Osun State: The Desperate Throes Of 2022 Poll By Rotimi Makinde

Unfortunately, to predict any fortunate or unfortunate circumstances in politics is always considered a dangerous venture and may be a counter productive principle that may likely make or mar anyone’s political career, sadly so.

However, virtues like humility, self-belief, optimism, and hard work are things that don’t necessarily guarantee any of us access to the top, but they at least give us relevant and ample chance to jaw-jaw instead of war-war.

I would have loved to feign ignorance that all is well but the sane dispositions that reside in some of us who are patriotic can not easily allow us to ignore the ambiguous and unnecessary vituperations bedeviling the unity and harmony that are expected to exist in our party and amongst our esteemed leaders.

We honestly lost focus not to call for probe of figures that reflect on the voters registration list in Osun State as recorded by the umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission. Our case was like that of two antelopes fighting over a common banana, fight blindly until the lion came to consume them both, I pray this will never be our portion.

As Osun State 2022 election hangs in the balance, it is imperative and instructive to look at some master map of electoral manipulations that may take the lead apart from this unnecessary imbroglio between the present and future and with people especially party followership losing faith and facing unpredictable and bleak future.

Without contradiction, there are three distinct stages to how elections are rigged, before, during and after. Stage one is the skewing of the democratic environment, using power of conviction, persuasion and mobilisations which either way could be for real, immediate or for introspective purposes. For those who follow history, this narrative played out significantly even in the very first post-civil war election in Nigeria which brought civilians to power with an overwhelming mandate.

Instead of moving all their guerillas into mobilisation and voting right, it was all game of the fittest. I remain an apostle of peace, I remain a crusader. Speaking figuratively in my usual way, I have been mislabelled, I have been misjudged, each sides appear to have resolved to go to war, daggers drawn, and painfully weapons have been shared and all strategies perfectly mapped out, all these unpleasant developments weaken me always and will definitely not work in the best interest of our great party.

Very very sad indeed. We have all the chances to close ranks and use all the available resources to put our house together. We misjudged ourselves, speak evil of ourselves as party and care not to celebrate our past and present, all in the name of malice, pettiness and inglorious ego.

We should by now be talking about consolidation and working to reassure the public of our good intention to turn Osun State to that eldorado we promised the good people of our dear state but instead, we are singing war songs, pull him down syndrome became the order of the day, power tussles as we all face the future of political uncertainty.

I have listened to many misjudged and uninformed statements, I have read and listened to many irresponsible interviews and careless nuances and admittance of guilt that simply exposed our nepotism and our worth in the eyes of sound and intellectual public that we are such a manager with little liver to manage crisis and tension.

On a daily basis, opposition are feeding fat on our gaps, gaffes and crises, meanwhile we need not allow them to second-guess us, rather we should be seen to be planning and thinking ahead of them, beat them to their plans and as well plan with their weakness for our own gains and victory; but what we currently see within our fold is heartbreaking. I feel for my party, I feel for the labour of our heroes past and I pray their legacies and accomplishments over the years will not be obliterated.

Are we not happy for being mentioned as a ruling party that is turning the state capital to a worthy tourist centre? Or are we not enjoying the sustainability of the judicious management of the state’s meager economy? Or do we want to subconsciously give the state back to those who never saw anything good in the transformation agenda we embarked on? To be ignorant of all these likely consequences is to continue to gang up against each other and to continue to wash our dirty linens outside. Politics indeed is funny, no permanent friends and no permanent enemies. Nigeria we hail thee.

I honestly feel we shouldn’t embrace grievances this far, I am grossly disturbed about the activities of those fanning embers of war and those encouraging malice, these viciousness have regrettably thwarted every efforts I and other well intentioned party men and women have made to bring peace to the party, the sin and its associated consequences will therefore go to those who feel going to the next election with our house divided remain the best.

Late Italian philosopher and poet, Julius Evola once said and I completely agree with him, “The substance of every true and stable political organism is something resembling an Order, a Männerbünd in charge of the principle of the imperium, comprising men who see loyalty as the basis of their honor.”

On my honour as a true democrat, who believes in internal democracy, I make bold to say I have contributed to the building of this party, APC, I have played significant roles in the formation of the past and present governments in my dear State and its CONTINUITY in power is what I wish for, so help us God.

*Hon. Rotimi Makinde is a key member of SWAGA agenda 2023, he represented Ife Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives in the 7th Assembly.*