By Olu Ayela
From the meagre beginning of Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa’s administration barely a year ago, residents of Ondo State have heaved a sigh of relief as they are daily saturated with “dividends” of democracy. But like all youthful achievers, the dogma of conspiracy has trailed the administration right from take-off, from where his former boss left off.
Students of history and literature would recall the fate of Julius Caesar, the Roman stalwart, who, after conquering the then world, was to be hosted by the elites, who, in turn, murdered him on the allegation that “he ruled the world like a colossus.” Like the Bible states, it is men from one’s own relations that constitute the arch enemies, so it is in the case of Ondo State, where the Casius and the Brutus of Ondo politics are Aiyedatiwa’s neighbours. Although the governor has been working, conspiracy behind the scene seeks to deprive him of the credit.
Their armour of avarice was safeguarded behind the camouflage of pseudo loyalty and patronage. Their wall of detection was sealed with false smiles and fake love for their most hated kinsman. Their meeting attendance was a guard against detection by anyone chancing to peer in through the dowdy cloak of friendship.
These unfortunate hatchet men are prodigals, lacking distinction, and people who met them were always impressed by how unimpressed they were. Bereft of history and experience, they are not afraid to throw away the baby with the bathwater as their cohorts did in 2007.
In the 2007 saga, three persons from Iju-Odo, hometown of the then governor, Chief Olusegun Agagu, went into a bitter judicial fiasco with the governor, after which Dr Agagu was sacked as governor. But karma is always there waiting, doggedly and dangerously at the corner of fate to make individuals eat out of their misdeeds. The three were denied any appointments by Mimiko and subsequently lived in solitude.
What was Agagu’s offence to them? They accused him of establishing the Ondo State University of Science and Technology at Okitipupa, the major town in the Ondo South Senatorial District, instead of Iju-Odo, their locality. But he explained to them that the school was a state’s establishment that must be sited where every segment of the state must have easy access to.
It is shocking, therefore, that some political jobbers without recourse to logic and tradition, conspired with other political never-do-wells from other sections of the state to frontally challenge Governor Aiyedatiwa on his eligibility to contest the 2028 election.
Yoruba culture exponent plenipotentiary, Chief Hubert Ogunde sang, “Yoruba Ronu” in the days of pogrom in the Western Region, incidentally brought about by a similar back stabbing. Those were the days when the region echoed with the snarling vituperations of unshaven outpouring of loathsome, hair-raising curses. Unfortunately, even if Aiyedatiwa were to be out of office by 2029, would he be replaced by an Ikale man? No. The state governorship train moves elegantly to the Ondo Central Senatorial Zone.
They say critics are legless men who want to teach running. These jobbers have no great ideas comparable with the public-minded Aiyedatiwa. He is a man who had learned from the legacy of both Chief Obafemi Awolowo and President Bola Tinubu, and he is serving the people with all the rigour of a man who does not need many years on seat to better the lot of his people.
The concern of reasonable citizens of Ondo State is how the state could become roundly developed, educationally, technologically, and health-wise. The state should be competing with Ogun State on many fronts, especially in the areas of support for the indigenes and bringing well-to-do indigenes to engage in backward integration by encouraging them to establish firms in the state, building more health facilities, and inviting investors from abroad to invest in the state.
Interestingly, these are the progressive policies and programmmes of the Aiyedatiwa’s administration since assuming office. They have seen how he is engaging some foreign investors towards embarking on massive investments, among others: the refinery and petrochemical industry, which, when completed, would be the largest in Africa. But as a result of their self-centeredness, they selfishly close their eyes to all these development strides.
Aiyedatiwa has not insisted he is contesting the 2028 governorship election, and if he signifies his intention to do so, time will tell. His second coming would have been the icing on the cake with the promise of better life for all and sundry. But for now, let all hands be on deck to see to how thousands of graduates being churned out of the universities and polytechnics could gain employment. Let all reasonable men think on how more good roads could be constructed and how the lives of the people could be better day by day.
Let us unite to silence the war drums being beaten by frustrated political jobbers currently fanning the ember of parochialism and vendetta. Let our state grow, and let us embrace politics with maturity and without bitterness.
The late Ibrahim Waziri preached the principle of politics without bitterness until death. But some Ondo political hatchet men are averse to peace. In a saner clime, once the elections are concluded, everybody withdraws into its cocoons until the next election.
They would not poke nose or start to constitute a nuisance in whatever hue.
We want to encourage the action governor to continue to focus on the growth he desires for the state and not tow the line of distraction that chalatants and never-do-wells are trying to chart for him.
Chief Ayela is a veteran journalist, based in Lagos.
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