Adekanmbi’s Life of Purpose: Why the Masses Dictate His Pace 2 ||▪︎ By Isiaka Kehinde (Mr Ethics)

By Isiaka kehinde.

Bimbo Adekanmbi always reminds me of the title of Chinua Achebe’s celebrated satirical novel, A Man of the People. The title itself evokes a fundamental question of leadership: Who does a leader ultimately serve?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Logical reasoning suggests that a considerate man should constantly weigh his thoughts, decisions, and actions against their consequences for others. A caring leader does not stubbornly cling to yesterday’s plans when today’s realities demand a rethink. Sometimes, leadership means changing course—not for oneself, but for the people.

This wisdom is beautifully captured in the Yoruba saying:

“Báálẹ̀ fẹ́ dájọ́ ogun, àmọ́ ó ń wo ti ara ilé.”

The community head may contemplate declaring war, but he is restrained by considering the consequences for his own people.

That, to me, is the essence of a true man of the people—and that is the stuff Bimbo Adekambi appears to be made of.

Martin Luther King Jr. once posed one of life’s most enduring questions: “What are you doing for others?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That question becomes particularly compelling in today’s Nigeria.

 

Adekambi could have remained comfortably within the APC political establishment, surrounded by friends, relationships, and familiar political networks, and perhaps continued his political journey without disturbing the status quo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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But what about the people?

What about the trader whose working capital has been steadily eroded by inflation?

What about the young Nigerian whose salary disappears almost immediately after payday?

What about the family forced to make painful choices between food, transportation, rent, and school fees?

What about pensioners surviving on paltry pensions that seem to vanish almost as soon as they are received?

 

 

 

 

 

 

What about the ordinary citizen whose economic reality has moved far beyond the statistics politicians routinely present at press conferences?

 

These people do not live on political rhetoric.

They live on prices.

They feel the economy not in spreadsheets but in market stalls, transport fares, hospital bills, school fees, and empty wallets.

So, when Adekambi says his expectations have changed, perhaps his critics should pause long enough to ask what changed the expectations.

That is where the concept of changing electoral mathematics becomes relevant.

Political mathematics is not static. Political alliances change. Public sentiment changes. Expectations change. Economic realities change. Consequently, political choices can change.

A politician’s decision to reassess his political direction should not automatically be interpreted as betrayal, opportunism, or intellectual inconsistency. It can equally be an expression of political judgment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adekambi appears to have reached the conclusion that Governor Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde represents a possible alternative route out of what he considers the present thorny path of hardship. He has consequently pitched his tent with Makinde and chosen to pursue governorship under the platform of the APM.

 

What, then, is fundamentally out of place?

Critics are entitled to disagree with his political judgment. They may question his timing. They may interrogate his reasons. They may even believe he has made the wrong political calculation.

But disagreement is not evidence of wrongdoing.

And political name-calling is certainly not an argument.

If you can not defeat an argument, don’t insult the man making it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The more important question is not whether Bimbo Adekambi has changed direction.

The real question is why.

Perhaps the answer is staring everyone in the face: he is listening to a country whose people are increasingly asking for something different.

Politics is not a museum where politicians are required to preserve yesterday’s loyalties in glass cases as political keepsakes. It is a living enterprise, shaped by changing circumstances, changing expectations, and changing electoral mathematics.

Yesterday’s political calculation may not necessarily be today’s political calculation.

And tomorrow’s may be different again.

The true test of political leadership, therefore, is not the ability to remain permanently attached to yesterday’s choices. It is the capacity to recognise when circumstances have changed and respond responsibly to the people one seeks to lead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ultimately, political power does not belong to the politician.

It does not belong to the party.

It does not belong to the godfather.

It does not belong to the social-media commentator.

And it certainly does not belong to political moneybags.

It belongs to the people.

Any politician who forgets that does so at his own peril.

Adekambi is listening.

The question is: Are his critics listening to the same people?