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BETWEEN ENGR CLEMENT FABOYEDE AND I: SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT
By Leye Igbabo
When I said that if political hierarchy was to be strictly considered, I should be senior to Engr Clement Faboyede, expectedly, tongues started wagging as to why a “lowly politician” could dare say he should be the senior to a former local government chairman, former commissioner and a former state chairman of a notable political party, PDP.
Rather than gifting a larger-than-life status to Engr Clement Faboyede, the bewildered public should have been circumspect and soberly reflective of the matter by noting that politicians did not just come from the Pluto to attain their present political status and therefore try to investigate the issue.
However, since the tongues are still wagging without any attempt to know the truth, it becomes imperative for me to straighten the record.
When I was already jostling to become a Ward Councilor in 1992 under the SDP, Engr Clement Faboyede was a ward secretary of the party. So by 1995/96 political process, my dream of becoming the elected representative of my ward became a reality.
It was when I was occupying this position that Otunba Akin Ashimolowo popularly known as “Ashimmy Ekun” brought Engr Clement Faboyede to me for my political blessing and my consequent support for him to be the Ifedore Local Government Chairman on the then DPN platform. That is just the plain truth!
Before they came to me, I had been offered a UNCP platform to recontest as a Hon Councilor by the elders who were then gradually returning to the political space after their withdrawal and political hibernation due to the wilful annulment of the 1993 Presidential election.
But when Ashimmy Ekun who is now the Senior High Chief Sasere of Igbara Oke, brought Engr Clement Faboyede to me, I was spontaneously inclined to work with them seeing them as youthful elements like me and believing that our vision and mission should align by the reason of our not-too-wide age difference. I consequently ditched the babas and their UNCP platform to embrace Otunba Akin Ashimolowo and Engr Clement Faboyede’s DPN platform
*That singular decision became the greatest political miscalculation that dimmed my growing political rise till today*
Let me pray for you that you will never make any decision that will sink you politically!
Around that period, a lively, ebullient young man, Hon Engr Dele Oshakuade also indicated his interest in the contest for the local government chairmanship position. He also approached me for support. But If you know me very well, I don’t double-deal in anything. And since I had agreed to support Engr Clement Faboyede, I declined Engr Dele Oshakuade’s overture.
But again, the then Local Govt chairman Hon Kayode Muyide was also interested in being re elected.
And then the fireworks began.
As an elected Honourable Councilor, Hon Kayode Muyide who was then our Local Govt chairman, would not forget in a hurry, how I frustrated his plan to use Engr Clement Faboyede’s business relationship with the Local Government, to cause his disqualification by the Military which was midwifing our political process then.
(Disqualification of candidates was very rampant during the military regimes. That was what led to the ascension of Hon Muyide Kayode as the local government chairman then, when his other co-contestants were unduly disqualified on some flimsiest excuses, depending on your connection to the then military junta.)
So when Hon Muyide Kayode was attempting to blacklist Engr Clement Faboyede who was now aspiring under the DPN platform, I rose stoutly in strong defence of Engr Clement Faboyede, disallowing Hon Muyide Kayode from using his vantage position to cause the disqualification of Engr Faboyede.
This almost led to the dissolution of the Council by the Military when we were always at loggerheads, on a constant basis because I refused to toe Hon Muyide Kayode’s line of action against Engr Clement Faboyede.
That was the level of loyalty I displayed for Engr Clement Faboyede’s ambition!
Now the election was conducted and won by Engr Dele Oshakuade of UNCP.
We approached the Election Petition Tribunal to upturn the UNCP victory but it didn’t finally work out. When the Tribunal upheld the victory of Engr Dele Oshakuade that day, I still vividly remembered how I broke down in tears at the back of the High Court, Akure. You know that Engr Clement Faboyede is also emotional, he couldn’t help but join me in the weeping spree until we again encouraged ourselves and rose up, trusting God for our own time of victory.
By this time, no one was left to identify with us. They had all gone to savour the victory with Engr Dele Oshakuade, who was also a dynamic, popular and amiable young man.
From this time, we began to rapidly lose followership remaining a very few of us who stuck with Engr Clement Faboyede.
And I became the very present help in the time of trouble and the very friend in the time of need! I stood solidly behind Engr Clement Faboyede during these hours of need. I served as his human anchor constantly assuring him that better days were ahead.
So, here comes the Fourth Republic in 1998/99 by the formation of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), PDP and APP.
We reoiled our political machinery, this time around, to face and convince the almighty political elders who were now fully on ground and had converged themselves on the platform of AD. Noticing that the then elders had successfully used the Afenifere platform to sway the southwest in their favor, we decided to pitch our tent with the AD to also benefit from the public sympathy already garnered by the Afenifere leaders.
But then, another hurdle to scale through.
Because to convince the almighty elders to field a “young man” under their platform would require the great wisdom needed to make the camel enter the eye of a needle!
And by the grace of God, we succeeded in obtaining the support of the elders to field Engr Clement Faboyede as the Local Government Chairmanship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy.
But not without a casualty!
Those who faced and “arm-twisted” the elders to succumb to the fielding of Engr Clement Faboyede were marked as recalcitrant who should not deserve their mercy after the electoral successes of the AD in the Southwest region. And guess what. I was on that casualty list! But I had no worries so long as Engr Clement Faboyede was picked and finally, was elected as the Executive Chairman of Ifedore Local Govt. I believed I would find my level there.
And truly, due to the very cordial relationship that existed between me and Engr Clement Faboyede, I went to the then Local Government DPM to introduce myself as the Personal Assistant to the new chairman-elect, Engr Clement Faboyede, and that, I would need an office to operate because we were trying to bring up a blueprint with which the new administration would work. (We actually got the blueprint for the administration.)
The then DPM acceded to my request of office provision which automatically made me to become the P.A to the then new chairman and arguably the first P.A ever appointed at the Local Government level in the Ondo State’s Fourth Republic journey. I was able to have my way in all of this, because of my previous experience at the Council as a Councillor..
And not long after I became the P.A, then the bubble bust!
A long-built political relationship was blatantly and flagrantly betrayed by a hitherto trusted ally!
One of the very foundation-building blocks that were painstakingly used to set Engr Clement Faboyede’s political relevance, was recklessly removed!
I went for a two-week assignment that had the understanding, clear consent and assurances of Engr Clement Faboyede before I left, but before I even got to the destination, Engr Clement Faboyede had removed and replaced me with another friend as the P.A without any prior notice! No prior misunderstanding;
no prior caution;
no premonitions and admonitions. Just a sudden and unexpected removal!
Engr Clement Faboyede had now gotten a new fair-weather political family that he needed to satisfy and so, sacrificed a long-standing ally without any fair consideration for his previous support, loyalty and solidarity!
Sincerely, I had no issues with finding a post for a deserving friend who was also part of the political struggle. My grouse was why it had to be my own *èsùrù* (farmland) that would be taken away from me and allocated to another person when, as an Executive Chairman, he had the power to create any offices for his followers.
For instance, there was no Liaison Officer in history then, but Engr Clement Faboyede created one, to accommodate a man, who was NEVER a part of the struggle and was only brought to him by a friend.
So why didn’t he create another office for a man who was actually a part of the struggle rather than using the substitution method against me?
After that rude betrayal, as a politician, I had to leave his camp for another. I then joined another group to search for another person since Engr Clement Faboyede had betrayed me. So when it was time for Engr Clement Faboyede to renew his mandate for the second term, I pitched my tent with the elders to get a new candidate. And that was how we got Chief Olubodun Ajayi, another Igbara Oke indigene to field on the AD platform then.
That was the genesis of the disagreement between me and Fabo. And since then, I have been a target of intense attacks, blackmail and oppression in the hand of Engr Clement Faboyede who by Providence, now has the upper hand politically than me as we progressed.
Perhaps I need to ask from the public if I had done anything wrong at that moment, when I was left in the lurch by a group I laboured hard to build and which made me look for another camp. And again, if the political realignment was that unpardonable.
As soon as Engr Clement Faboyede secured his commissionership slot under the administration of former Governor Olusegun Mimiko, I joined him and declared my unflinching support for his leadership but I can say, unarguably that he employed the office to repress me throughout his six year tenure such that if not for the mercy of God, I would have become a complete nuisance and nonentity in the society! He blocked all the identifiable and any perceived avenues that could lead to my political growth.
I may not want to bother you with the long list of ugly and unimaginable things he did, to dim my political rise, but blessed be the name of the Lord who did not make me a prey to his teeth. I was later officially appointed to specially assist the former Governor in the area of enlightening the public on the transformative strides of his administration.
I had counseled Engr Clement Faboyede on several occasions to forget about whatever might have happened in the past, citing the action of the Biblical David who only resorted to profusely thanking God for how far He had been good to him.
If God has been kind to Engr Clement Faboyede by making him an elected Ifedore Local Govt Executive Chairman, appointed him a two-time State Commissioner and a former State Chairman of a notable party, quoting David’s stance according to 2 Sam 7:18-22, I had encouraged him to take a cue from king David who looked back and thanked God for lifting him up in spite of his very weakest family background. But the man did NOT heed the counsel!
Now recently, I had thought that I am now free from Engr Clement Faboyede’s oppression and his stumbling block strategies, when he publicly begged me and promised me in the presence of the Almighty God and about thirty Ifedore leaders and stakeholders drawn from across the Local Government, that NEVER AGAIN, will he hurt and block my ways to greater political heights!
Engr Clement Faboyede made this solemn promise at the Parliament Hotel, Akure, the venue of the meeting, on September 9, 2025 in the build-up to the State Congress where he appealed to me to step down my ambition to contest the State Secretary of the Party and also begged the uncooperative and unsupportive Ifedore stakeholders to allow the incumbent Mr Oluseye Olujimi to continue in the office.
Throughout the meeting, Mr Oluseye Olujimi was begging the leaders and stakeholders in conjunction with and support of his sole promoter Engr Clement Faboyede, to give him a second chance to correct all the grievances expressed by all the stakeholders against him.
Quite dishonest and unfortunate that not only did Mr Oluseye Olujimi resort to publicly challenging me in the most disrespectful manner, after he was allowed to continue in the office, but more painful, is his sole promoter, Engr Clement Faboyede who begged me and promised never to clog the wheel of my political progress, started plotting against my downfall, less than 24 hours after the fake promise and empty assurances!
You may wonder why Engr Clement Faboyede has made himself a sworn enemy to my political progress, my next episode will let the public into what I discovered that made Engr Clement Faboyede become unappeasable.
If you do not allow your ambitions to be truly guided by God, there is the likelihood that such a person will be entangled in the web of darkness. That is what is responsible.
Watch out for this in the next episode!
Leye Igbabo writes from Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State.
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