By Seye Oladejo
The Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) wishes to remind Lagosians that the latest comic relief in our politics – Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour’s defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) – is nothing more than another desperate hustle by a man who has made political prostitution his career path.
From his forgettable beginnings in the obscure Kowa Party, to his short-lived PDP romance, to his opportunistic hijack of the Labour Party’s ticket in 2023, and now to ADC, GRV has jumped more parties than a restless frog hopping from one lily pad to another. Each move leaves behind chaos, betrayal, and laughter from the people who see through his charade.
Let us be clear: Rhodes-Vivour is not building a political career; he is on a political scavenger hunt. He is forever in search of the next platform to abuse and abandon, the next slogan to parrot, and the next crowd to mislead. His politics has no ideology, no direction, and certainly no loyalty – only the blind pursuit of personal ambition.
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This is the same individual who famously confessed, “I don’t think in Yoruba.” No wonder he cannot think straight in politics either. A man who disowns his roots at the level of language cannot be trusted to honor commitments at the level of leadership. Today ADC, tomorrow who knows? Maybe the Nigerian Association of Town Union Criers – anywhere that will give him a microphone to shout slogans he doesn’t even believe in.
The Labour Party now crying that his exit was “hasty” should be the last to complain. What else do you expect from a man whose only political strategy is haste – haste to jump ship, haste to cut corners, haste to claim what he has not worked for?
For the avoidance of doubt, Lagos is not a laboratory for serial defectors and confused apprentices. Governance is serious business, not a reality TV show where Gbadebo can change costumes every season.
The Labour Party needs not cry over a candidate who arrived on a night bus, snatched its gubernatorial ticket and left before dawn. We, however, emphatize if the party feels used, violated and dumped.
The question to ask is how will Lagosians risk their mandate with a young man whose only claim to political experience is traversing four different political parties in a short but uneventful political career?
He needs to be told that a rolling stone gathers no moss.
However, he appears to have learnt from the best during his last sojourn.
Rhodes – Vivour will do well to hasten to pay off the rented crowd for his last outing who are protesting on various social media platforms about the failed promise for service rendered.
History will not remember him as a statesman or a leader. It will remember him as a cautionary tale – a classic case of “Not Too Young to Prostitute.”
