The dramatic swearing-in of Oyo APC factional chairman, Alhaji Abu Gbadamosi at Trans Amusement park, Ibadan yesterday didn’t come as a shock to many who know the festering wrangling rocking the party is a matter of when and not how; neither does that contentious nor attention seeking display of desperation upend the current structural arrangement within the party led by Honorable Isaac Ajiboye Omodewu. In fact, that politically motivated and calculated act only places the crisis-ridden APC on the same precarious pedestal as the ruling, yet bitterly divided People’s Democratic Party in the state.
In a way, that discordant swearing-in only reinforces the egoistic pride as it indicates the long, windy and difficult battles that lie ahead of the party’s match to next poll. Plus, the stiff, nerve-breaking and tumultuous resistance the party will contend with internally as it gears up towards 2023 by presenting credible and widely acceptable alternative to the current administration that is sure to go all out and prove its political mettles. In essence, the crisis rocking Oyo APC didn’t start yesterday and won’t end until the interest of the party supersedes that of the individual members.
Plus, various abortive measures put in place to resolving the crisis didn’t also start day before yesterday. In other words, the crisis tearing the party is as old as the party itself – founded in 2014 as a credible party to the then PDP. While clashes of political and personal interests especially the control of party structure is part of political horse trading and quest for power, the way that is dragging the party in the mud is becoming worrisome while also taking the party to the tailspin. What makes this latest formal polarization quite worrisome and dispiriting is the party’s inability to mount a constructive criticism on the handling of the state affairs by the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde.
For instance, the voices of the opposition party who’re supposed to be at the frontline of good governance and purposeful leadership appear disturbingly distant and disconcertingly quiet to the borrowing spree of the current administration which has reached a mind-blowing N178 billion naira in just matters of three years! No one seems concerned about the way the state is being run except the government. In fact, those who supposed to hold the government accountable and responsible in matters of policy and principles are themselves waging an avoidable war against each other.
The continuous lack of credible and dissenting voices as against Oyo state government’s echo chamber especially on social, traditional and new media may be one reason people’s interests in politics continue to plummet. But beyond the internal bickering rocking both the ruling PDP and the opposition APC lies something significant: when politicians have tough love accepting one another, the people suffer most – as they also have tough love accepting people’s reality. In other words, politicians tend to see things through their narrow and self-serving political lens while also cooking their own narratives, one that suit their whims and caprices. This is self-evident when we understand the role partisan politics play in government. Even where elected officers have transformational game-plan and sincere intention on how to better the lots of his people; without the cooperation and corroboration of party members, such initiative might be frustrated and sabotaged.
To look at one clear example of danger inherent in partisan politics gone wrong, suffice to take Oyo as a test in case. For instance, it is believed that a profoundly powerful conspiracy is silently going on where plots to scuttle the second term ambition of Governor Seyi Makinde by certain disgruntled politicians are gaining momentum. Part of the insider report even says the governor has not being fair enough in caring for his teeming supporters especially those who worked tireless in the last election.
Similarly, the conversation even added that the governor seems obsessed with the plights of workers and the common man than the demand of the power brokers. In addition, that conversation also tilted towards the undeserving elevation of some party members and relegation of those in the Governor’s bad book citing example of the Deputy Governor, the sacked Chief of Staff among others. In the light of that and other allegations and accusations, these politicians, without mincing words, are joining forces together to frustrate and sabotage the re-election bid of the governor.
As earlier posited, when politicians view the world through different lens, it is the people that definitely bear the brunt. And that is why our interest in the way parties and importantly government are administered should be important to us as people. Politicians don’t get elected on silver platter; rather, they are sponsored by political parties which in turn corporate or frustrate their big dreams for their people.
OYO101, is Muftau Gbadegesin’s opinion on issues affecting Oyo state, is published on Saturdays. He can be reached via muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com and 09065176850
