Misplaced Priority For The Love Of The Governor By Adeboye Adebayo

By Adeboye Adebayo

Dr Bashir Ajibola; the current Attorney General of our dear State of Osun under the leadership of my leader and mentor; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is indeed a lucky man who has benefitted immensely from the goodwill, benevolence and special love Mr. Governor has for him. He became the Honourable Commissioner for Regional Integration & Special Duties on the discretion and love of Mr. Governor in the first term of our government.

During his sojourn in the ministry, he ran so many programs like Osun Mediation Centre, Truth & Reconciliation Committee, Legal & Judiciary Reforms and numerous electioneering intervention through various situation rooms and data collation centres in the country among many other things he did under the ministry, however the outcomes/results of those programs and their impacts on the people of the State is the story for another day.

Our Ogbeni’s love still endeared him to him even after the dissolution of the cabinet of the first term of Mr. Governor, he became No 1 consultant of the state government, cutting shots in the government house.

He got his Doctor of Law during the period, he also built his own law Chambers, the Liberty House in heart of Osogbo, the State Capital.

 The operations and activities of the Chamber since inauguration in terms of legal fireworks it has handled is a story for another day. He also built the most beautiful house in Government Reservation Area, Osogbo during the period.

However, my Egbon not being a selfish person, empowered some of his personal aides, supporters and followers constructively during the period, he also founded a political group called Osun Positive Force; OPF to protect his interest in the polity, I  give this to him because many of his contemporaries that time that had such opportunities did not empower anybody but whether all those that he empowered are still with him now are he has lost them to other political camp or enemies’ den due to lack of quality leadership traits or other reasons is another story for the future.

Ajibola Bashir is my Egbon because we belong to the same left side of the divide before he crossed to the other side and also we belong to the same political camp where our own Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is the Proprietor & Coordinator and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is the Principal, also his relationship with the other members of Aregbesola’s political camp, especially the younger ones is a story for another day. I have also worked with him though not closely at one time or the other with Egbon Wale Afolabi; the immediate past Attorney General of the State and a reverred, humble and humane Barrister Kunle Adegoke, K RAD, ah!! humility, humanity and relationship building of Egbon Ajibola in the polity is a story for another but truly, Egbon is humble when you get to know him.

Governor Aregbesola really loves Dr Bashir Ajibola and through Oga, fortune has continued to smile on him, I mean great fortune not because he deserves or merits it but because God just decided to favour him and that is why I always say that other hardworking and loyal members of our camp should not envy my Egbon but continue to be dedicated and pray to God to reward their hard works, loyalty too and this does not exempt me as I continue to pray God to have mercy on me and let his favour also drop on me and I know God will answer all prayers so far we are not engaged in bring him down syndrome to anybody.

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola out of love and his benevolence in his recent appointment decided in his discretion to appoint Dr. Bashir Ajibola as the Attorney General & Hon. Commissioner of Justice in our dear State of Osun with legal and judiciary reforms in his Kitty.

Such big professional office was given to Dr. Ajibola not because he has won many high profile cases at High, Appeal or Supreme Courts or that he has published law books or Articles in a local or a prominent International Journal but for the love that Mr Governor has for him as this will definitely boost his professional carrier as a doctor of law who will want to become a Senior Advocate one day.

Now let me go into the story for today because I don’t want to over bore you with many stories that are for the other day.

I got a call not quite long from a lawyer friend who is from Osogbo and was called to bar in 2004. He is a sympathiser of our political party and my political camp, he also loves Governor Aregbesola extremely, he sought my opinion on the new appointment of the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Legal & Judiciary reforms. I asked him was that not the office our friend, brother; Ibro as we used to Barrister Ibraheem Lawal of Ile – Ife was occupying before? He said yes and I asked what about it and he told me that Egbon has brought one Barrister Othuke Amata from Delta State, an in- law to him, who was called to bar in 2015 to occupy that strategic office. I asked my lawyer friend what were his interest, he said he was not interested in the office but was wondering how our political camp will manage the situation in this political tensed period.

I didn’t give any opinion right then but I promise to get back to him.

Right away I called my Egbon; Dr. Bashir Ajibola but he didn’t pick my call obviously because of his busy schedules plus very many assignment that Mr. Governor gave him to handle which is understandable and he could not have called back because he does not have my number on his phone and I don’t expect him to begin to call all the unknown missed calls on his phone back knowing fully well that many of that kind callers  are seekers of one help financially or otherwise.

Then I started my own findings and I discovered that the said Barrister Amata is indeed from Delta state and also a brother to Dr Bashir Ajibola’s wife who herself is a magistrate in the state of Osun Judiciary Service and I concluded that Dr. Bashir Ajibola has indeed taken the love our Ogbeni has for him too far.

A lot of people have argued that it is the prerogative of Mr Governor to appoint his aides and by the virtue of his office, Mr. Amata is a Governor’s aide and there & then I argued that Mr. Governor has a lot in his mind at the moment and might not pay more attention to it since it was nominated by whom he loves so much.

Mr Governor is working assiduously day and night to complete the MKO Abiola international Airport where cargoes from anywhere in the World can land with any volume of goods and an airport where Aircraft mantainence services will be carried out for all classes of aircraft first of its kind in West Africa.

He wants to complete Gbongan – Osogbo Road, he wants to complete Oba Aderemi ring road, he wants to increase the volume of small & medium scale entrepreneurs in the state, he wants to sign the voluminous tittle documents for people to secure loans to upgrade their business and improve their tax payments, Mr Governor wants to end well and leave an enviable legacies after putting Osun in an enviable position in the comity of States among other numerous activities on his mind.

So it is very wrong for Dr Ajibola to have nominated or suggested the Delta born Amata who has not stood before any judge in defence of a case in the first place when we have numerous qualified lawyers in our midst.

A lot of people are wondering how we intend to handle this situation at this critical time of our political life.

People are wondering that Osun people protested against our government for bringing South West people into our government not just bringing them ooo, people that worked assiduously during the struggle of the mandate reclaimation of the Oranmiyan of our time, people are still complaining and Dr Ajibola went ahead and nominated a kobokobo from the South South to be manning a such strategic office as legal & judiciary reforms.

Peoples are also wondering how the staff and officers of the Justice Ministry will feel, many of whom have been called to bar in the past 25 years or more, they will be forced to take instruction from a Mr. Amata who was called to bar two years ago and has not in front any judge for or against any case in the court of law.  It is absurd, condemnable, unacceptable and ridiculously wrong.

My findings showed that the ugly incident that happened at the Osogbo Eid on Sallah day was  partly orchestrated by this Othuke Amata saga from the Osogbo perspective.

And if the assertion that Madam Habibat Bashir is a magistrate in our State Judiciary Service is true, with her brother from Delta state, a SSA to Mr Governor on Legal & Judiciary reforms and Egbon Mi himself; the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice then I need to be educated where in the whole wide World the judiciary onions of a State is put in the custody of a family and also I need told be told whether I am right or wrong when I say Dr Bashir Ajibola has taken the love our Ogbeni has for him too far. I rest my case for now.

*_Adeboye Adebayo is social & political analyst, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, National Publicity Secretary; Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation, AGF, Youth Leader and a Raufist./div>