OBSERVATION: Game Of Politics

Ademola Yaya

Since Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola assumed office as the Federal Minister of Interior after the expiration of his two-term tenure as the Osun Governor between 27th November, 2010 and November 27, 2018, he has brought a lot of innovations and creativities to the Ministry. I will only restrict my piece to the goodies he has brought to Osun table via his Ministry. For the records, he facilitated the hosting of a 5-Day Ministry of Interior and its agencies Management Retreat in Ilesa that greatly expanded economic vistas in the state; he distributed millions of relief materials before, during and after COVID-19 pandemic; he facilitated the building of an ICT centre, toilet facilities and renovation of laboratories of Ogedengbe School of Science, Ilesa by Huawei to provide conducive learning environment for staff and students;  he established Zonal Fire Service Headquarters in Ilesa, procured and deployed state-of-the-art firefighting trucks towards preventing and rapidly responding to natural disasters in the state; he built and inaugurated Correctional Service Headquarters in the State capital, Osogbo; he facilitated the building of Ultra-Modern Hospital in Ilesa Correctional Centre; he facilitated a Digital Nigeria Centre (DNC) in the state that has expanded the frontiers of universal access and service that has ensured service provision to unserved and underserved areas of the Nigerian economy – first of its kind since the modification of the project; he has facilitated employment of thousands of Osun people into several ministries and agencies; he is currently building National Institute of Domestic Security in Ilesa; and building of the Osun Command Headquarters of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Ido-Osun, Egbedore local government area to be commissioned soon. On this very day, Tuesday, 28th March, 2023, he inaugurated a Passport Production Hub in Ilesa to serve Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States in order to reduce passport production wait time and pressure from the South-West Production Centre in Ibadan, Oyo State Capital.

Unlike the previous inaugurations of some projects where the state executives invited snubbed and refused to identify themselves with them, the 28th March event was different. For example, despite the fact that the former governor Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola, the former Commissioner and the former Special Adviser on Education in the state, Hon. Folorunso Bamisayemi and Hon. Jamiu Olawumi respectively were officially invited to the commissioning of Ogedengbe School of Science educational facilities sponsored by Huawei in 2020, apart from the outgoing Speaker, Hon. Timothy Owoeye who attended, it was snubbed by all government officials. To demonstrate his abhorrence to the Minister and the project, Mr. Education Commissioner simply sent his Personal Assistant, the least person in hierarchy, as spite, to represent him. This was a programme attended by former APC National Vice Chairman, South-West Zone, Chief Pius Akinyelure, the Minister himself, Huawei General Manager, Deputy GM and Public Relations Officer from Abuja, amongst other dignitaries. Aregbesola’s sole objective was to commit Huawei to building a standard Chinese Model High School in Ogedengbe for the benefit of Osun pupils. The absence of the state executives doesn’t portend seriousness of the beneficiary; hence, the idea became a stillbirth.

The inauguration of the Passport Production Hub in Ilesa by Aregbesola was attended by Governor Ademola Adeleke with his Deputy, Mr. Kola Adewusi, Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Teslim Igbalaye and Speaker, Osun Assembly, Hon. Timothy Owoeye with numerous political functionaries in both APC and PDP. The Governor didn’t only grace the occasion with his entourage, he openly promised and affirmed his administration resolve to complete all developmental projects of the former governor Rauf, which were abandoned by the immediate past APC administration and extended an invite to the Minister to commission them after completion. This will be the first official ministerial assignment in Osun since Governor Adeleke assumed office. This event has demonstrated one thing – politics has no nexus with enmity, discrimination and alienation. It is all about who gets what and how. Little wonder that William Clay said to the events of detente, “This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends, only permanent interest.” Detente simply means the relaxing of tension; it was used in the late 1960s and 1970s to douse Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union – the then superpowers – which could have triggered World War III. Hence, there is no need for hatred or war as far as local and international politics are concerned.

Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was the President of Nigeria between 2007 and 2010.  He contested under the PDP platform in the presidential election held on 21 April, 2007 and was sworn-in on 29 May, 2007. Mr. President confessed that the election that produced him had flaws and constituted the Uwais Committee on electoral reform as a roadmap for conduct of credible election in the future that would meet every standard. Although, successive governments under the platform of PDP and APC have not given the panel recommendations holistic attention, they have not thrown them away or abandon them completely either; they have been making use of them bit by bit which has resulted to the level we are vis-a-vis our electoral law today. The lesson here is that power is transient while government endures. It doesn’t make sense to throw a baby away with the bath water.  Leadership comes with responsibility.  A leader is someone who is in charge of organising, guiding and managing others. He/she motivates his/her team to get desired result. A hole may be dug in the process of politicking; it must not be made bottomless as one could not determine who becomes its victim. It doesn’t matter which leader or party initiates lofty developmental project; what matters is completion and continuity of such project by successive government in order to deliver democracy dividends to the people, notwithstanding political party affiliation. This is exactly what Governor Ademola Adeleke has demonstrated this day – a PDP Governor attending APC commissioning with full house. It is a rare leadership quality in our clime, which should be emulated by others. If Governor Ademola Adeleke continues with this style of leadership, the sky will be his beginning in this game of bourgeois politics.