Senator representing Oyo South, Kola Balogun has revealed how Governor Seyi Makinde begged him to return to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after he dumped the party for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Balogun said he left the PDP when he was not given the party’s Senatorial ticket to re-contest.
Balogun had dumped the PDP just before the party primaries upon the realisation that the PDP hierarchy in the State had concluded plans to hand the Oyo South Senatorial ticket to Mr Olasunkanmi Tegbe.
Speaking while featuring on a Fresh FM, Ibadan, political programme at the weekend, Balogun said he declined the offer to come back for the ticket he had been earlier denied knowing that such a move will subject him to public ridicule.
Balogun disclosed that Makinde sent a lady to speak with his wife to return to the party but he declined, maintaining that it would be ridiculous for him to move from PDP to APC and back to PDP within the space of about a month.
He described the move to deny him a return Senatorial ticket as unexpected, pointing to earlier assurances by the governor that there was no vacancy in Oyo South until political intrigues played out.
He particularly fingered an Ibadan chief for prevailing on the governor to deny him the return ticket noting that the plan was hatched and concluded when he went for Umrah.
Balogun said some PDP senators were upset with Makinde and questioned him over the decision to deny him the ticket and the governor confessed to them how certain influences prevailed on him though adding that he had asked him to come back for the ticket.
Balogun said: “What may not be known to most people in the public is that at a point after I left the party and there was this controversy whether what he (governor) did was right or not, he actually sent for me to come back and take the ticket before the primary that produced Olasunkanmi Tegbe.
“He actually sent a lady to my wife to tell me to please come back to take the ticket. My wife was in Abuja and called me that a lady has been calling and that I should come back and take the ticket. I said I don’t want the ticket anymore. My life is not all about being a Senator.
“I have been something before I became a Senator, by God’s grace, I’ll continue to be something after being a Senator.
“What that means is that I will be subjected to public ridicule. That would mean, within the space of one month, I was jumping from PDP to APC and back to PDP on the same Senatorial ticket. I said he can keep his ticket, I am gone.”
Speaking ahead of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, Balogun has asked the next set of federal legislators to consider passing into law a bill that limits the duties of lawmakers to law-making and oversight.
He made this call against the backdrop of the huge expectations of Nigerians on lawmakers to mandatorily provide infrastructure for their various constituencies.
Balogun held that the lawmakers are subjected to a lot of ridicule if they do not provide these infrastructures whereas such, he said, should be the primary responsibility of the executive arm of government.
“Let us remove that expectation from the lawmakers to bring infrastructure, boreholes, transformers, let us reside that with the executive arm. Lawmakers do these things to justify their mandate; if you don’t do this, people will blame you.
“I wish the 10th National Assembly will pass a law to remove that expectation from the Nigerian people. Let it just be lawmaking and oversight functions,” Balogun said.
After serving out his tenure as Senator, Balogun said he remained committed to being socially responsible to his community cum constituency.
