My Victory In Ekiti Senatorial Race Miraculous — Bamidele
Senator–elect in Ekiti State, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele, has ascribed his participation and victory in the last Saturday’s National Assembly election to divine arrangement
. Bamidele polled 94,279 votes to emerge winner and Senator-elect for Ekiti Central Senatorial District Bamidele His closest rival, Obafemi Adewale of the Peoples Democratic Party, who scored 48,707.
He said, how he survived the gunshot he suffered on June 1, 2018 during a rally organized to flag off Governor Kayode Fayemi’s campaign in Ado Ekiti as the All Progressives Congress(APC) governorship candidate for the July 14, 2018 poll, still remained a mystery to him.
Bamidele, who was the Director General of the Kayode Fayemi campaign organization, was accidentally shot by a policeman at the party Secretariat located at Ajilosun.
The sad incident landed him in a London hospital for an intensive medical attention for several months.
Speaking to his supporters and party members in Iyin Ekiti on Monday during a victory rally in the community, Bamidele said his death or incapacitation through bullets that hit his stomach and thigh could have robbed him the opportunity, but for divine intervention. According to him, “I participated in this election by miracle, I received divine favour and I will never take that for granted. Surviving such a gunshot was a rare privilege and opportunity .
“Ekiti has a lot of intelligentsia , I mean those who are more intelligent and more exposed than me. But I believe that I received divine favour and I am prepared to give my people qualitative representation to reciprocate this gesture, because I never knew I could win with such a wide margin.
“I really appreciate the spirits of other contestants, particularly my brother and candidate of the PDP, Mr. Obafemi Adewale. The race between us was like no victor, no vanquished. I am ready to work with him to improve the lives of our people, because I know he has his own ideas and we can still achieve that through my representation”.
Bamidele said he was not oblivious of the people’s desperate quests for more dividends of democracy, saying he was ready to partner Dr Kayode Fayemi to improve the economy of the state and the wellbeing of Ekiti people in the areas of education, job creation , agriculture and industrial development. He said being a former member of the House of Representatives would stand him in a good stead to be able to contribute more in the Upper chambers by sponsoring bills, move motions and perform oversight functions that would move the nation forward in all facets.
“I look forward to being able to represent our people in a qualitative manner. They are expecting more dividends of democracy . I know that a lot of mistakes can be corrected in our nation through enactment of new laws , abrogation of bad ones and by ensuring that our MDAs comply with financial regulations. “I also know that there was a deafening level of unemployment in Ekiti and the only thing government can do is to provide enabling environment for the private bodies to thrive .
“All the nine members of the national assembly will find way to work with Dr. Kayode Fayemi to improve farming, because we can’t run away from it. If we abandon it, that means Ekiti has to be at the mercy of the federal allocation.
“Ekiti is basically agrarian and we have to encourage agro allied industries to provide jobs for our army of unemployed youths.
“Also, our education needs a facelift. I am encouraged by what Governor Fayemi is doing in education through free education . We have this responsibility to work with our governor in all these areas to make the lives of our people better”, he said.
