Former governor of Oyo State and Oyato exponent, Adebayo Alao-Akala, has been in the news in the last few days. He had been in the news earlier when opinion polls indicated that he would again vie for the governorship of the state, after his ouster in 2011. Many people were amazed that the Ogbomoso-born politician was putting his head in the heat again. However, the newest bits of news about him are saddening and very disturbing.
It is no longer news that his party and others in the state, except the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) had appreciable showing in last week’s presidential and National Assembly elections in Oyo State. And wise counsel
dictated to these parties that if they didn’t come together to fight the incubus of the ruling party, the genie they had always complained of in Oyo politics would continue to role its infamous boulders like the famous Sisyphus.
Prior to the election, the APC machine in the state had literally castrated Alao-Akala. His son, Lamiju, chair of an Ogbomoso local council, was unceremoniously removed while the duo battled to swim off the tide of the APC governmental tyranny. All of a sudden, Bordillon and the presidency were said to have networked Alao-Akala. Indeed, an air plane was said to have been waiting at the Ibadan Alakia airport to ferry the huge-statured former governor to their sacristy. Right there, a price tag was said to have been waved in the face of an Alao-Akala whom, watchers said had been very low on cash since vacating power. Claims ranged between N6 billion and N1 billion. And like a shameless prostitute, Alao-Akala announced to the world: he would be going back to lap his old vomit. Not only that, he is vacating his bid for the governorship and would fully work for his nemesis and the little folk whom he had earlier maligned in unprintable and acidic words.
Right now, I am seeking an inroad into the mentality of the Nigerian politician. Alao-Akala has gone many steps backwards down the despicable aisle, the lowly placed dungeon I last left him. Shouldn’t there be a modicum of honour among thieves, sorry among politicians? In his shameless rationalization of his place of harlotry, Alao-Akala sought to play tribal politics that is ostensibly senseless. Adewolu Ladoja, at their meeting of reconciliation, so said Alao-Akala, had said as an introductory, that only an Ibadan man would be governor of Oyo State. That was his main reason for differing from the conciliators, he said. Common sense should dictate that that was the main reason Alao-Akala should have continued with his solo governorship run but certainly not coalescing with this bandwagon of infamy where he finds himself. If Alao-Akala needed rationalization for his shameless position, he should spend of his Bourdillon booty to hire those who would concoct a more sensible rationalization for him.
Ultimately, the joke is on the great people of Ogbomoso, kith and kin of the valiant Samuel Ladoke Akintola, late Premier of the Western Region. Alao-Akala’s logic is defeatist and assumes that these great people are locked up in his caserne. If the former Oyo governor harvests Ogbomoso as he had always done, the logic would be perfect that Ogbomoso is Alao-Akala’s herd of cows. Which I know these great people are not. It is high time Ogbomoso people showed the former police chief that same decimation mantra employed to upstage the Saraki dynasty in Kwara State called O to ge (enough is enough). For years, the people of Ogbomoso had recompensed Alao-Akala’s good kinship of taking care of their interests in and out of power. Now that his esophagus and personal interest of his son, Olaamiju’s return to his council position are the determinant factors of his leadership, it may be apposite to conclude that the ex-Sheriff has outlived his usefulness.
On March 9, the people of Ogbomoso must say loudly with the cadence of their electoral voice.
Bourdillon, which threw up Alao-Akala’s most recent cry-baby, is under intense pressure to shore up electoral supports for it and to beef up its sagging estimation in national politics. The Lion himself has been calling old and new frontiers of power in Oyo State, asking them to switch their support for his candidate.
Unfortunately however, the narrative of regurgitation of arrogance and the continuation of ajele (surrogate administration) in Oyo by some renowned conquistadors in Lagos are the dominant theses in political discourses in the Pacesetter State today. And the awareness of their being bound in shackles all this while, as well as the need to retain their money in their state, rather than being funneled to the State of Aquatic Splendour, are not only so strong on the streets today in Oyo State, they are frittering many away from Bourdillon’s potential surrogate candidate.
