Steve Oliyide is a Communication Consultant to former Governor of Ogun State and the Senator-Elect of Ogun East Senatorial District, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. Oliyide also served as the Special Assistant, Information, to the former Governor. He pens his opinion on the re-election bid of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State

 

I have been off this platform for the past hours and on the social media generally as I felt I need to take a much-needed introspection on the politics of our country and especially Ogun State. The signals and reactions that I am seeing and observing are clearly worrisome as they are troubling.

I have read comments from both pro and anti DA members of the OGD Political family and the clear lines of views are defined by one, the pecuniary interests of those who think a DA loss might cause them and other varied perspectives on the overall ill-treatment and wickedness this political family suffered under the Dapo Abiodun led administration, despite having supported him to emerge as the Governor of Ogun State.

For instance, I spoke with a younger brother of mine, himself also a member of this political family a few days ago, and his reasoned argument for supporting DA was the promise of becoming a Special Assistant to the Governor made to him by a former Commissioner for Information in Ondo State and now a de-jure Commissioner for Information under the Dapo Abiodun administration in Ogun State. He may be quite right, though short-circuited in logic that the same administration made a promise of being appointed an SA to the Chairman of a Local Government in the outgoing term which turned out to be a fluke and remained a promissory note up until this election time.

In all of this, the person that I honestly sympathize with is my boss who has been caught in a web of betrayals by the person he helped to enthrone in 2019 against all odds and options and the cul-sac of statesmanship and having to serve as a loyal party man.

I equally share his pains about his avowed commitment to the mandate of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has been his political ally and friend since 1999 and he has no other option than to work for him; his commitments to his handful of loyalists who now run errands in the Dapo Abiodun's government.

In the present circumstance, orders and directives are becoming too difficult to enforce. What justifications will he give to his teeming supporters spread across the State on the need to support a man who has once stabbed them in the back without risking a rebellion. I can mirror my principal’s dilemma from the prism of my own inability to convince members of my extended family in Ota who have been trapped for months and unable to attend any functions outside our narrow enclave, courtesy of a less than three kilometers of bad roads that needs only a palliative, even if the government cannot tar same. How do I tell them that this government is working.

How does OGD persuade his thousands of supporters and people of Ogun State, many of those who look up to him as an exemplary leader that Dapo Abiodun who has refused to speak nor pick the phone calls of traditional rulers, political leaders, including members of his own political party as well as the several civil servants who toil for the smooth running of the state will pick their calls if he ever returns as their chief executive once again.

On my own part, I am not God, neither am I that religious to foretell if Dapo Abiodun will win a re-election or not, notwithstanding the amount of solid rejection in public opinion, but my conscience does not give me the approval to add my thumping in his support. Not that my single vote will matter in support or rejection of Dapo Abiodun, but I will be much at peace with myself and my conscience that I did not contribute into enthroning a bad government in whom practically everything is suspect and vile.

It is a season of procurement, but coming from my background as an informed but conscientious objector, I remain a non-conspirator to bad leadership. My whole years of political activism would have gone to nought if I submit to an endorsement of criminality, what lessons am I passing on to my children and the next generation of those who look up to me as a hero of good conduct.

I need to state for emphasis, that it is a political robbery for any Governor who had abandoned and neglected the civil servants for close to four years to start looking for their endorsements in the twilight of election, it speaks to the idea of deceit in public administration and governance. What would OGD tell them if after throwing his weight behind someone who had once deceived them and their expectations are once again dashed. My take and recommendation is that he should allow the people of Ogun State to decide their own fate, just as he should allow his followers and supporters to do the same. He is an elder Statesman now and he should live up to that calling and not to burn the bridges of his goodwill for an ungrateful person whose entire life has been lived in odious opulence.

Kukute kan ko gbodo fo ni l'epo ni eemeji. If the people of Ogun State will again suffer the misfortune and affliction of a second time, it should be on record that I speak out when it mattered. "The Man dies in him, who fails to speak in the face of tyranny". I care less about who wins on March 18, but it is a win and a victory for the people of Ogun State if Dapo Abiodun should lose the election because whoever emerges the Governor will no longer take the people for granted and hope to be rewarded with a re-election. Ogun State people, workers, market men and women would have reclaimed their deserved powers that anyone deceitful can no longer rule over them and that they can change any non performing leader.

 

Disclaimer:

I sign this in my own name as an adult who knows what he wants and can decipher between good and bad leadership, with all the responsibilities, respect, honour, frailties and infallibility that goes with it. Dapo Abiodun is not worth the trust investment that he seeks from the good people of Ogun State. And should he win, good luck to him. My boss and Principal should be insulated and excused from this view.