A leader of the
All Progressives Party (APC) in Ikeja area of Lagos, who is also the party’s
Deputy Chairman in the state, Cardinal James Odunmbaku aka Baba Eto appears to
have lost out in the scheme of things in the nation’s leading opposition party.
Sources within the
party alleged that Odunmbaku, who used to hold sway in the party, is losing his
grip in the party over issues bothering on greed and betrayal.
Those close to him
said that Odunmbaku used to enjoy close relationship with Governor Aregbesola
before things fell apart between the two political gladiators recently, which
allegedly caused the Governor to disgrace Odunmbaku out of the Osun State
Government House in Osogbo, adding that their friendship got to a climax
recently over what is termed greed and open betrayal.
It was gathered
that prior to the August 9, 2014 Governorship election, which Governor
Aregbesola eventually won, Odunmbaku had several secret meetings with Chief
Bode George, who happens to be a leading figure in the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) in the South West, as he was convinced that Aregbesola’s main contender
and PDP’s Candidate in the election, Senator Iyiola Omisore would win the
election.
“If you recall,
days to the election, when the APC had practically moved its machinery to Osun,
Odunmbaku was conspicuously absent in the state,” said a source.
Those close to the
party also divulged that the Celestial Church Pastor made away with N200
Million allegedly contributed by some Lagos council boss to support Governor
Aregbesola for the election.
It was learnt that
the greed of the popular preacher and politician, who had been a political
godfather to many people in the party, has finally ended the once robust
relationship between him and Governor Aregbesola.
Sources divulged
that Cardinal Odunmbaku had gone to Osun State to see his friend in his usual
manner, but it was revealed that Governor Aregbesola, who had been briefed
about the elderly man’s secret dealings and greed, called his bluff and made it
clear that he was not wanted in the Osun Government House.
This allegedly got
to Odunmbaku as a surprise and he was said to have left the state in shame and
disgrace as such had never happen to him in the past.
In like manner,
Cardinal Odunmbaku, who had been enjoying father-son relationship with a member
of the Federal House of Representatives from Ikeja, Lagos, Hon. Abiodun Faleke
has reportedly overstepped his bounds causing the latter to disowning him as
his political father.
We learnt that
Hon. Faleke had been taking care of Cardinal Odunmbaku even before he joined
politics and that this continued when Faleke became the Chairman of Ojodu Local
Council Development Area (LCDA) and later a member of the House of Reps.
“Odunmbaku is
greedy, Hon. Faleke used to see him as a father, which was why he went straight
to his church in Ojodu, when he received his certificate of return from INEC
after the 2011 elections that took him to the Federal House of Reps even before
he went to see Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Their relationship had been long. But,
prior to Hon. Faleke’s second term bid, Cardinal Odunmbaku had been going round
to say Faleke did not do anything for him. Meanwhile, four or five of his
children got jobs through Faleke apart from the fact that Faleke used to send
things to him as his political godfather,” said our source.
The source
maintained that Faleke had been resisting calls by people to join issues with
Cardinal Odunmbaku as many of them had discovered that the acclaimed man of God
was not dealing with him with an open mind.
The matter,
however got to a climax when it was allegedly discovered that Odunmbaku was
trying to upstage Faleke in the election of party delegates for the forthcoming
primaries of the APC from Ojodu LCDA .
“Odunmbaku went to
the extent of telling people like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that they had elected
delegates for the party primaries and that Hon. Faleke had lost out, but the
leaders of the APC insisted that they should do normal primaries and with this,
Faleke was able to have an upper hand in the area as his people were chosen as
delegated,” the source added.
We were further
informed that Cardinal Odunmbaku is now running from pillar to post to seek
help as he might be shown the way out of the party the way the whole matter is
turning out.
However, another
reliable source informed us that the party leaders would eventually settle for
Hon. Faleke to seek a second term in office at the party primaries as his major
contender, who happens to be a sister to the wife of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,
Senator Remi, Hon. Lola Akande from Ikeja Constituency 2, who is the Deputy
Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, has been told to step down from
the race and wait for political appointment.
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