A weak man cannot govern Osun: An open letter to governor Adeleke, by Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo

A journalist and online editor at WITHIN NIGERIA, Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo has advised Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State to quickly address some communal crisis in some parts of the state, noting that those behind the crisis must be brought to book.

Chocomilo adviced the governor in an open letter made available to the OsunReporters News on Saturday, noting that the increase in communal crisis and lost of lives in Osun was as a result of weak decision taken by the governor on the Issues. He advised that a weak person can not successfully govern Osun State.

Read the full letter below

OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR ADEMOLA ADELEKE

*A weak man cannot govern Osun*

Dear Governor Ademola Nurudeen. Jackson Adeleke 

I write to you, the current occupier of Bola Ige House, like I had written to your predecessors while in office, because you do not have in your custody what God cannot give or has not approved for me.

I seek your maximum attention in reading to comprehend my letter of grief in private. If possible, I urge you to take a walk away from your retinue of aides who would not be responsible for your actions or decisions after you leave office. 

Your predecessors who allowed their time-based followers to mock my warnings from the altar of divinity have continued to read, listen, and watch how they criticized the same decision or action they hailed. The one who listens and the one who ignores have become visitors in corridors of power, grieving in thoughts about desired changes they could wish for but cannot effect. 

Like the grim reaper grabs souls from bodies, time and season also grab power from their holders. Before you become an element of history like others who can only read about their moments of power, I write as a prophet of nature and time with an appeal that you should not allow the pomposity of your office and the fear of losing a re-election to affect your decisions in office. 

No man is responsible for his or her own destiny. Your emergence as a governor is a miracle because those who watched you as a rally entertainer 10 years ago would never have imagined that you could become a governor they would admire and honor. Your story from rally entertainer to governor is inspiring. This should tell you that only God, not people, crowns a man and his efforts. 

With due respect to your office, repeated communal clashes have continued to portray you as a ‘weak individual’. Those who plot or organize suffering for our people via violent acts are taking advantage of your weakness as a governor to do more. These elements have continued to harass, intimidate, and oppress, and their actions have led to the killing of Osun people who stood in the sun to elect you into office because they trusted you.

Some people opined that you are a weak governor who is only concerned about re-election, hence your timid response to violent acts and their perpetrators because you do not want to step on toes. I argued that you are not so desperate for a re-election bid that you would allow some power-drunken individuals to sacrifice Osun people for their personal gains or interests. 

Osun is not the kind of state you can govern without stepping on toes. Peace, development, and greatness of Osun lie in stepping on rightful toes. You don’t have to be seen as a nice man because you’re not an ice cream or popcorn seller. You need to be compassionate for the poor and be strong for those who rely on you as their governor. If these elements continue to see you as a weak individual, they would destroy the state and still gather people to protest against you in the future.

Sir, you cannot allow the poor to be sacrificial lambs for the actions of the rich or desperate ones who can burn down a state or kill people mercilessly to achieve their interests. Truly, communal clashes like boundary disputes and obaship tussles, among others, are man-made issues we cannot rule out in the affairs of men, but you hold a duty as a governor to protect the people who voted for you from being victims of the calculations of the desperate ones. 

I am a criminologist. You are a graduate of criminal justice. As crime experts, we strongly believe that justice and deterrence are major drives in achieving peace. We would only continue to service our lips in our call for peaceful coexistence without recognizing justice and deterrence, a core purpose of punishment. We must not only condemn violent acts but also hold people accountable for their actions.

In Osun State, the state government does not hold people accountable for their violent actions. They do not bring sponsors and perpetrators of violent acts to book. When people die in clashes, they only mourn, bury, and possibly pay relatives of the deceased. They allow relatives to see the sponsors and killers of their loved ones roaming freely on the streets. They mock justice and ridicule ‘deterrence’ as a form of punishment. Osun State, under your leadership and direction as a crime expert, must not continue like this. 

From October 2023 to January 2024, we lost at least eleven (11) youths to the Ifon/Ilobu boundary dispute. In October, eight people were gruesomely murdered during the crisis. The Adeleke-led administration mourned the deceased and declared a curfew. During the curfew, properties were destroyed before things subsided. The government compelled both towns to sign a peace treaty. They opted for a political solution. They did not compel the police to apprehend sponsors and their foot soldiers. They did not compel the kings of both towns to identify the houses of these sponsors to the police. They did not remove or suspend kings of both towns to serve as deterrents to others.

In the month of January 2024, at least three youths were killed in a fresh boundary dispute between Ifon and Ilobu. The development mocked the peace treaty signed by the two traditional rulers. As I write to you, the sponsors of these attacks have not been apprehended. Kings of Ifon and Ilobu, respectively, have not been sanctioned for abuse of the peace treaty. The police only arrested two persons, which I surely believe must have been released because I have not come across any news about their prosecution or details of their investigations. 

Both Ifon and Ilobu are still grieving their losses. They are still mourning the losses of properties and loved ones. Justice is the only thing that can give them peace. Sadly, they are citizens of a state under the leadership of a weak governor. Those who lost loved ones and properties have counted their losses and are probably waiting for opportunities like the recurrence of boundary disputes, which I pray against to proceed on a vengeful mission. People embark on jungle justice when the government and system they rely on fail them.

Have you read the golden quote of John Updike, an American novelist and a poet? He said wickedness was like food: once you got started, it was hard to stop; the gut expanded to take in more and more. Sir, we would not have probably mourned the sad demise of Osogbo-born and newly recruited NSCDC (civil defense) officer, Wasiu Shittu, popularly known as ‘Kenwask,’ if those who plotted and executed the agonies of the Ifon/Ilobu boundary dispute were brought to book. 

Wasiu Shittu, popularly known as ‘KENWASK,’ was a member of your party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He worked assiduously for your election and trusted you with his life. Sadly, they took the life away from him because you are weak to dark forces gagging the state. Kehinde was a resourceful, determined, dedicated, and willful person. He was a simple definition of resiliency. He struggled so hard in life. He has a crazy passion for new knowledge. He was a successful school proprietor. His appetite for new knowledge and service for people drove him to NSCDC.

He was reportedly shot dead in the head on Tuesday in a communal squabble that erupted between Orile Owu and Araromi Owu communities in Ayedaade Local Government Area, Osun. Another NSCDC officer sustained varying degrees of injuries. 

As I write to you, sponsors and culprits of this dastardly act have not been apprehended. As usual, the government mourned with the departed and called for caution. Those who plotted and executed the violent act that led to the demise of Kenwask are roaming freely. The ‘desperados’—I’ ean,  those who are vying for Obaship—have not been called in for questioning. If there were no Obaship tussle, would Kehinde Wasiu Shittu have died? Of course, not.

Why did sponsors and culprits of the Owu community crisis rejoice in wickedness and evil? It is simple. There’s a precedent. They have found mentorship in the sponsors and culprits of the Ifon/Ilobu boundary dispute. They surely know that they would escape the full length of the law and nobody would be responsible for whatever happened in Owu communities. The sponsors are probably exchanging glasses of assorted wine to celebrate the painful exit of Wasiu Shittu, popularly known as Kenwask, and the weakness of Senator Ademola Nurudeen Jackson Adeleke as governor. 

Dear Senator Ademola Adeleke, a weak man cannot govern Osun. You need to be strong and show capacity against sponsors of violence and their foot soldiers. They must fear you. We need to start holding people responsible for their actions. For Osun not to become a mortuary, it is our responsibility. Sir, it is your primary responsibility.

I wish you a safe return from power!

Thank you, sir.

Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo is a journalist and online editor at WITHIN NIGERIA. He is also a media executive at Black Communications. He writes from Osogbo, the capital of Osun State.