HONOURABLE SPEAKER BANKOLE’S WEDDING DAY?
By Che Oyinatumba
Dear
Hon. Bankole,
How is the feeling of jetting around in the
presidential jet? Being an elected representative
sure has its privilege that the electorates at the
base of the ladder can only dream of. The last time
I checked, I was told that you are jetting off to
Kenya to monitor the election. I hope you learnt a
lot. You must have learnt how docile Nigerian
opposition parties are. With the consistent support
Ralia Odinga is getting, it is clear that the civil
societies in Kenya are not merely organizing talk
shows to justify the fund sent in by foreign donors.
Where are they to monitor the rape called local
government election in the states in the vice of PDP?
Unlike in Nigeria , you must have also learnt that
their Electoral Commission Chairman is more
honourable than our dear Prof. Iwu. The chairman
said on BBC that the electoral process was floored
and he was merely handed a paper announcing the
incumbent, Mwai Kibaki re-elected.
Mr. Speaker sir, you must have learnt that despite
how close home to democracy any African nation is,
at the moment of decisive decision, every African is
a tribalist. In Kenya , the protest is no longer on
the ideological line of who won and who stole the
mandate, rather its Kikuyu versus the rest,
epitomized in Odinga’s tribe the Luo.(Barack Obama’s
root)
Having done with what you must have learnt at the
expense of Nigeria tax payers money, without telling
Nigerians (there was no press conference or any airport
correspondent reporting your experience in Kenya ),
let me now tell you why I am writing you.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I am not from your constituency and
before the removal of Mrs. Etteh, your name was
never in any beer parlour parliamentary session.
Your ascendance to the throne has made you a
goldfish and like a tilapia in an aquarium, you have
no hiding place.
I must congratulate you and your spin doctors in the
manner you handled the NYSC discharge certificate
issue. Also the “I live in my residential house”
response to Mr. Speaker lives in a hotel story shows
that members of the integrity group are at work to
fortify their choice.
Mr. Speaker Sir, WHY ARE YOU NOT MARRIED? Your
father in an interview with Daily Sun Newspaper of
Thursday January 3 2008, at page 28 spoke eloquently
about you, but failed short of telling us who you
are. I have no problem with your age, for I am a
firm believer that the whiskers of Methuselah are
not synonymous with wisdom, if contrary, Solomon
wouldn’t have been. Your father further refreshed us
by reminding us that President Obasanjo at his First
Missionary Journey was 37, Gowon 33, Murtala
Muhammed 38 and Prophet Mohammed (SAW) became leader
of Islam at the age of 40. Extending it a bit, he
said Prophet Isa (Jesus Christ) started his ministry
at the age of 30. All these, still did not tell us
who is Hon. Dimeji Bankole.
Gowon needed the stability of a woman hence he
married in Dordan Barracks. Murtala had children
before he got to office. Same applied to OBJ. I cannot speak for prophet Mohammed (SAW) for my
knowledge of the sunnah is limited but suffice it to
say that Prophet Mohammed (SAW) was married and
encouraged his followers to marry and love them
equally. Socrates gave similar advice, believing
that a married man, is twice wiser than a bachelor.
You can ask King Solomon. Jesus celibacy is still a
subject of controversy (Read Dan Brown’s Davinci
Code and The Lost Tomb of Jesus) without much ado,
let me refer you to St. Paul ’s writing on
leadership. 1st Timothy 3V1-6, Titus 1:6-8. The jist
of the above quotations is that a leader of a group
of people must be married and must have shown
craftsmanship in ruling his household.
The people your father cited stormed into the
national psyche with a sense of mission and prepared
themselves adequately you can say inadvertently.
Mr. Speaker Sir, why are you not married? Could it
be that there is a Dimeji Jr. somewhere in Europe
that will surface to demand DNA test off our number
four citizen? Or is Mr. Speaker Sir, so engrossed
with the numerous nectar littered at zone 4, Lita
Lori junction by Samuel Akintola Boulevard ? Is Mr.
Speaker an unrepentant Pay As You Go (PAG)
subscriber to all “networks” that are always at your
service at he lobby of the high rising hotels
dotting the landscape of Abuja? Or do you prefer Sir
Elton John and R’Kelly’s tilting?
Mr. Speaker Sir, I hope you are not pouting your
mouth and claim these are moral and private issues.
After all you are a "ranking" Rep member, so money
can't be the problem. AYoruba man at 38 and is still
single, may have to bath in Osun River to recharge
any weak "battery" Without holding defence for Mrs.
Etteh (ex-speaker), the media were a wash with
stories of Mrs. Etteh that had nothing to do with
the contract. We read that she was a mere hair
dresser and for fear of libel, I shall not reproduce
other palatable stories.
Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama and the Republican
candidates are opening their closets on Gay
(Homosexual) rights, same sex marriage, abortion,
medicare etc, to make themselves attractive to the
American electorate. While wooing the electorates,
the American press is X-raying their lives to tell
us who can see who can redeem the world from the
brink George Bush has pushed it. It was at such a
time we learnt that Bill Clinton smoked Indian hemp
as a student in London ; that Al Gore was visiting a
speech therapist; that a puritan Republican Senator
has a thing for airport toilets.
Leaders in other clime write their biography to show
that they have nothing to hide but in Nigeria , most
leaders write after they are out of office, to
justify the evils and unpopular decisions they took.
Mr. Speaker Sir, with the wave caused by the removal
of the anti-corruption supercop, don’t you think our
leaders should lead by moral example that a
corruption free Nigerian needs no prodding but to
look up at the ladder of leadership. Mr. Speaker
Sir, when is your wedding date?
