By Abdulmalik Suleiman
This maxim not only bars relief for anyone guilty of improper conduct in matters at hand, it also operates to prevent any affirmative recovery for the person with “unclean hands,” as in this case, the recent outbursts by Senator Smart Adeyemi , over power rotation or zoning in Kogi state.
It can, at best, be described as a misplaced priority or an exercise in futility.
This is a man, who has serially transgressed against zoning in Kogi West Senatorial arrangements among the three (3) Federal constituencies and, yet, without conscience, still came out to contest for fourth term in the just concluded 2023 elections, despite an overwhelming support for the ticket to be zoned to Yagba .
For Sen Adeyemi to now turnaround and pontificate about justice and equity, after losing the Guber ticket, smacks of hypocrisy in the highest order.
It is imperative I shed more light on the trajectory of Kogi West Senatorial imbroglio, which started with our revered and respected Sen. Tunde Ogbeha from Kogi/Lokoja Fed Constituency between 1999 -2007.
When he served out his two terms as Senator representing Kogi West, the retired general honorably and humbly stepped aside and Sen Adeyemi from Kabba- Ijumu was elected.
The “now crusader” and activist Adeyemi breached the unwritten and gentlemanly agreement and contested again for third term, thereby disrupting the smooth arrangements among the three (3) Fed constituencies, instead of supporting his Yagba neighbours after the expiration of his second term as required.
Sen. Adeyemi and Sen. Dino both from Ijumu LGA have been alternating the Senate seat between them in the last 16 years uninterrupted, as if it was their birthright, leaving out Yagba and even Kabba.
But if the truth be told, it was Adeyemi’s fourth attempt at the Senate seat that brought about the fall out between him and Gov. Yahaya Bello.
So the embittered and greedy Senator is being economical with the truth and trying to cover up his frustration at being thwarted, blaming it on the recent governorship primary of the ruling party, APC, won by Alh. Usman Ododo.
Sen. Adeyemi’s cry and accusations against Gov. Yahaya Bello of rigging and manipulating the governorship primary to favour Ebiras is insignificant and doesn’t hold water.
To some of us, Adeyemi is only grandstanding to curry sympathy from the gullible public, hiding under the guise of power rotation when he himself is an apostle of anti – power shift.
It’s lamentable and at the same time, laughable that because he couldn’t get the ticket for the fourth term to the red hallowed chamber, he’s now insisting that it was actually the turn of the people of Kogi West to produce the next governor.
One is bound to ask the senator how come he is just realizing this or this this double speak after disenfranchising the people of Yagba and Kabba all these years?
But the same Gov. Yahaya Bello, an Ebira man, who Sen. Adeyemi is deriding today, stood for justice and intervened in the long years of power marginalization of the Yagba people by Sen. Adeyemi.
The governor has supported Yagba both morally and materially and to the glory of God, a Yagba man will be representing Kogi West for the first time since 1999.
Sen. Adeyemi should rather be grateful to Gov. Yahaya Bello who smuggled him back into the Senate in 2019 for a third term, even though he was resoundingly defeated by Sen. Dino at the poll.
It was the support and assistance of Gov. Bello who came to his rescue and oust Sen. Dino, through legal battle, that was his saving grace.
So, is it not treacherous and hypocritical of the same Sen. Adeyemi to talk about rigging and Justice when he was a beneficiary of same in the past?
Agitating for power shift to Okun now without supporting Yagba for Senate in the past is unfair on his side and he should shut up!.
Sen. Adeyemi is the wrong person today to lead the advocacy for power shift to Okun, having failed in the past to do same to forego his inordinate ambition or lend his voice in the support of his Yagba neighbours for Senate.
Hence, his recent outbursts smacks of double standard and distraction which should be ignored by all.
To be agitating for power shift to the zones now on the guise of equity and justice only because he was stopped from perpetrating same, is simply unfair and sheer hypocrisy on his part.
If Adeyemi is accusing the Ebiras, that they don’t want to release power to other zones and you that have tasted power in the past want to take power again, then you’re not sincere in your actions.
The senator’s rants are hallmark of a drowning man, and he should be advised to save his breath as nobody is interested.
He should know that Kogi state comes first before any personal or individual interest.
True equity and justice is to ensure that every zone in the state have a sense of belonging, with power rotated and shared by all.
So, let’s leave governor Yahaya Bello alone.