~~IMPORTANT WARNING & DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A PERSONAL OPINION EDITORIAL ABOUT THE CURRENT AND ONGOING POLITICAL FRACAS IN OGUN STATE WITH REGARDS TO THE RECENT POLITICAL VIOLENCE AS ASSESSED IN MY VIEW OF THE SITUATION~~ The view expressed heretofore does not and cannot be construed as representing the general views of members of the OPFPF; either personally or collectively. However, all members are absolutely welcome to share their own opinions or viewpoints either in agreement or disagreement to my viewpoint in this regard. THE OGUN PEOPLES FORUM FOR PROGRESSIVE FRIENDS IS AN OPEN AND FREE FORUM WHERE NO SUBJECT IS OFF-LIMITS AND WHERE NO SACRED COWS EXIST. My Take on the Ongoing Political Shenanigans in State Ogun by Ayo Abimbola Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State in Nigeria is currently of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) turned newly formed All Progressives Alliance (APC). He also was once a senator who represented Ogun Central Senatorial District from 2003-2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As a senator he dumped the PDP in an unceremoniously bitter, acrimonious and rancorous manner to run for Ogun State governorship election on the platform of the equally now defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) back then in 2007 to run against incumbent Governor Gbenga Daniel of the PDP; during which unprecedented violence and bloodletting spread across the state, albeit that Amosun ultimately lost that gubernatorial race to Daniel, who in the midst of the widespread political quagmire in Ogun State at that time won re-election to Amosuns defeat. Amosun went to court to challenge the results of Daniels re-election but that move ended up in utter futility. In 2011, Amosun returned to the political scene in Ogun State and he was undemocratically given the then ACN gubernatorial ticket in the state without any primary election just like the ACN band of social culprits in cohort with its supposed elders and leaders did in all other races on its platform across the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Some people are of the opinion that suggests Amosun bought the ticket of the then ACN in the state because the corrupt so-called elders and leaders of the defunct ACN took lots of money from Amosun, and for which they claim has been responsible for the governors politics of exclusion against those he rightly or wrongly perceive as belonging in the camp or group of the ACN rogues that sold him the gubernatorial ticket in 2011. Other people alternatively opine that the then ACN decision makers - possibly the same APC decision makers of today - had resolved to give Amosun the Ogun ACN gubernatorial ticket to fly the partys flag in 2011 in perhaps in order to forestall seemingly possible or perhaps potentially inevitable violent encounters with Amosuns people known for their signature merchandising of violence involving mass-mobilization and use of political thugs to harass and intimidate those who oppose Amosun, stand in Amosuns way, or challenge Amosuns resolve on political issues in Ogun State. Whether the defunct ACN so-called elders and leaders made a judgment in error in Ogun State back in 2011 or not is one valid thought one can ponder upon. But a more relevant question in todays context to ask is this: Does Amosun, the human being like anybody else, judging by his documented political antecedents in Ogun State, have the political temperament, social sensitivity and appreciable maturity of restraint to now eschew political violence in Ogun State; especially now that he wields executive powers of an incumbent governor? It is against the backdrop of all of the above that I find it so unbelievably deceptive, highly disingenuous, and even disgustingly annoying, a recently reported letter credited to Governor Amosun by an Online medium, African Outlook Reporter; a letter the governor was said to have personally signed that sent to Senator Gbenga Obadara, representing the governors old Senatorial District (Amosuns home turf of Egbaland) during his PDP days from 2003 to 2007. In the reports prelude, the African Outlook Reporter claimed that ...Governor Amosun has described the recent political crisis in the state as a premeditated attempt by members of the National Assembly elected on the platform of the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to destabilise the party and cause tension in the state And further down in the reported letter, the governor was quoted as saying that ...The second objective is the desire of all the National Assembly members from our state and some members of the House of Assembly to secure automatic second-term tickets for the general elections in 2015, without regard to the opinions of the generality of members of our great party in Ogun State.... When I read this, I was totally stunned that a governor who never went through primary election in the state would make such reckless statements credited to him. To the best of my knowledge, there are a total of 38 legislators in Ogun State; 26 representing the 26 State Constituencies in the State House of Assembly, 9 representing the 9 Federal Constituencies of Ogun State in the Federal House of Representatives and 3 representing the 3 Senatorial Districts of Ogun State in the Nigerian Senate. Even though absolutely none of all the current 38 legislators in Ogun State, just like the current governor of the state ever went through any primary election in 2011; having all been given the ACN tickets as candidates of the party by the so-called elders and leaders of the party, all these legislators and the governor collectively nonetheless represent Ogun State; at least ideally so, according to the Nigerias current democratically set order of things. The last time I checked or at least to my recollection under normal circumstances, this supposed democratic order of things ought to suggest in Ogun State that all the legislators; both state and federal, as well as the executive governor and the deputy governor - whom nobody ever hears anything about - are not only all important but equally all relevant in their own political rights. The legislators of Ogun State do not answer to and are not accountable to the governor of Ogun State, AND NEITHER do legislators in any other state accountable to any other governor or president in Nigeria for that matter. To think or assume otherwise can only border on sheer ignorance of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or border on blatant disrespect for the People whom the legislators represent and ought to be ultimately accountable to. But under the same Laws of Nigeria just as it is in the civilized democracies around the world whose Nigerias democracy is modeled after, executives are to some extent and degree, accountable to the legislature simply because of the Powers of the Articles of Impeachment which ONLY lawmakers have and governors or presidents have not. So, in my view, a governor (one single person) who decides it is prudent to engage in acrimonious relationship with the grass roots senators, representatives and assembly members of his or her state simply because of some habitual problem of arrogance and self-glorification is simply putting the best interests of the People at risk in a most reckless manner. Amosuns predecessor, Daniel, was pretty much equally decidedly arrogant while he was in office. It was just few short years ago and citizens of Ogun State certainly remember all too well how much the badly needed social and economic developments suffered undue stagnation in Ogun State as a result of such arrogance on the part of Daniel. Amosun is slowly but steadily matching towards the same direction right now. Does Amosun and Daniel in this regard have anything in common, you ask? Well, without any doubts at least in my mind, they have a lot in common; from the standpoint of the kettle and the pot being both black because of their places on the top of a smoke-filled wood burning fireplace or the top of a smoke-filled broken kerosene stove. And no matter how much Governor Ibikunkle Amosun tries to feign piety and deny his involvement right now in ongoing political fracas with the statements credited to him in the letter he was said to have written to Senator Gbenga Obadara, fact is when it comes to political violence in Ogun State, the People can see right through this governor and they know he is not credible on all fronts of the matter, let alone believable by any stretch of the imagination. Instead of Governor Amosun to seriously humble himself and genuinely endeavor to bring together the aggrieved members of his party who are not happy with him, hes writing letters with coded diction as if hes some kind of emperor whos somehow just trying so hard to accommodate his detractors. This sort of strategy, if thats what his advisers are encouraging him to adopt, is not only ill-advised but promises to be counterproductive. Going by the governors history of the employment of violent means of addressing political differences with his perceived adversaries in Ogun State, it may even be foolish to assume that anybody advised the governors arrogant letter in which he openly and blatantly berated in a blanket manner the entire federal legislators from his state. Just in case the governor does not fully understand or realize the social implication of his published letter, let him be advised that the letter is very telling, albeit negatively. In fact, the governors letter to Senator Obadara says more about his (Amosun) state of mind and the negative attitude he harbors toward his fellow APC members. More so, it equally in some ways vindicate those dont know a whole lot about him but who say the man is a wolf disguised in sheeps make-up or perhaps make-over. But for those who really know Ibikunle Amosun, they can both see through his contradictions and his ridiculousness in the letter going by his known political antecedents through the years. Let it be known for the records, that I do not know the so-called Senator Gbenga Obadara personally and have never met him in person or have any reasons under the sun to have had any dealings with the senator, be it personally or officially. However, from what is known on public records, Obadara is Amosuns fellow Egba kinsman and it is their fellow Egba kinsfolks who are the thugs being mobilized to perpetrate political violence in Ogun State. Suffice it to say here that it is because Nigeria is a society which continues to breed loads and loads of uneducated, ignorant and perpetually unemployed populace from which the nations crooked politicians always find their thugs to employ for nefarious activities, is what makes this matter employing political thugs a worrisome matter of a public health hazard to me. But the solutions to that issue is a matter for another discuss and not the subject-matter of this write-up. Having said the above, let not the so-called Senator Gbenga Obadara or any other legislator or Governor Amosun or the entire APCs so-called elders and leaders in Ogun State think for a split second that I, Ayo Abimbola, speaks for any of them because I simply speak for my own conscience and not for anybody else. If anything at all, they should all rightly believe that I have no pleasure in their political shenanigans either in Ogun State or elsewhere all across Nigeria. Just like I speak against members of all other political parties who are in my view social culprits, I will continue to speak against any misgivings of the APC members where ever I observe or see them manifest until they all repent of their wickedness in politics in recognition that political office is not about them but about the suffering masses of Nigerians, or until they get out of the way of politics in Nigeria. If my great role model in politics, the late sage Obafemi Awolowo, were still alive today, Papa Awo will undoubtedly be thoroughly embarrassed and ashamed to associate with all the jackasses parading themselves as social progressives in the mold of the great Awo. Governor Ibikunle Amosun and all the politicians who are behaving as if Ogun State is their inheritance need to reexamine their unacceptable demeanor and let peace reign in Ogun State. It is not compulsory that any particular group or gang of politicians must rule in Ogun State. If it was ok or acceptable to a then Senator Ibikunle Amosun to contest against a then Governor Gbenga Daniel in 2007 and the then Senator Amosun saw nothing wrong with the fallout which ultimately ensured to the detriment of the state at a huge cost to lives and properties back then in Ogun State, what exactly is the governor now complaining insinuating in his letter when he talked of ...a well-oiled smear campaign in the media that will evoke memory of the immediate past... and ...joining forces with the opposition who are known Masters of Violence in an unholy alliance to help re-enact the immediate inglorious past... in his purported letter to Senator Obadara? The good People of Ogun State will agree that Governor Amosun have some work to do in clarifying the incendiary comments in his letter. I would advise the governor to have his legal team evaluate his letters and press releases next time before making such documents from the governor public because once released to the public, its usually much harder to do damage control and its better not to make executive correspondence public than to release correspondence that are certain to have negative consequences. THE FOLLOWING are web links to 1.) Information or reportage on the letter purportedly from Governor Amosun to his fellow Egba kinsman, Senator Obadara which the governor reportedly signed personally AND 2.) A youtube video showing how Amosun perpetrated election violence in Ogun State in the 2007 election when he left the PDP for the now defunct ANPP: (1) africanoutlookonline/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7736%3Astop-precipitating-tension-in-ogun-amosun-advises-obadara-others-&catid=48%3Apolitical-news&Itemid=29 (2) Link to VIDEO clip - youtube/watch?v=SxD8yeEev4g
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 05:26:45 +0000
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