By Rahman Alli
Political developments within the past two weeks in Ogun State have shown that the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led government is fast coming to the reality of an impending electoral loss with the nose-diving ratings and dwindling fortunes of his administration and the entire APC structure in the State especially after the party lost election in Ekiti. Unarguably, this has made the Senator-Governor to, with immediate effect, order execution of policies and ideas which his immediate predecessor in office, Otunba Gbenga Daniel had earlier drawn his attention to and put to him as posers at different fora.
The latest in the show of 'political repentance' reminiscent of a prodigal administrator was the appointment of the Akarigbo of Remoland, HRH. Oba Adeniyi Sonariwo as the Chairman of Ogun State Council of Obas on Tuesday, an exercise which ought to have taken place many months before but for reasons best known to Gov. Amosun himself. Not only that, he also promised to hand official cars to the highly revered custodians of culture and tradition well after the administration's three years in office. A timely gesture indeed!
About two weeks ago, precisely on Sunday, the 8th day of June, 2014 at a public meeting of the. Ogun Labour Party Remo Federal Constituency meeting in Sagamu, held at the Ita Oba (Palace Ground) Square, former Gov. Gbenga Daniel drew the attention of the Remo people and, by extension the good people of Ogun State to the vindictive nature of incumbent Gov. Amosun by his outright nonchalance and unwarranted delay in the appointment of the Paramount. Ruler of Remoland as the Chairman of the Council as it was the Akarigbo's turn to assume its leadership. According to some political watchers, the delay was, to say the least, deliberate. Gov. Amosun had always denied some geo-political zones in the State their constitutional rights because of government's vindictive nature. What does it cost him to appoint the Akarigbo the Council's Chairman as spelt out in black and white? Callousness or what?
It will be recalled that precisely too on Thursday, the 17th of May, 2014, on the occasion of the commissioning of the Ogun Labour Party Secretariat along Onikolobo Road in Abeokuta, Otunba Daniel assured the mammoth crowd that attended the event that the first assignment of the government of Labour Party when formed in Ogun State by 2015 will be to recall those he (Daniel) employed into the civil service in 2011 but were unjustly sacked by the Amosun Administration. Barely two weeks after and as if waiting for his predecessor, Daniel to show him the way forward, Gov. Amosun announced that those sacked by his own government for no just cause should come forward to reclaim their appointments as a governmental change of attitude for the better. These actions are clear-cut cases of a disillusioned, visionless government that do not understand even the most elementary aspect of governance. Gov. Amosun's panic-driven meeting with civil-servants promising them heaven and earth, inviting the students' body to "come and let's talk" and the new-found love with workers in tertiary institutions, agencies and parastatals and the generality of the people are nothing but a ploy to hoodwink the masses into believing the present government is welfarist when it is light years away from such.
Back to the Sagamu meeting of the Labour Party, former Governor Daniel made mentioned of some huge, money-spinning developmental projects within Ogun East Senatorial District which Governor Amosun abandoned on resumption of office. These included the Olokola Free Trade Zone, the OKNLG, the Ogun Agro-Cargo Airport scheme as well as the only university of education in Nigerian- the Tai Solarin University of Education ((TASUED) which Gov. Amosun was on the verge of scrapping if not for the resistance put up by the progressive elements in the Ogun State House of Assembly as well as some well-meaning people of Ogun State. Governor Amosun had though moved a step back from making good his threat but not after a monumental protest was launched by Ijebu sons and daughters including traditional rulers and many others who saw the development as a way to destroy whatever record Otunba Gbenga created while in government.
Perhaps, the positive aspect of the whole scenario is that by executing policies and ideas that will alleviate the living conditions of the people, the people are the main beneficiaries and they must have known by now, the disparity between a government that understands governance and that which only wanted to seize power without any clue on how a government is run.
The issues raised by former governor Daniel which Amosun responded to by carrying out to the letters portrays his predecessor as a master of the game on whose template numerous positive developmental programmes can be drawn. To let this latest show of a greenhorn learning the ropes push his political barometer a bit up more, there are quite a number of reversal he would need to make and a backlog of promises he has to keep. To achieve this is very simple: just for him to listen to his master's voice and execute whatever poser his predecessor releases at any forum. If he does this, there is the likelihood of being able to keep his head above the turbulent water just for a while before the bubble bursts. And this is a matter of fact which the sitting governor dare not deny.
Rahman Alli a secondary school teacher resides in Sabo. Abeokuta North LGA, Ogun State.
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