The senator representing Oyo South at the National Assembly, Kola Balogun, on Saturday gave reasons why he rejected the senatorial ticket offered him by Governor Seyi Makinde after he and the Peoples Democratic Party earlier denied him the ticket.
Speaking during a live radio interview programme, tagged, ‘Political Circuit’ on Fresh FM, Ibadan, the state capital, Balogun said the governor tried to prevail on him to take back the ticket shortly after he defected to the All Progressives Congress but he refused.
The PUNCH reported that Balogun was denied the second term ticket which was given to Olasunkanmi Tegbe who lost the election to the APC candidate, Sharafadeen Alli, during the February 25 election.
He said if he accepted the offer, which came before the primary election that produced Tegbe, it would subject him to public ridicule as being a political prostitute in order to realise his ambition.
Balogun said he had no regret joining the APC and would not do anything differently if opportunity presented itself again.
He added, “What you don’t know is that it was the most unexpected thing to happen, not just to me but to a lot of PDP members, leaders and followers because the governor and I were really very close and he was telling all those that cared to listen that there was no vacancy in Oyo South.
“But you know 24 hours is a long time in politics. You think the deal is done and sealed but the next day you wake up and something else is happening. If I had to do that all over again, I would make the same decision.
“What may not be known to most people is that after a while that I left the party and there was controversy whether what he did was right or not, he (the governor) actually sent for me to come back and take the ticket before the primary election that produced Olasunkanmi Tegbe.
“He actually sent a lady to my wife to please tell me to come back and take the ticket and I said no. I don’t want the ticket anymore. My life is not all about being a senator. I have been something before being a senator and by God’s grace will continue to be something outside being a senator.
“I said what that means is that I will be subjected to public ridicule within the space of one month to be jumping from the PDP to APC and back to the PDP in the name of senatorial ticket. I said no. He should keep his ticket. I’m gone. Goodbye. That was what happened at the time.”
Balogun said Makinde’s decision to deny him the ticket did not go down well with a lot of senators in the Red Chamber, pointing out that senators were usually not in good relationship with their governors but that he was different because of his closeness to Makinde.
