MONDAY LINES On Saturday, where will Osun stand? 04.Aug.2014 Lasisi Olagunju I am from Osun State where an election holds in less than six days time. In that state, I am more than a stakeholder, not just one of the 1.4million registered voters there. I will vote. I know some fellows will scoff at this. It is not necessary for everyone to agree with me. It will be their own opinion. One or two people in the last two weeks have wondered why I have coyly avoided making direct comments on the next election. My responses have been wry, dry smiles. What is there to write again? It is too late in the day to make claims, opinions or even predictions about this election. It is already here. The people have decided. It is already won and lost. For the political class, there has never been a loss. There will be none on Saturday. I have spent the last 44 months patiently reading faces and measuring minds; taking/feeling pulses and plotting graphs. Nothing is straight, clean or clear-cut in that place. On all fronts and across all divides, the state is one that shames all logic. The loss on Saturday goes to the people who have always lost. The loss goes to the people who see the polling booth as bukateria. They vote always because their stomachs demand some stuff. To them, the next election after this beckons - in the nature of stomachs, they always demand, never really getting their fill. What is there to say? Election is this Saturday. Almost throughout last week, I was deeply inside that state. I saw why societies go up or go down or simply stagnate. I wrote about desert vultures last week descending on the land. A friend said it was a parable. I laughed. Vultures are never desirable sights to behold- but they don’t die young. They flaunt that which no one wants to see but what can anyone do to their ugliness? I have always known certain key things about the state since its creation in 1991. Some things have always been constant. Certain faces there are as recurrent as security votes in governor’s budgets. They are always there. And they are there now. The state is their company. They are the directors, holding the cheque book, the ATM and even the signature stamp. They were there before the state was created; they are there now. Retiring is not an option; They are like Queens of the anthill, eternal sovereigns. What again is there to write? Election is this week. And they are still out campaigning! Who are they convincing again? Do you sweat to convince the convinced? Nothing convinces the wise (even the fool) better than personal experience. Not all that sing are happy. The rich man that is happy knows why. The angry labourer knows why he is what he is and what can make him shake-off his sorrow. Or I’m I just assuming too much? It is one thing to be aware that one’s health needs attention. It is another to know who to employ. Some life-seeking dudes sometimes go for the killer doctor. It is their choice. Some check into the right hospital and, like difficult patients, they do what doctors call DAMA (Discharged Against Medical Advice). Every electoral action and decision taken in that state since 1991 have had consequences. This one coming up on Saturday definitely has its own consequences. Repercussions are synonyms of consequences. They will manifest in full so soon after the results finish trickling in from Saturday through Sunday. For all - especially those that live in that state - I can’t wait to see what the next four years will look like. I wrote about Yeats’ “indignant vultures” last week. Some read me and sent messages. Some acutely abusive. I laughed. This rain that is about to fall, no rain-maker can alter its deluge. It will rain on the farmer on his farm; the carpenter on the rooftop, the bricklayer at his masonry, the teacher in his classroom. Let those who have phone credits to waste continue to call and curse. What is there to say other than declare clearly at this point, that unlike self-deceiving politicians of all hues, colours and slogans who are still wooing with all things (un)imaginable, I know the people have decided. And across the divides, darts continue to fly- Some talk, like vet doctors, about using their votes to de-tick the state, as if Osun is some unfortunate castrated dog. I have read too of hundreds of State Security Service (SSS) operatives on a show of force in Osun State. Some newspapers even claimed they were 5,000! So, how many really are in the employ of that service, if it could release that number to man one election in one state? But I know at least one newspaper got the figure right. The operatives are actually a little less than a thousand. The figure is not my problem. What got me thinking are elements gloating, celebrating over their arrival; and their opponents shouting hoarse over the presence of the forces. Why would politicians roll out the drums that security men have arrived? And why would a governor, on the opposing side, condemn the arrival and patrol of security men? Where I come from, good men don’t say no to tight security. They only monitor the men so they do not become a deadlier part of the problem. Let the security men do their job without supporting any side. If they do, all will respect them and the institutions they represent. Above all, I sincerely hope the real people in that state know that by next Sunday, when the heartbeats of politicians will have slowed down (after their win), the consequences of actions taken the day before will up the blood pressure of the thoughtless voter. So, what and where do I belong on Saturday? I laugh. The election is still by secret ballot. I will cast my vote for my people and my vote will count.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 00:32:59 +0000
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