EDITORIAL: A Season Of Witch-hunts?

PARANOIA appears to be on the rise in what should be the season of goodwill to all. The Governor Adegboyega Oyetola’s administration is obviously hostile and ready to crush opposing political opinions. This is evident in many attacks on members of the party who are not in the same camp with Mr. Governor. 

The latest of the Oyetola administration’s hostility to opposing political view is the suspension of Mr. Philip Akinyemi, a Physics teacher in Masifa Community Grammar School, Masifa, State of Osun. Mr. Akinyemi was suspended for promoting the governorship ambition of the former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam. 

Suspending a teacher for exercising his freedom of expression is a foretaste of the gulag to come. Ironically, the suspended teacher had been a key witness on the side of the Governor in the Election Petition Tribunal. Would the teacher be suspended for promoting Oyetola’s second term ambition? No! in this same administration, other civil servants have been openly involved themselves in partisan politics. But because it is in the favour of the Governor, the concerned authorities are okay with it. This shows how selectively cruel some memories can be. 

The process leading to the “indefinite suspension” (echoes of military authoritarianism here) on scrutiny defies the tenour of natural justice, fairness and due process. It should be reversed. No one should condone witch-hunts and selective justice, “for we must never seek to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee”. Everyone has been put on notice.