Has governance become synonymous with deceit and 419? In 2003, Dr. Olusegun Kokumo Agagu and Olusegun Obasanjo bulldozed the Gbeleju-Loda bitumen deposit field in Ondo state. The duo called on indigines of the state to vote out the then Alliance for Democracy candidate-Chief Adebayo Adefarati because his occupancy of the Oke Eda government House in Akure was an impediment to the development of the bitumen blocks in the state. Elections were eventually held and PDP carried the day and AD lost. Agagu was in power for six years before he was booted out of office. Eleven years after that historic moment the bitumen block lay fallow and no one ever talked of the day bitumen deposit again. I will serve you, I will work for you was the hues and cries of the man who claimed to be the strongest wood in the bush-Iroko. He became a rallying point for those who felt Agagu performed below expectation. Overwhelmingly, he was supported and voted in. The rest of how his mandate was stolen and recovered belong to history today but in similar manner he never served the people he promised to serve and neither did he work for them. In 2011, one man who had been lucky to be the vice president to an ailing president needed the votes of Nigerians and he played well on them. Knowing fully well that he needed the votes of Southerners then he chose to play an ethnic card by adding Azikiwe (an Igbo name) to his name. This was to give the impression that he is an Igbo man and win the vote of the South Eastern states. He knew we were gullible, he cashed in on our inability to discernibly take decision and rise above tribal and religious bigotry. After the election, the name Azikiwe vamoosed from his dictionary only to resurface yesterday in Onitsha. The elections are around the corner again one man-Stifa Olomu narrated a story of how the people of Otuoke originated from Otu-Ife (Ile Ife) all to draw the sympathy of the gullible amongst the Yorubas. For crying loud sake, why do I have to vote for my father when I know he cannot deliver if voted in? Why do I need to vote for my brother when I know he is grossly incompetent? Why do I need to vote for my friend when I know as a husband he cannot control his wife? Why do I have to fall for the sweet words of my cousin when I have records of all his previous undelivered promises? This is a time for Nigerians to reflect on what it pays then to vote for a man simply because he shares their religion when even Jesus says that man who waits to take care of the less privileged man is his brother. Nigerians think.....
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 16:38:46 +0000
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