A few days ago, Nigerians woke up to the news of the appointment of Honourable Abel Oluwagbemiga as the Grassroots, Strategy, and Campaign Director representing the South-South Geo-political zone of the All Progressives Congress, the ruling political party at the federal level and in most states of the federation.

Such a meteoric rise in the hierarchical structure of the ruling political party is indeed commendable, especially when one considers the fact that a few years ago, Honourable Oluwagbemiga was appointed the interim Chairman of Abeokuta South Local Government Area of Ogun State.

An appointment to such a high office of the political party should naturally elicit jubilation and goodwill messages from the indigenes of his immediate community of Abeokuta South local government area, Ogun State, and the entire South-South geo-political region whose interest he is expected to represent at the national level of the party.

But the appointment has opened a floodgate of mixed reactions from different quarters in Nigeria. While those who rely on Honourable Oluwagbemiga for their survival and a small segment of members of the political class whom he has helped to get their political position through nefarious means see the appointment as well deserved, a vast majority of party members in  Abeokuta South local government area, Ogun State, and the South West geo-political region whose interest he will be representing in the next six years hold a contrary opinion as they regard him as unfit for such an enviable position in the party.

It is, therefore, disturbing that an appointment that calls for jubilation among party members is presently causing so much tension and division within the political party. It is no longer news that the national office of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja has been inundated with petitions calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reverse the appointment. The reasons for the present clamour by party members that Honourable Oluwagbemiga should not hold such an exalted office are not far-fetched, especially when one examines his antecedence and foray into the murky waters of Nigerian politics.

For those who are familiar with his background, it is rumoured that Honourable Oluwagbemiga grew up in a very poor home. Due largely to his parents’ inability to pay his school fees, Oluwagbemiga dropped out of school to join a gang neck-deep in organised crime. Bold, fearless, and not one to flinch at the sight of blood, the young Abel Oluwagbemiga soon rose through the ranks to become the leader of the gang, unleashing terror in Abeokuta and other communities in Ogun State.

In a society where politics of might is right prevails, words soon got to the ears of members of the Action Congress who were desperate to use all means available to them to seize political powers from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the South-West geo-political region at the time, that there was an individual who was not afraid to shed the blood of others for the right price.

That was how Honourable Oluwagbemiga was recruited as a chief security officer into the Action Congress, which later metamorphosed to the present-day All Progressives Congress. With his reputation in the underworld, Honourable Oluwagbemiga became saddled with the responsibility of doing the dirty jobs for the political party, which eventually won a resounding victory in an election marred by violence, and sundry acts of electoral malpractices for which he was very instrumental.

For his role in ensuring that the will of the people to freely elect their representatives, which they expressed through the ballot box, did not prevail, Honourable Oluwagbemiga soon rose to prominence in Ogun State and South-West politics. He became a contractor, enjoying juicy and overinflated contracts from the state government.

Cunning and calculative despite his limited formal education, Honourable Oluwagbemiga, who knew how to make money from a tender age using brute force, soon capitalised on his contacts and connections in government. He ventured into the business of buying and selling lands, where he began to employ force, threats, intimidation, and leveraged on his contacts in law enforcement and even the judiciary to coerce people to surrender their landed property to him. In a society where the vast majority of the populace are struggling with suffocating and agonising poverty, Hon. Oluwagbemiga soon built an unorthodox army of thugs and outlaws from individuals, which comprise mostly of youths, who rely on him for handouts, gifts, food, and money for their survival.

It is widely known that Honourable Oluwagbemiga uses this unorthodox army of thugs and outlaws in unleashing a reign of terror and brute force on members of the opposition political parties, and anyone he feels constitutes a threat to him and his business of buying and selling lands. When one considers the nuisance value of Honourable Oluwagbemiga to the All Progressives Congress at both state and national levels, it will be doubtful if President Tinubu, who has the powers to reverse such a strategic appointment, would accede to the demands. To say that this powerful position has further consolidated the status and influence of Honourable Oluwagbemiga among politicians and those lobbying for elective positions and appointments in government is an understatement.

For a man who has delivered for his political party by arming an unorthodox army of thugs and using them to commit crimes ranging from snatching and destruction of election materials, beating, maiming, intimidation and disappearance of members of opposing political parties, arson, and even murder,  rewarding Honourable Oluwagbemiga with such a position is seen by the beneficiaries of the crude and primitive Nigerian politics as a way of rewarding him for the inglorious jobs he did for the All Progressive Congress in the recent 2023 presidential election.