By Dr. Yakub Allibalogun (Member British medical association)
INEC’s conduct of the NASS, Presidential and governorship elections in the south west albeit with some complaints of inducements and intimidation was internationally adjudged as free and fair.
Professor Jega’s performance took many people by surprise. For the first time since 1993 election, security personnel were impartial; they rendered the rampaging thugs ineffectual thereby preventing them from thwarting the legitimacy of the internationally adjudged free and fair election. In the southwest of Nigeria electorates freely expressed their franchise without cohesion. . Electoral fraudsters could not operate; as they use to because the voters stood vigil to ensure that their votes counted
The flash points in southwest elections include the fall of the Incumbent governor of Oyo state, Alao Akala; In Ogun state the ruling party under the colossus, Grand commander of the god fathers (GCOGF) was grossly humiliated.
In Nigeria the man, GCOGF, is a national figure, a political heavyweight and a southwest leader in his political party. Most Yoruba’s do not hide their dislike of GCOGF. No wonder the vehement reproach and invective directed at him by his own people. They believe he has nothing to show for his elongated years in office for instance, basic utilities, electricity, good roads, housing, required by Nigerians were unprovided. Worse still federal roads in his geo zone were heedlessly, left in abysmally derelict conditions. .it is unbelievable, that Lagos-Otta and Lagos Ibadan roads were death traps during and after he left office. From far afield I judge him based on his whimsical utterances and actions as a man who disrespects justice. During Tinubu’s administration in Lagos state he denied Lagosians money meant for development at the local government level despite the Supreme Court ruling.
In his home town the people in his neighborhood reported that his elitist narcissism is the reason of his dislike by his kinsmen. They claim that GCOGF is pervasively grandiose, arrogant haughty in attitudes and he believes himself to be “special” and always expecting excessive admiration from people around him… I was not surprise to hear from his opponents that he has unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment to which he feels entitled to and in most times he expects automatic compliance with his expectations, to an exploitative degree. I can still vividly remember how he used people to his own advantage. For instance Iwu, Adedibu, Ubas, and others were subservient to him and had used them to achieve his political oppression. Close associates know him as a man who does not forgive past insults and is often envious of others he perceives as having the potential of bestriding his achievements.
I will advice his party to provide this controversial figure with high a level of support during this critical post-election period of his down fall. This is because from my experience of interacting with narcissists. A narcissist reacts much more emotionally than a non-narcissist, sometimes with severe depression or rage, when his ego is threatened or he is faced with humiliation.
Often after his ego is punctured Initial reaction of a narcissist is to externalize blame to others as a way of preventing his experience of intense emotion. In the case of GCOGF, currently he has been blaming others for his party’s dismal performances in Southwest for his self-preservation. Time will tell if he has enough ego strength to remain emotionally intact…
In contrast, Much of what GCOGF’s ardent proponent preach is that Yoruba’s dislike of GCOGF was engendered by Yorubas conviction that he undermined and sabotaged Chief Awolowo’s and chief Abiola’s electoral fortunes . In conversation with them they are quick to hammer away at his eminently towering accomplishments during his reign by reiterating that he laid the foundation of a sustainable democratic rule; through his fearless military overhaul, his decentralization and devolution of militarily authority which they believed was previously concentrated in the hands of a few from a particular geo-political zone, believing that juicy military appointments as their inalienable exclusive right. His proponents also point out his commitment to and promotion of professionalism and meritocracy over mediocrity and they praise his resentfulness of ethnic prejudices. .They opines that unlike in the regimes before he came into power our soldiers overtly exhibited passionately blind devotion to ethnic chauvinism. According to them GCOGF retired political military personnel making way for professional soldiers. They support their arguments by mentioning the names of soldiers that benefited when he was in office. I.e. High ranking military generals from less privileged tribes like Owoeye Azazi, Iherika, even Petirin who would otherwise have been long retired before reaching elitist military ranks got promoted during his regime.
They are of the view that he was doing well until he got power drunk and got carried away by eulogies from his sycophants who pressured him into pursuing third term agenda. As in the words of Cassius, William shakes spears. “GCOGF bestrode over the narrow Nigeria like a colossus, opposition parties who were the petty men walked between his huge legs and peeping around for their dishonorable graves”.
My advice to Asiwaju on accountability and governance.
Historically, Yoruba’s have a common ancestral root and same cultural values. This homogeneity of identity explains the coherence of successful, purposeful development adopted and pursued prudently and expediently by Chief Obafemi Awolowo In the first and second republics.
As far back as the first republic Yoruba’s and old Midwest/ Bendel state reaped monumental development of enduring significance during the Awo’s leadership in western region For this reason The late sage Awo is the most celebrated and most extolled as far as attaining living and posthumous deity status, he is regarded as deserving of extreme respect so much that criticism of him is considered sacrilegious and is likely to elicit backlash responses from prominent Yoruba leaders.
In the 2nd the republic through his legacy , United party of Nigeria controlled states in the south west implemented the party’s cardinal programmers; Free education, free health care, low cost housing scheme for the poor, infrastructural developments of rural and urban cities . Today through Awo’s legacy Southwest has the highest number of educational institutions in West Africa professor Fabunmi attested to this fact.
·
Thanks to Asiwaju’s tenacity and commitment to democratic tenets. Unlike GCOGF, Asiwaju has been quite adept, profoundly wise and sagacious in investing his resources and time to building a credible democratic institution which produced the likes of Fashola, Fayemi and Action governor Aregbesola.
With the victory, of, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the last election, ACN now has five governors in the South-West geopolitical zone, Lagos, Oyo, Ogun Osun and Ekiti. The remaining state, Ondo, is controlled by the Labour Party (LP), which is ideologically similar to ACN.
Following the announcements of ACN’s sweeping victory in South west the political leader of the party ACN and Yoruba leader Asiwaju, Jagaban, Bola Hamed Tinubu.: poured encomium on INEC for conducting transparent elections in the region, In his own words “The people have spoken, a new dawn has arrived in the Southwest., It is the beginning of progress and rapid development in those states. The fact is we are committed to putting the people first ACN governors would not deviate from the plans of the party to revolutionalise the region and return it to its old glory” In Fasholas acceptance speech after he was declared as the winner he described his emergence’ as a triumph for progressive governance’.
Luckily, the rudderless PDP has been swept out of power in this region, now that the electioneering is over governance should start now Clearly, Asiwaju is presented with a historic opportunity to restore good governance, to further consolidate progressive democracy across Yoruba states and to write his name like Awolowo in the annals of history. This he can do by committing ACN governors to entrenching good governance in this region.
Good governance encompass a number of related processes, whilst service provision and quality improvement are the overall aim of governance but its success depends on whether or not there is a culture of systematic evaluation i.e. transparent auditing, transparent information systems and effective oversight. Firstly, ACN leaders need to come together to formulate an explicit framework of attainable standards that will reflect the yearnings and expectations of the people that voted them in. It is a common practice In Nigeria for incumbent governors to come out and boast about their achievements. Even projects they have used as conduits of siphoning public funds are being listed as part of their achievements. I believe that adequate monitoring system in the areas of efficiency of resource use, in ensuring that the records of involvement of the stakeholders during strategic planning are both kept and monitored will go a long way in ensuring compliance with ACN manifestoes. I will advocate for a unison services across southwestern states of Nigeria; for example Maritime, road construction, road transport service, common health and education services, independent power project IPP. Cocoa industry has potential to surpass cote devoir export capacity. We can revive this and resuscitate the cocoa industry.
Governor Aregbesola is the first governor with less than 1 month in office who urgently initiated job creation scheme and welfare reforms such as education for all and state of the art health care services. It is time for other governors in this region to emulate the good work of Aregbesola and Fashola.
No comments:
Post a Comment