Akure renewed hope Agenda to produce our first civilian Governor in Ondo State after Aiyedatiwa could well be a dog dream.
Akure renewed hope Agenda to produce our first civilian Governor in Ondo State after Aiyedatiwa could
well be a dog dream.
Akure’s hope and determined aspiration to, at long last, produce our first civilian Governor since the creation of Ondo State in 1976, could fail again because we have refused to learn something from what is happening at the national level where the PDP which in less than 3 months has strategically moved from its original self to the ADA and then the to ADC an already registered Party the PDP Founding fathers, in total desperation, have commandeered from their original owners because they are scared to death that INEC under the control of Tinubu might not register their new Party or might just delay their registration of their new Party just like the PDP used to clandestinely manipulate INEC to frustrate the Opposition Parties for all of the 30 years they were in power in Nigeria before they were defrocked and taken out of power by the merger of Buhari’s CPC and Tinubu’s ACN to become the APC which has now become the ruling Party in Nigeria for what should be 8 years of Buhari and 8 years of Tinubu making a total of 16.
But the PDP dominated by the Arewa Group having been cut out of power for all those 10 to 16 years, is so desperate and hungry to return to power that it has decided to cut down the 8 years for Tinubu and the southern half of Nigeria to only 4 years because the Northerners believe they own Nigeria and they want power back to the Northerners by all means whether the South likes it or not.
They are therefore ganging up and colluding with some blind southern politicians who cannot read between the lines to recognize that a trap is being set for them.
The usual solidarity of the North under the Sardauna Bello has long begun to dissipate or evaporate ever since the creation of the Midwest State in 1962 followed by the creation of the 12 states in 1967 to polarize and to defeat BIafra and
the increase to 19 and now to 36 States minus the Federal Capital Territory has created a new dynamic in Nigerian Politics so much so that the solidarity of some parts of Bornu or the Kanuri Empire, Benue/ Plateau and the Yoruba- speaking axis of old Kwara State can no longer be taken for granted by the Core North.
IBB and Sani Abacha had conspired to give the North an edge by creating 2 or 3 States out of Kano and Bornu to give 19 States to the North while keeping the South at 17.
IBB and Abacha did not stop there. They went on to divide Nigeria into 774 Local Governments by giving the lion share of those Local Governments to the North so the old North could continue to forever dominate Nigeria.
Some powerful Northerners even boasted, at one point, that the PDP meaning the North would continue to rule Nigeria for 100 years and there was nothing the South could do about it. They have been proved wrong by Tinubu who wants the North to be more accommodating to the South and to not overplay their hands. Tinubu as a Southerner has proved to be the best friend of the Northern interest by restraining the North to mentain some semblance of fairness and equity in their dealings with the South. He insisted, “Emi lo kan” and he was proved right.
Tinubu had shattered the myth of northern domination by paving the way for the APC to snatch power from the PDP in 2015.
All the PDP is now trying to do is to wrestle power out of the hands of the only Southerner to dare challenge the supremacy and the clear dominance of the North over the South, and that is why the gang up led by the PDP Atiku Abubakar is doomed to fail because it is founded on a wrong premise.
Akure ought to learn something from the story of the PDP if indeed Akure will be able to produce its first civilian Governor in Ondo State after the 8 years of Aiyedatiwa. Eyitayo Jegede blindly following Atiku to the ADA and then to ADC may be a grave mistake because there is no way the current ADC can dislodge the APC in Ondo State right now.
Akure has to be ready and willing to tell ourselves the bitter truth which most of us don’t want to hear
Akure as one of the 3 existing
Senatorial Districts namely the Ondo Central comprising of the major Local Governments of Akure,
the State Capital, Ondo, and Idanre and Ifedore Local Government.
The other Senatorial Districts of Ondo State are Ondo North comprising of Akoko, Ose and
ireakari Local Governments and Owo/ Upele/ Ifon Local Government and Ondo South comprising of Okitipupa, Irele and Ilaje/ Ese Odo up to Igbo Otu, Ugbo Nla, and Ugbo Kingdom,Agadagba and Ijaw Apoi and Ijaw Arogbo up to Kiribo and up to the Coastal Belt of Mogunyanje, Obejedo and Zion Pepper.
Owo town has produced 2 civilian Governors in Papa Adekunle Ajasin and Rotimi Akeredolu.
Ondo North has produced one civilian Governor in Adebayo Adefarati while Ondo Central has produced one in Olusegun Mimiko and Ondo South has produced 2 in Olusegun Agagu and current Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa.
Akure is the only major town that has not yet produced a civilian Governor
It is Akure’s turn now to produce one.
We were hoping that Eyitayo Jegede who had run two times was going to be our best bet but he did not make it because he was in the wrong Party.
He jolly well might miss it again if he runs for the third time in the wrong Party.
Eyitayo has followed his mentor and political father Atiku Abubakar into the amorphous ADC and could predictably fail again in Ondo State because the APC is poised to win again in Ondo State.
Akure has to watch the caliber and the acceptability of the candidates we present for all of the vacant positions of Senator or Governor from now on.
If we get it wrong again that may be one of the reasons why Akure could lose out again, if care is not taken.
We stand to lose again, if we keep hedging our bets on wrong candidates who could go to Abuja to be a back bencher because they lack all of the needed qualifications and character profiles and capacity and experience to be able to make a difference in either the lower House or the Upper Chamber in Abuja
That is one of the problems we can correct by electing solid candidates like the late Omolafe and great Ifedayo Adedipe a senior advocate of Nigeria and one or two others who had the qualities to be elected and re- elected in order to maintain their level of seniority, experience and competence in the National Assembly and in the Nigerian Senate. I personally donated my widow’s mite unsolicited to Eyitayo Jegede because I believe in him and would do the same for any candidate I trust and believe in without fear or favor.
We all must embrace the principle of electing qualified and qualitative candidates of substance rather than inexperienced candidates who have the financial means to buy the position for themselves, but do not have the leadership qualities and the moral rectitude and forgiveness to be a leader.
We have got to pay attention to the caliber of the people we elect into high visibility jobs like that of a Senator or member of the State or National Assembly.
We must do a thorough background check on them and not just rely on their ability to spend lavishly to buy the votes to put themselves in office. There is more to leadership than throwing money around .
It is good to be generous with what you have but spending money like Ejigbadero or some of the hoodlums we elect to public office is the wrong way to go and we all must condemn and not condone it.
I rest my case.
Dr. Wumi Akintide.
