Opeyemi Bamidele Dares ACN..You Can't Recall Me

The member representing Ekiti Central Federal Constituency I in the House of Representatives, Mr. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, has replied the interim chairman of the Ekiti State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Jide Awe, saying “I cannot be recalled or forced to resign as a member of the National Assembly over my insistence to contest against Governor Kayode Fayemi in the 2014 governorship election.”

Bamidele, who is also the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Budget and  Research, made the declaration in a statement signed by his media aide, Mr Ahmed Salami, and made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti on Saturday.

According to the release, Bamidele declared that he could not be recalled or forced to  resign as a member of the National Assembly over his insistence to contest against Governor Kayode Fayemi  in the 2014 Governorship election.

Awe had told newsmen on Thursday that it was not enough for Bamidele to just resign as the Ekiti State caucus leader in the House of Representatives, but that he should resign his membership of the party and also resign as a member of the National Assembly.

But Bamidele said in the statement that he expected  Awe “as a political leader and experienced politician to have been well-informed that APC is yet to register its members across the country” and pointed out that “under the Electoral Act 2011, APC is a newly-registered political  party that has not carried out any membership registration drive.”

He said for Awe to have asked him to resign from the party “smacked  of ignorance.”

According to the statement, Bamidele “does not have to resign from APC to pursue his aspiration,” pointing out that “he has no membership card to claim that he is a bonafide member of the party likewise Awe and other members of the new party.”

Bamidele added that it was demeaning for Awe to have made the pronouncement on the premise that “the leadership of the Ekiti caucus was just a political arrangement that has no legal  backing. Which law did I breach to warrant  this unnecessary criticisms?”

He advised the APC interim chairman and those he said were threatening to recall him from the House of Representatives over his interest in the 2014 governorship race to bury the ‘wild’ thought.

Bamidele said: “I am carrying the mandate of my people who elected me on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria in 2011. As things stand today, ACN is no longer in existence, having merged with other parties to form APC.

“So I have never defected from any party even if I decide to contest on the platform of another  party because that party under which I was elected is dead.”

“I was quite aware of the lacuna created by the demise of the  Action Congress of Nigeria that was why I decided to write my resignation letter as a caucus leader to APC  National leaders and Governor Fayemi, since I knew the state leadership  has not been constituted.”

In the letter addressed to Governor Fayemi and National Leader of the party, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, dated Wednesday October 23, Bamidele had announced his resignation as the Ekiti caucus leader in the House of Representatives, saying he decided to bow out as the leader of Ekiti caucus following his “avowed interest to contest the 2014 election based on people’s requests.