As Oyo State Gubernatorial election approaches, the electorates must be guided by the Yoruba maxim that “Ẹni tó bá ta ará ilé rẹ̀ lọ́pọ̀, kò lè rí rà ní ọ̀wọ́n” loosely translated to mean “do not betray/sell your kin/family for momentary gain. Respect, once lost, can never be regained.” Yes, no one wants to go back to the dark ages where workers are being owed their salaries and pensions were being withheld. But, the point is, according to information, Ajimobi ensured the rapid payment of workers entitlements throughout his first term in office.
For the Governor to have betrayed his Party, there is no assurance of him not turning out to be a disaster in his second term. It is not even a question of him abandoning his Party, the PDP after his re-election for the APC which has become a norm in the Nigerian political phase, it is a question of him rescinding on the electoral promises he made to the people and also turning out to be the worst in his second term just as Ajimobi is adjudged by the masses.
Before this time, some electorates have been skeptical as to what his (Makinde’s) second term would offer them, considering the fact that the second term, in most cases, is to taunt the people. Right now, with what played out at the just-concluded Presidential election, one could conclude that the Governor’s political philosophy is Machiavellian. He does not care about what the fate of others is in so far, his ambition is not affected. Even if the Governor had campaigned for Atiku Abubakar and the National Assembly candidates of the Party, the election might not even have gone the Atiku’s way, but it would definitely not have affected those vying for National Assembly seats. However, the point remains that he buried the ambitions of his Party candidates for his own to fly as a populist that he is.
Saying the Governor’s political actions in the past few weeks seems to have been a clue that the illusion that the Governor was a new breed politician has ended. The Governor is not just unraveling; he has unraveled as a common politician who could spend all day fiddling while Rome burns.
Kazeem Olalekan Israel (GANI) writes from Ibadan, Nigeria.
