This morning I woke up to the reality that my dear pacesetter state is now a chess board. We pride ourselves with the fact that our state is the political headquarters of South western Nigeria but where have this taken us, Today we find ourselves in a state of dilema we know neither how we got there nor how we will escape it.
Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as a government of the people by the people and for the people but the political sphere in oyo state is nothing close to that,It is a government of the people by the few and for the few.
Few weeks ago we had about five leading candidates for the agodi powerhouse exchanging tantrums and exposing atrocities the others have obviously committed at one point in time or the other to prove to the populace why they deserve the exalted position respectively.
But immediately after the presidential and National Assembly elections defeat to some of this powerhouse became imminent but in their bid to be on the winning side when the objective of the game ‘checkmate’ is achieved just like the speed of a racing thunder they begin to strategically praise the two kings in the Game, they started series of alignment meeting to serve as knights,rooks and bishops for the existing king and queen on both sides of the chessboard. You might be wondering where the pawns are, they are the technically uneducated literates who go on social media defending their respective team.
Painful though is the fact that when the objective of the game is achieved only few of them who were able to during the course of the game grow to probably a knight, rook, bishop or perhaps a queen would be present to celebrate the victory but in most cases they are actually nowhere found anymore.
You might be skeptical of how a single chessboard would actually accommodate the over ten million citizens of oyo state, don’t worry it is not going to because the millions of us without a place in the game are the ones carrying the chessboard, we are mere onlookers who have no choice but to take sides with either of the two players even though when the checkmate is achieved we would neither be able to carry the chessboard again for perhaps another four years nor would we be able to touch the board where the power that come with winning will be siphoned by the winning team alone.
Or why should people who less than a thousand hour ago were sure the others were going to do nothing to help develop the state and its unending populace suddenly reverse their decision like the auto rotated screen of an Android mobile, even though some believe there are other players who if given the opportunity to achieve the objective of the game “checkmate” are ready to share the dividend of democracy to all and sundry. It is however sacrosanct to state that they have been disqualified from the race long before the qualifiers, their name is still on the ballot papers for the mere sake of formality. I rest my case
ADEBAYO Abdulrahman an emerging essayist writes from the city of Ibadan.
