‘Why Ogbomoso should produce governor’

In this piece, Moses Olorode examines the succession battle in Oyo State and the agitation for power shift to Ogbomoso by indigenes.

In a few days time, the All Progressives Congress (APC) will be conducting the all important primaries to choose its candidates for next year’s governorship elections throughout the country. It is going to be a make or mar decision for the APC, especially in some of the states controlled by the party.

Right now the party is embroiled in a controversy over whether it should adopt the direct or indirect mode for selection of candidates. While most members have voiced their preference for the direct primaries many of the incumbent governors are known to be in favour of the indirect mode. The situation is so volatile in some states that it is threatening to tear the party apart.

In Oyo State, Governor Abiola Ajimobi appears determined to create a level playing ground for all contestants, whether the party adopts the direct or indirect method to select its candidate. Out of the 40 members who are vying for the party’s ticket, only about five or six of them have actually bought and submitted their nomination forms.

In making the crucial decision on the issue of primaries, the APC under Governor Ajimobi’s leadership has consistently displayed a commendable degree of non-partisanship knowing that any mistake in making the wrong choice might spell doom for the party.

In Oyo State today, the people are scary about who occupies the Agodi Government House after Ajimobi. Two of the serious contenstants, Olasunkanmi Tegbe and Adebayo Adelabu are money bags who many believe might go for their enormous financial arsenals to sway members to their sides in the forthcoming primaries. Both of them are from Ibadanland. The three other major contestants are Mr. Niyi Akintola (SAN), Alhaji Adebayo Shittu and Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala.

Out of all five principal contestants, only three can actually be reckoned with, two of them, Bayo Adelabu and Olasunkanmi Tegbe, because of their financial muscles and one because of his antecedents and popularity. Niyi Akintola who though has made some fortunes from his legal practice may not come into very serious reckoning under the present scenario.

Now, if the APC must win the forthcoming governorship election in the State, it must be stern and businesslike when deciding who to field for the next elections. Money and parochial sentiments must not be given a pride of place as any attempt to do so will produce a negative result. If party members succumb to the influence of money or sentiments, it is certain that a wrong choice will be made as the candidate that is most likely to emerge will be from Ibadanland. And therein lie the problem and the danger.

Anti-Ibadan sentiments now pervade the entire 22 out of the 33 local government areas of Oyo State. Ibadan controls eleven local governments but with a population larger than all the 22 local government areas put together. And this accounts for the reason why the area, Ibadanland has produced five governors from the Second Republic (1979) till date, giving room for the other 22 LG areas to produce occupant of the seat only once.

Now, if an Ibadan man is allowed, either covertly or overtly to contest for the governorship this particular time around, then the anti-Ibadan feelings will swell up more than ever before among the remaining 22 constituent local government areas of the State. Massive protest votes from those areas might seriously affect the chances of the “chosen candidate of Ibadanland” and leave room for the opposition to outsmart the APC with deft and smart political manoeuvres.

This writer is an Ibadanman himself, probably more ‘Ibadan’ than either Adelabu or Tegbe and I have never shared the sentiments or opinions of those who believe that the Ibadans should govern the state forever simply because of their numerical strength. Apart from incumbent Gov. Abiola, who among the Ibadan indigenes who have governed the state can claim to have performed as much as the only one non-Ibadan ma who has ruled the state only once?

Even among the Ibadan people themselves the indigene syndrome which their kins often used to win their votes may not hold water this time around and reasons for this may not be far-fetched. One of such is that the people had been consistently disappointed by the dismal performances of their own sons who had been governors before now – the only exception being the present incumbent.

Unlike what happens in some states of the country, the people of Oyo State and the South West in general do not worship or defer to money bags and would rather consider the political antecedents as well as past socio/economic contributions of a candidate before going along with him. Electors have since adopted the attitude of ‘collect their money and vote for your conscience’.

Thirdly, the people have come to realise that money-bag politicians are no Father Christmas who will part with his gifts without recouping the source. They believe, and rightly too, that the first occupation of a money bag on getting to office is to quickly look for means of replenishing his bank accounts which have been badly depleted during campaign activities.

Also, these wealthy young politicians, the people believe, wound always have their attention divided between state duties and personal business to the detriment and chagrin of those who voted them into power. They would rather prefer to cast their lot with a man who has enough political experience, knows where the shoe pinches the common man and whose antecedents at governance can easily be recalled by the people.

One major factor that is bound to come into play is the vexed issue of the Ibadan dominance of Oyo States politics in the last 26 years. This situation is deeply resented by inhabitants of the other parts of the state who, in spite of their determined bid to reverse the trend have succeeded in producing a governor only once, in the person of Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala from Ogbomoso.

Ibadan is followed by Ogbomoso as major population concentration areas and the open and general argument is that, if Ibadan has produced five governors within the period under review, then, it stands to reason that Ogbomoso should be allowed to complete its two-term slot before moving the train to other areas of the state.

This time around, elders of Ibadanland should follow the examples of the Patrons Club, Ibadan, a socio/cultural group that has been championing the cause of equitable distribution of political office among the component parts of the state. We should stop using the issue of numerical strength of one area to deny other areas of their inalienable rights.

The basic fact is that though Ibadan has the advantage of being home to the largest number of people, the other areas can also boast of two thirds of the 33 local government areas of the state while their combined land mass is three times that of Ibadanland.