How not to goveen a state, By Tunde Aderin

By Tunde Aderin

did a re-watch of the movie ‘Saworoide’ and a part of the dialogue made more sense to me as I watched. The Chiefs went to see one of the timber merchants in the town and he angrily blurted out, “Eeyan melo lo fe wa gb’owo gedu lowo wa? Aja a wa, Eran a wa, opolo a wa, Olongbo abeeke kongiri naa a wa; won a s’agbada yegere, fila gogoro, won a maa gbe’we abosi kiri.”

We could adapt the message to modern day politicking and say “eeyan melo gan lo fe du Gomina ni ipinle wa? Omowe a wa, olodo a wa, ole a wa, alainikanse a wa, oponu-so’we-eri naa a wa; won a s’agbada yegere, fila gogoro, won a maa pin iresi iranu kiri.”

The line above clearly depicts the political situation of Osun State at the moment, with every Tom, Dick and Harry showing interest in the exalted office of Executive Governor of an important State like Osun. Maybe it was only the year 2018 that Osun ever saw such comic and illogical pursuit of the exalted office of Governor of Osun.

Of greatest concern in this free-for-all ambition to become Governor, is the ambition of Ademola Adeleke, the tall cap-wearing, obsessed-dancer younger brother of Late Sen. Adetunji Adeleke. The late Adeleke died in 2017, missing the opportunity to publicly declare the Gubernatorial ambition that he had commenced consultations for, before his sudden death.

His youngest sibling then contested to replace him in the Senate, after which he went on to contest the 2018 Governorship election. It is first no surprise, that he has been unable to articulate his thoughts or convey his plans and programmes through any sensible communication to the public. People like him who inherit ambitions, are often bereft of the quality ideas that backed up the original ambition. They are like the proverbial ajogunewu, ti o mo’yi agbada nla.

He is unable to make any clear policy statement because in the first place, he had no plan to become anything other than the Adeleke Dynasty’s Atlanta-based Babysitter of the younger Adelekes. Truth be told, he was doing a pretty good job dancing with his nieces and clubbing with his nephews, when death prematurely took Serubawon and the family, being obsessed with governance, decided to make him inherit a shoe bigger than his foot.

(Video shows Ademola Adeleke dancing at the Wedding ceremony of the daughter of Billionaire, Aliko Dangote)

What proof do we need of his lack of capacity other than the drama that enveloped his Secondary School result in 2018? A man who desires to govern a State with literacy rate of 80% could not present an unambiguous WAEC result! With the woeful School Certificate result he tendered in 2018, he could never have gained admission into a Nigerian University, talk less of contesting to be Governor, that would make him automatically become a Visitor to a University his O’Level could never get him undergraduate admission into. Sad, one must admit.

If we decide to shift focus from the absence of viable education, Sen. Ademola Adeleke is also bereft of clear thinking capacity and the ability to string sane words together spontaneously. This was the reason he dodged the Channels TV debate in 2018. The people who say he is incapable of speaking English are quite ignorant too. The problem has never been English Language, but the incapacity to communicate sane ideas. The strongest proof of this is the fact that he also dodged the BBC Debate in 2018, which was in Yoruba Language.

His handlers are trying, one must acknowledge. Immediately he lost the 2018 election, they quickly bundled him abroad to go study a course I doubt he can define today. What is Criminology? Can someone kindly ask Demola Adeleke and have him answer without Google? Yes, Schooling bestows certificates, but, clarity of mind and of thought, are qualities developed through proper social functioning which he has lacked for the over-60 years of his life. He in fact, does not have a single professional experience to point at, save for the much-touted Board Membership of Guinness Nigeria at a time, which definitely would have been by virtue of shareholding and not any professional attainment. I dare him to release a dateline of his professional attainments, clearly mentioning firms and dates he worked in those places.

Not stopping on just acquiring a certificate, his handlers have also been about town, telling people that his academic qualifications do not matter, as he will not run government alone. They have claimed he will be surrounded by seasoned people who will drive the wheel of government.

So you ask, who are the seasoned people around him? His Campaign Director-General, Sunday Bisi, whose only verifiable track record is his past Chairmanship of a Local Government and his puppet-like accidental Chairmanship of Osun PDP? Who are the people around him? Fatai Diekola? The one who has been known over the years to get in bed with any political movement that oils his palms?

Who are the people around Ademola Adeleke? Lere Oyewumi whose story is only that of political office upon political office, with no single personal professional attainments? Rev. Bunmi Jenyo? The same Mari-maje Reverend who has no known professional record one can refer to? Or Diran Odeyemi? The same Diran Odeyemi who instead of being a prolific Journalist, is only always found telling lies that has set even the PDP on fire more than once? What of Peter Babalola? You remember the same Peter Power who ran after Aregbesola and shamelessly became Peter Action, less than six months after the Appeal Court sacked Oyinlola, under whom he was Chief of Staff? The same political jobber Peter Power who is seeking power for the sake of power?

You can keep bringing the names forward and you will find out that all of the people around him are either unlettered themselves, just like the man they are looking to install as Governor, or are known corrupt men who are only seeking political power to get out of the poverty presently ravishing their lives, having been out of government since the exit of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola in 2010.

If Sen. Ademola Adeleke then accidentally becomes Governor, God forbid, Osun with her 80% literate population will then have a dancing dimwit of a Governor and a Cabinet filled with political hawks, scavengers and known rabble-rousers?

We may ignore for a few minutes, his glaring incompetence and the obvious evil tendencies of the people around him, but can we also ignore the sudden conversion of a staunch Member of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, to a Mosque-going Muslim? What sort of political expediency will make a man who never identified with Islam, beyond his father being a Muslim, suddenly become a Mosque-going Nurudeen? Can he do as little as recite Alif to Yao? Can he even perform ablution? You see him sit in the mosque like one who just had a bucket-full of Eba.

(Behold the C&S-attending Ademola Adeleke)

So, you have no serious certificate, cannot stitch two lines of sane policy communication together, is dilly-dallying between two religions and you are surrounded by opportunity-seeking vultures, yet you want to become Governor? Should we not first be talking about fixing your life and relationships first?

If a book would ever be written to detail how a State is not to be governed, one of the strongest case studies will be the kind of arrangement above. May Osun not be unfortunate to have such a crisis at the helm of affairs.

Making the mistake of voting Ademola Adeleke is one of the few ways to not govern a State and may that calamity not befall Osun.

Tunde Aderin writes from Ottawa