Among thugs, Omo Oraisas and sophisticated area boys in major parts of Ibadan, Governor Seyi Makinde is highly revered—-and he’s considered an “Eeyan tia” (“Our man”)! Anyone who doubts this can do a random survey at ‘bases’ and ‘joints’ in and around Ibadan, but that’s by the way. Now, while this amusing development may speak to his “accommodating” leadership style as governor, there is a dangerous dimension to it. I will explain.
Maintenance of law and order in any society, to my mind, is largely about OPTICS than it is about the actual deployment of physical force. I may be wrong but my layman reading of public conduct in Oyo state recently has shown me that the biggest driver of lawlessness (and the attendant insecurity and anarchy we are seeing everywhere) is the popular realisation that the governor condones “anything”—-because he is “our” governor, the peoples’ governor, “Eeeyan tia!”
When you situate this “Eeeyan tia” phenomenon and the peoples’ conception of the number one security officer in the state within the context of their (peoples’) propensity for brewing violence, you would have the answer to the wave of violent attacks we now witness in Oyo, especially in Ibadan, lately.
Now to be sure, Ibadan has always been like this, even during the reign of the immediate past governor that is largely considered to have handled security far better than any Oyo governor since 1999. But what makes the difference is the OPTICS, the “fear of consequences”. When citizens worry not about the consequences of their actions, anarchy looms.
Governor Makinde’s supporters are always quick to scream that Nigeria itself is insecure; oh yes! But if we want to be honest with ourselves, we would all agree that there is a frightening peculiarity to Oyo state’s insecurity.
Stripped of all pretensions, the optics around the seeming inferiority of state power, the conception among outlaws that Eeeyan tia (“our man”) would not sanction us, is for me the answer to the (in)security conundrum in Oyo today. All you need to unravel the puzzle is to move around Oyo, around Ibadan, around Ibarapa, and beyond, feel the pulse of the streets, and listen specifically to what they say about this government (and, by extension, the immediate past) with regard to state power and enforcement of law and order.
Now, while one may not approve of the highhandedness that defines the use of executive powers in this clime (one that I consider, to some degree, a flaw on the part of the immediate past govt), the point remains that government must uphold law and order if society does not want to descend into anarchy. Between these two seemingly extreme positions (Being an ‘Eeyan tia’ or embracing highhandedness), there is a middle ground somewhere. And maintaining this ‘middle ground’, to my mind, is the ideal thing to do to foster peace, security and development.
But again, this is largely about the careful handling of the optics of state power, than it is about the actual deployment of force. And therein lies Mr Makinde’s litmus test.
May the good Lord guide/guard him aright.
Ipinle Oyo o ni baje…
