By Sola Ajisafe
Politics is not just about grammar. It is about results. It is about who stood when the roof was leaking and the house was shaking and about to collapse.
In the last few months, Ondo APC faced its toughest test since 2016. Internal crisis. Factional battles. Trust broken. ADC and NDC were already counting our Wards, waiting to share the party like spoils of war.
But the party did not collapse. Why?
Because Hon. Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the Honourable Minister of Interior, chose to be a stabilizer instead of an antagonist. He chose to hold the roof when the wind wanted to blow it off. Let it be on record that he did not do this alone. He had the support of many leaders and members of the party who were alienated, blackmailed, ostracized and wounded politically.
While some media aides of the leader of the party were busy throwing insults on radio, WhatsApp platforms, and Facebook, BTO was in Abuja and Akure doing the real work. Quiet diplomacy, phone calls, meetings, sacrifices, and mending fences.
Let us remind ourselves of the facts that shaped the issues in our party:
- When there was a “civil war” in our party before and after the passing of our former governor, and the governor needed someone to rise up and defend his constitutional position, it was Bunmi Tunji-Ojo that came to his rescue.
- During the primary elections and the governorship election proper, Bunmi Tunji-Ojo filled all the gaps, both seen and unseen.
- When the Governor’s team shared 20kg bags of rice and limited it to “Odatiwa people” in the various wards, BTO responded with bags and trailers of 50kg rice. Without looking at faces. Without asking “which faction?”
- He provided medical assistance to elders when they were sick.
- He paid school fees for children when some were denied bursaries.
- Through Ondo Community Connect, he built bridges, donated transformers, and installed solar lights in communities.
He was the rallying point and saving grace when the ship of the party was in bad waters on many occasions. He stabilised it with his deft political moves.
He does not talk factions. For BTO, you are either APC or you are from Ondo State. That is his only identity card.
That is leadership. That is what holding a party together looks like.
As Minister of Interior, he had every excuse to face Abuja alone. But he chose to carry Ondo on his head. Because he knows that President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda cannot succeed in a divided Ondo. Because he is more interested in Mr. President’s election than the noise of personal ambition. To him, it is “first things first”: President Tinubu before anyone else.
Yet what do we do in return? Vilification. Attacks. Forgetfulness. How was he rewarded by those whose destinies he helped to change? With blackmail and insults.
This is not fair. A man who is holding the umbrella for all of us in the rain should not be the one we stone.
Without BTO’s interventions, Ondo APC today would have been desecrated. The structures would have collapsed. Our members would have scattered because of the actions of certain people.
But today, Ondo APC is still standing. Still contesting. Still winning. That is BTO’s handiwork.
History will be kind to him. The party will be grateful to him. And Ondo people will one day celebrate him.
Bunmi Tunji-Ojo did not destroy Ondo APC. He saved it from internal implosion by those charged with the responsibility to hold it together.
That is a historical fact that must be acknowledged.
Oloroogun Sola Ajisafe, writes from Akure
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