Ondo State Deputy Governor: A Staggering Profile In Timidity And An Embarrassment To His Constituency And Supporters Across The Board By Dr. Wunmi Akintide
Now that we have a new Deji in place in Akure, the time may have arrived
for us to begin to ask some pertinent questions as to where Akure goes
from here. I would expect the young man recently named the Deji and
recently ushered to the Governor's Office to go receive his staff of
office in a hurriedly arranged ceremony, just like the Osolo and the
Iralepo were so honored, a few months ago, by the same Agagu/Oluwateru
Government, would quickly settle down, and offer himself as a rallying
point to now move Akure forward.
I am, of course, aware of the litigation already filed in Court by the
first Deji-elect to declare the new Deji's selection and ratification by
Government, as null and void. Much as that litigation may have garnered
some merit in Law, the Agagu Government, in a false but quick move to save
his face, and to begin to make some overtures to the new Deji and Akure,
has more or less created a "fait accompli" that cannot be easily
overturned in a country where the "Rule of Law" is more of a cliche than
reality.
Many of our judges are not on the bench to strictly interpret the Law.
They are there, first and foremost, as agents of the Government in power,
and would think twice before going against any position held by
Government, whether right or wrong. Gone were the days when no-nonsense
Judges like the late Justice Jibowu, the late Justice J.I.C Tailor and
late Akinola Aguda were calling the shots, as they were, regardless of who
and who were the litigators. That probably explains while none of them
never became the Chief Justice of the Federation.
So in that regard, one can take it that new Deji's future may be shaky,
but secured, when all is said and done. The quest for public peace, and
the argument that undoing what the Government has done may throw the State
Capital into avoidable chaos would be the Court's easiest alibi, and that
may be a powerful enough argument in Nigeria to save the new Deji of a
potential embarrassment in the Court of Law.
The big loser in all of the jigsaw puzzle still remains Prince Adegbola
Adelabu, Ileri Oluwa the First, who would, for once, taste out of the
poison he has, so often, mindlessly administered to many Akure taxi
drivers who buy cars on higher purchase from him, and who are later forced
to lose such cars, due to some default in payment, while forfeiting their
initial deposit and all of their repayment totals before Ileri Oluwa
sends the local sheriff after them to impound the cars which are later
sold to new buyers for double profit. It may not be exaggeration, if
somebody tells me. Ileri Oluwa may have spent upwards of 10 million Naira
fighting for a position that would only fetch him a fraction of that
amount, had he succeeded in being crowned the Deji. That, in of itself is
a panacea for bankruptcy, whichever way you slice it.
I recall his one time donation of 2 million Naira as part of his
contribution to the yet uncompleted Deji's Palace. I am sure he might have
spent double or triple that amount in legal fees for endless litigations,
and all his installation formalities. I recall one or two of the original
king makers jumping ship and abandoning Ileri Oluwa mid stream, because he
had assumed the loan he had borrowed from Ileri Oluwa was not to be
repaid, once Ileri Oluwa has shown interest in becoming a Deji. They have
ruined the man, so to speak, and nobody cares how he feels at this point.
What a country!
Our people are terrible, all of them with only a few exception, have
squeezed water out of a stone, so to speak, in the way and manner they had
fed fat on Ileri Oluwa. It was amazing how easily some of the king makers
were willing to jump ship, and to leave Ileri to his problems, once
Governor Agagu has suddenly changed direction, completely leaving Ileri
Oluwa on the lurch. They couldn't care less about Ileri's fundamental
human rights as a citizen of Ondo State and as a Nigerian. The Osupa
so-called Ruling House which is, by the way, quietly staging another coup
by breaking itself asunder from the Odundun unit by not mentioning Odundun
as part of their family unit right now, in a deliberate attempt to now
make Osupa look like a separate Ruling House in Akure and Odundun as
another one. Agagu/Oluwateru Government is probably aware of this
clandestine move. but are keeping quiet, for reasons best known to them.
What the Olukoya Military Government had done was to arbitrarily break the
only Asodeboyede Ruling House in Akure into two, namely Ojijigogun/Arosoye/Adesida
and Faturoti as one, and Osupa/Odundun as the other. That was what the
Council memo and edict approving the breakup, had clearly stated in black
and white. Before we know it, some people would now begin to argue again
that Akure now has three Ruling Houses.
I am focussing attention on this point right now, for emphasis, and
documenting it for posterity. It is the role of Government to do what I am
doing now, but the current Governor and his Deputy are just too sneaky for
anyone to trust them completely. But in this article, the person I really
wish to put under a microscope is the Deputy Governor, Otunba Omolade
Oluwateru whose profile in office could possibly have earned him a change
of his last name to "Agaguteru"
If, as his name suggests, he truly believes that God is awfully majestic
to command fear, he would have remembered that he got the position he is
in today on the platform of Akure which I would argue, has been so good to
him, if he truly counts his Blessings. He should, at least, have shown
some deference to Akure his constituency and his launching pad to power as
the number two in our State. It is true that he was nominated as a running
mate by Agagu, but he was so nominated for a reason. That reason was the
fact that he comes from Akure first and foremost. The second reason was
the fact that he was once elected Chairman of Akure Local Government, and
was probably joining the ticket on the presumption he had some viable
political following and antecedents in Akure that could guarantee the
success of his ticket. The State Capital, in terms of voters has a huge
turnout, probably higher than other Local Governments in the State. That
he was a retired civil servant and former Controller of Accounts at the
Housing Corporation, was a factor in his nomination as Deputy, but far
less important than the reasons stated before.
My submission is that Oluwateru owes Akure something for his napoleonic
rise to power in our town and State. He comes from Irowo Quarters in Akure
from where he was nominated as chairman of Akure Local Government earlier
on. I happen to come from the same Irowo which is the home turf of the
General Officer commanding the traditional Forces in Akure. By reputation
Irowo sons and daughters, as children of warriors in Akure, are known to
be tough, bold and courageous. As a rule Irowo originals do not "kiss
ass." We do not sell our conscience. We tell the truth as we see it, and
we never bite the fingers that feed us. We fear nobody, and we don't allow
ourselves to be used or manipulated. We stand up for the truth and for
what we believe to be right and legit. I have serious doubts if Otunba "Agaguteru"
shares some of these attributes any longer, given the way and manner he
has hitherto conducted himself as Deputy to Agagu in the last three years
going to four.
In airing this opinion, I am aware that the post of Deputy has been
likened to that of a spare tire and treated as such by most Governors in
Nigeria. They are presumed to be easily expendable and should be seen but
not heard. Even if that were so, there are still a few options open to a
Deputy Governor to make his presence felt, and to be respected by his
Governor, especially on issues pertaining to the interest and welfare of
his constituency. I, like many others in our State, was a very
enthusiastic supporter of Agagu and Oluwateru when they contested
elections against Governor Adefarati in 2003.
That was because I had expected much from their joint ticket, and I firmly
believed, at the time, that Akure the State Capital and the entire State
would be better served by them than the outgoing Government. Nobody gave
them a chance to record the landslide victory they eventually held against
Adefarati, but they did win due to a number of unforeseeable factors, part
of which was massive rigging which was simply overlooked by a good number
of voters in our State, because they just wanted a change. Now they got
the change they wanted, but the Agagu/Oluwateru Government, in an era of
plenty, has squeezed our State dry, leaving undone many things they should
have done, and doing things they should not have dabbled into, or should
have handled differently.
The point that readily comes to mind was Agagu's breakup of Akure into
three distinct kingdoms by elevating the Osolo and the Iralepo into Obas
without defining and spelling out in black and white, the conditionalities
for their elevation. Agagu and Oluwateru were literarily taking Akure
kingdom and dividing it into three in the absence of the rightful owner of
the Kingdom, and the general consensus of the great majority of our
people.
I repeat that I am not against giving some form of recognition to the two
chiefs, and I totally agree that the two were Obas where they came from,
and before they were assimilated into Akure land by the then Deji of Akure
who had owned the land in perpetuity before their arrival. If the visitors
are now to be recognized as the permanent owners of the quarters assigned
and allocated to them by the Deji, that allocation and the rules governing
it, had to be properly defined and worked out with the three parties
agreeing to the terms, and with a written document to seal what had been
agreed on. There cannot be a king without a kingdom is my point.
If Agagu was ignorant about the sensitivity of Akure people to this
development, Oluwateru cannot rationally claim such ignorance. To add more
insult to injury, it was Agaguteru himself that Agagu had sent to be the
"agent provocateur" to present the staff of office to the two chiefs in a
sneaky and insulting ceremony that shows how much Agagu really values the
constituency of his docile Deputy. It should have occurred to Oluwateru to
explain to Agagu why it would be politically suicidal and unconscionable
for him to be the one to perform that role. His diplomatic refusal to be
the devil's advocate, should have convinced Akure people that the decision
to elevate the two chiefs were forced down his throat, and that he did
object to it in practical terms. He did not do all of that because he was
just too scared to disagree or fall out of favor with his boss on a matter
as serious as polarizing Akure for ever and doing so with careless
abandon.
It the Osolo/Iralepo elevation was bad enough, the way and manner the new
Deji's selection was rushed and stage-managed by Agagu again, was very
insulting to our people and the Deji as an Institution. I don't care if
the new Deji accepts the raw deal he was given without complaining, it is
still an insult to the Institution, as the new Deji, can hardly fight for
himself on this, as a new comer who still has a lot to learn as he takes
over the exalted position. At only 46, the new Deji is definitely a young
man, but he is a young man taking a highly prized title established by our
founding fathers as a rallying force, and the central glue that has bound
our people together for centuries.
As I sit here watching the installations of the new Alake of Abeokuta, I
cannot help but make some comparisons with the way and manner the
installation formalities are being handled with absolute dignity and
pageantry befitting the Alake of Abeokuta both by the Ake king makers and
the Ogun State Government. Surely some people will argue that if the Olowu,
the Osile, the Onibara and the other Obas in Greater Abeokuta can coexist
in peace, why can't the Osolo and the Iralepo coexist with the Deji? It is
a fair question to ask. But my answer is that the relativities between the
Alake and those Obas are not exactly the same with what obtains with the
Deji and the Osolo and the Iralepo per se.
A situation where Agagu now appears to equate the Deji with the Osolo and
the Iralepo is fraught with a lot of danger and can lead to so much bad
blood and mayhem in the immediate future, if care is not taken. It is a
prediction that any responsible Government of Ondo State ought to be
seriously concerned about. If this can be happening to Akure in a
Government where our own son is number two, the next Deji and all of us
have cause to be terribly concerned.
I am still hoping that Agagu and his Deputy would allow wiser counsel to
prevail, and not assume that once they have finally given Akure a new
Deji, theirs and our problem has been solved for good. It has not. It has
only been swept under the carpet for now, and that is not good for all the
parties involved. I think Oluwateru should start doing something to redeem
its tattered image before it is too late. He can still make some dent, if
he tries.
Dr. Wunmi Akintide |