I do not want anybody to have a wrong impression or believe I am in support of any party as some are wont to do especially if you express opinion that does not conform to their own idea, way of thinking as most would want to strait-jacket your thinking. Expressing an opinion is the legitimate right of any individual. As a journalist, one of the things you first learn on the job is to be dispassionate and fair when you write. Not only that, be bold and fearless in pursuing the truth. And say it the way it is.
Having laid the premise, I want to state that the above topic is borne out of what’s happening in the country today, the present major national past time- the war against corruption . It is clear from all the revelations we are getting, Nigeria and Nigerians have been seriously shortchanged especially by the immediate past administration of the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP). We have been cheated.
The people who managed our affairs have been extremely unfair to us . The biblical punishment readily comes to my mind for a major crime against the people, tie a rope round the neck of some of the perpetrators of these acts with a rock to boot and throw them inside water so they do not come up. But a word of caution- only the guilty.
The workings of government is strange and funds are provided for legitimate tasks, the EFCC should sift through this in order to look at legitimate assignation different from outright stealing of our collective patrimony.
Some people have said that the APC is latching on the corruption thing in order to permanently de-market the opposition PDP and make it unpalatable to Nigerians, the ruling party seems to be succeeding.
But this is where I have a little problem with the anti- corruption war. I concede that the Buhari administration is doing a good job of fighting corruption. Agreements and pacts are being signed with nations where our former leaders are repatriating their loots. The current one being with the government in the United Arab Emirates.
But I am especially concerned that the ‘war’ seems tilted against officials of the immediate past administration. This tend to give the impression of bias. The PDP had ruled the country for 16 years with different people at the helms of affairs. If a good job must be done, the probe must extend to all of the past PDP leaders.
A governor once informed me that a former president of this country literally funded the election of Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Liberia. Where did the money come from? Soon, part of the Abacha loot, $300m would soon be returned to Nigeria. One wonders how much was actually stolen that the repatriation seems unending.
But in all these, one thing is clear, anybody that wants to steal our money must do so with caution. The present administration is sending a strong signal that dipping the hand in the till without recourse to due process is over.
Oyo politics, Alao-Akala and 2019
Politics has always been very colorful in Oyo state. The death of Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, promoter of Amala politics has not diminished the interesting and colorful nature of Oyo politics. Time it was when nothing ever happens in Oyo, the pacesetter state without late Adedibu’s imprimatur. He was the recognized king maker. But that’s just water under the bridge. The scenario has changed. Adedibu is dead, the remnants of his loyalists have not been able to rally to sustain his politics.
With his death, politics has equally changed in the pacesetter state. What hitherto had been impossible in the state- the often -touted maxim that no governor has ever done a second term in the state has been broken. Incumbent governor, Abiola Ajimobi, riding on his exemplary performance and with no Adedibu looking over his shoulders, got a second term to consolidate on his achievement. It is as if the Ajimobi phenomenon in the state, has eclipsed the other parties as they have started waning in popularity. Apart from the All Progressives Congress (APC), the second strongest party in the state would have been the People’s Democratic Party except that the Accord and the Labour parties being promoted in the state by former governors Rasheed Ladoja and Chief Adebayo Alao- Akala, due to the personality of the two ex-governors and the large following they enjoy,have made this impossible, thus the PDP which was a major factor and the leading party in the state, is a distant number four in influence and followership going by the result of the last governorship election.
In the result declared by the Independent Electoral Officer (INEC) returning officer, Professor Bayo Salami, the APC scored 327, 310, Accord Party scored 254,520, the Labour Party got 184, 111 while the PDP that was in power before Ajimobi took over could only muster 79, 019 votes. Both former governors Ladoja and Alao-Akala were PDP governors and if their votes were to be polled including Teslim Folarin, the PDP candidate’s, it would have been quite difficult for the incumbent governor to have won, (stellar performance notwithstanding), but the game of politics is not always that straight forward. Alliances, permutations and interest have made it difficult to always predict a straightforward result.
But the above is just by the way, my concern today is the plan by former governor Alao-Akala to join the APC and what it portends for APC and politics generally in the state. It is obvious that this alliance will place APC in an unassailable position. Alao-Akala is a grassroots politician and has been able to hold firmly to his area. His influence in Ogbomoso and environ, where he hails from is not in doubts and he literally installs kings (read politicians) as evidenced in the last election. A case readily comes to mind. He was the architect of the victory of former Majority leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Mulikat Akande-Adeola, the PDP candidate in 2007 who represented Ogbomoso North, Ogbomoso South and Oriire federal constituency. He sustained her for two terms in the House of Representatives. But when Alao- Akala pitched his tent with the Labour Party, the former lawmakers decided to stay in the PDP. It was thus a battle between a protege and the ‘Godfather’. The rest is history as Akande-Adeola was resoundingly defeated by a practically unknown politician, Ebenezer Segun Ogunwuyi on the platform of LP. Ogunwuyi’s victory has since been affirmed by the state election tribunal.
All these goes to show that in Oyo politics today, the APC will still be holding all the aces. It would thus be difficult for any of the other parties to pose a serious challenge to it. 2019 is still far away, but not in politics. With the coming alliance, it does not look as if the remaining three parties, Accord, Labour and the PDP would be able to muster enough clout to challenge APC in Oyo. The only problem could only come from within the APC fold itself- Internal wrangling, which stems, most times, from who to give what and what to even give who, has always been a major factor. How would Alao-Akala be received? Would he be satisfied with whatever he is given? Not only that, he is moving with his followers, would his followers be satisfied with their treatment in APC or would they pitch their tent elsewhere before the 2019 elections? These are fundamental issues which should be tackled with tact.