GBOYEGA OYETOLA & OSUN 2018: 1951 GENERAL ELECTION IN VIEW

”The people constitute the most important part of governance…then the people must be alive to the true meaning of their citizenship as there are credible, competent, patriotic alternatives.” -Taken from Nowinta’s book, 2009: Where We Are – A Call for Democratic Revolution in Nigeria (page 143).

A special date with history because the electorate ultimately gave their verdict to Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress, instead of Ademola Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party, in what has gone down in Nigeria’s electoral history as one of the most tension-soaked elections.

Thanks to the eleventh hour political game changing/deciding role by Senator Iyiola Omisore of the Social Democratic Party (who came third during the September 22, 2018 inconclusive governorship election).

By emerging the instant beautiful political bride as Oyetola and Adeleke failed dramatically to clinch the coveted political trophy during the first ballot, Senator Iyiola Omisore reminds me clearly of how late Chief Meredith Adisa Akinloye of the defunct Ibadan People’s Party (IPP) aligned with the legendary Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group (AG) to give birth to what later snowballed into the first class Western Nigerian government then.

Omisore’s incredible political influence in the Ife Federal Constituency was indeed the magical wand that made the mighty difference in the recent nerve-breaking re-run governorship election in the State of the virtuous, just like what Akinloye’s IPP did in Ibadan in1951.

How was it done? The 1951 Constitutional Conference held in Ibadan opened up more space for indigenous political participation for Nigerians, which led to the birth of Akinloye’s IPP on June 15, 1951.

The general election in 1951, that featured Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group, Akinloye’s IPP etc. could not generate a clear cut winner to form a government for the then Western Region.

It was Akinloye’s five out of the six IPP members that cleared the polls in Ibadan which ultimately gave the sagacious Chief Obafemi Awolowo the greatest opportunity to form the government as Premier of the Western Region ahead of Azikiwe’s NCNC.

Chief Meredith Adisa Akinloye was rewarded with the portfolio of the Regional Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Awolowo’s government.

That was how late Chief Adisa Akinloye became a pillar in the politics of the First Republic before he ended up as a negative political phenomenon during the ill-fated Second Republic in Nigeria when he was National chairman of National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

In my objective view concerning the controversial decision taken by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for a re-run in Osun, the electoral umpire has only done what the nation’s Supreme Court had ruled on and legalized previously, given INEC statutory sweeping ambiguous powerful guidelines in conducting elections in Nigeria.

Now who says political romance or alliance is a crime or sin here and in other climes in the world? Who is saying that Iyiola Omisore is not at liberty to ask his supporters to do what they did recently during the rerun Osun governorship election?

Politics is simply a game of numbers and endless intrigues with the electorate as the real deal! There is no permanent friend but permanent interest in politics. Who really wanted a half-baked/educationally kwashiokorised guy like Senator Ademola Adeleke as a successor to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola?

Though, Omisore had had some political quarrels with the All Progressives Congress before, the brutal wound that the PDP inflicted on him shortly before the party’s primary was fresher and enough for the indefatigable politician to throw his weight in favor of APC.

The 1951 general election is on my mind in this regard because it has given historical authenticity to the extraordinary political strokes that recently worked positively for Gboyega Oyetola.

In as much as l detest the sporadic politically related killings as recorded during the first ballot and the rerun elections, both the PDP and the APC were guilty of vote buying allegations, isolated violence, intimidations etc., l think rightly that the better candidate given the peculiar situation in Osun is the present Governor-elect.

The lucky Governor-elect as an automatic and authentic maker of history will be stepping into the large shoes of the first ever dynamic character that has stoically demonstrated that he is the undisputed greatest vote winner since the creation of Osun State.

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as an election champion by winning the absolute confidence of the good people of Osun first in April 2007 and again in 2014, has indeed set a fantastic record which Alhaji Bisi Akande(Governor 1999 to 2003) and General Olagunsoye Oyinlola(Governor 2003 to November 2010) dramatically failed to set.

It is glorifying to note that the credited administrative score card that convinced the electorate to heavily knock Ogbeni Aregbesola back to power to do a second tenure in office has been replicated for all to see today.

Nowhere has Aregbesola’s political genius become a reference point than the School Feeding Scheme which he started since his first tenure. Even when the train of financial resources coming to the State gradually slowed down, the man courageously refused to let go his sacred pact with the thousands of poor families whose children are in the state’s public schools.

For me the first undeniable, perpetual genuine electoral converts that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola nay the All Progressives Congress (APC) won to their political canopy are the army of direct and remote beneficiaries spread across the state drawing from the fountains of the School Feeding Program (O Meal).

The wonders in state of the art schools built across the state, free tuition in both primary and secondary schools etc. that Governor Aregbesola performed in the educational front are enough reason that APC regime has been replicated in a fresh mandate via Gboyega Oyetola.

Honestly, l don’t see how the heavy sea of families flowing consistently inside this stomach infrastructure would not have repaid Aregbesola and the APC handsomely as they cast their vote for Gboyega Oyetola.

When we look at the spate of political prostitution via decamping within the state recently, all the major political parties are victims, it was an incontrollable virus that cut across mercilessly.

The exit of some APC stalwarts in the Southwestern part of the State affected the political fortunes of Gboyega Oyetola as the realignment of forces during the election displayed.

Some critics have mentioned the staggered payment of salaries as an issue in the state. But the fact remains that Ogbeni was paying salaries as and when due until when oil revenue accruing to the Federal Government almost dried up during the Goodluck Jonathan regime, which affected and still battling many state governments today

So, the State of Osun is not alone in this national financial challenge. After all, Governor Aregbesola once paid double salaries when the going was very good financially in 2010.

In spite of the glaring financial predicament Aregbesola has demonstrated extraordinary ingenuity and scientific initiatives that has made his eight years in power a huge success.

Because Ogbeni has been able to address the issue of corruption in the state and replace with his own governance version of transparency, accountability, financial probity, development, care and progress l have no choice than to stand with Gboyega Oyetola as the Governor-elect today.

I stand with Oyetola knowing fully well that he is inseparably connected with the magic of Aregbesola. Oyetola is a full-blown apostle of Ogbeni who has participated in the conception and faithful implementation of the bold and brave policies which has pulled the State of Osun from the valley of mediocrity.

Oyetola is an irresistible magnetic political destiny being awaited by Osun people.
Finally, l am convinced that in this election the APC and Gboyega Oyetola are the credible and competent alternatives which the good people of Osun have ushered back to power.