaten Fayose hands down in a political contest. In the April 2011
election for the Ekiti Central Senatorial seat, Ojudu polled 67,747
running on the ACN platform to beat Ayo Fayose, then Labour Party (LP)
candidate and former Ekiti State Governor to a distant third with 29,773
votes. This is the only political dent that Fayose has to date, and
which has kept him shut from boasting that he is unbeatable in Ekiti
politics.
Integrity: Ojudu is straightforward and has come to challenge the
assumption that an honest politician is one of those oxymoron that
people don’t dare fantasize about. Alongside the first two traits, he
displays a high sense of integrity, which may have been his source of
boldness. One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to
be compromised. With integrity, Ojudu has not and cannot be compromised.
He has nothing to fear, and he has nothing to hide. His character reads
like an open book. Like Bob Marley once observed, the greatness of a man
is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his
ability to affect those around him positively.
The Ado Factor: If indeed tyranny of the majority counts as an inherent
weakness of direct democracy and majority rule in which the majority of
an electorate can and does place its own interests above, and at the
expense of, those in the minority, then one would need to take the
voting demography of Ekiti, with the domination of Ado Ekiti, serious as
the state approaches the next governorship election.
More than 60 people are jostling for the Ekiti governorship seat just in
all the political parties fielding candidates. 33 of them are vying for
the single slot within the APC. Yet among all of them, only Senator
Babafemi Ojudu is contesting from Ado Ekiti, the one-town local
government area and state capital, with the highest voting capacity of
180,000. Ikere, which comes next to Ado with 55,000 voting capacity, has
the highest number of aspirants for the coveted seat, including Fayose’s
deputy and surrogate, Professor Kolapo Olusola Eleka of PDP. Segun Oni
is from Ifaki in Ijero Local Government and he has other aspirants to
contest with from his LGA. Fayemi, who is from Oye Local Government will
be slugging it out with no fewer than five other aspirants from his
local government. So are all others, except Ojudu who is standing as the
lone runner from Ado Ekiti. This cannot be explained off as a mere
coincidence, but as a deliberate attempt by the people of Ado to pack
their political strength behind their courageous son, thus may have
discouraged any other indigene from pitting against Ojudu.
Apart from these factors that may count in the build up to the 14 July
governorship election in Ekiti State, Senator Babafemi Ojudu also has
some character traits that should be taken into consideration in
determining who the governorship cap fits. They include honesty,
intelligence, good instincts, diplomacy, loyalty, passion, team spirit,
listening skills and empathy.