Osun 2018: ‘The Era Of Anointed Candidate And Imposition Is Gone’

Before We Go To War By Bakare Abdullahi Gboyega
Sequel to my open letter to the noble sons and daughters of Ikire. I have received an overwhelming confirmation through text, calls and Facebook comments that Ikire is ready to lead Osun State come 2018. This gave me the encouragement to take a step further in the bid to galvanize our people to have a common, united front in promoting Osun West and Ultimately; Ikire agenda.

However, it is definitely not enough to shout ‘we want it,’ it is our turn! ; How ready are we to match our word with action, commitment and perseverance? How willing are we to make sacrifices, accept criticism and intense firing of all our aspirants as part of the process of selecting the best of us to lead the war?
Make no mistake, the coming governorship contests in the State of Osun shall be TOUGH and very competitive. The era of anointed candidate and imposition is gone. This time, the personality, exposure, achievements and track record of excellence in the private life of any individual willing to lead the state shall be more of value than number of years of being in politics.

Unarguably, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is the most successful politician in today’s sub-Saharan Africa, the like of whom is very uncommon. In his unmatched understanding of politics and governance, he posited that no core politician would become the governor of Lagos after him. Tinubu made good his words and Lagos is today better for it.

The achievements recorded in Fashola’s Lagos is there for all to see while that of Akinwumi Ambode is as yet unquantifiable.

Like smoke, whose source is almost always the fire, the clear separation of party politics from actual governance has enabled the placing of round pegs in round holes and square pegs in their rightful places. Having technocrats and trained professionals as head of government has put Lagos ahead of all and made it a pride destination for local as well as foreign investors.

Without any doubt, the greatest challenge facing our dear state today is the lack of employment opportunities for our teeming young people which is occasioned by unavailability of industries that might drive our economy. The state is therefore now, more than ever in need of a technocrat as a governor, for no other understands how best to woo investors better than an investor. After all, ‘eni to ba moju ogun ni pabi nire’. Only the initiate breaks cola to the deity.

In all fairness, the current governor of the state, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola , has raised the benchmark of governance, and whoever will succeed him must be ready to be a race car driver in infrastructural development, a welfarist and a seasoned manager ,if he or she must succeed where successive progressive governors have failed. The next governor of the State of Osun must be a humanist with a clear understanding that labour is the most important of all factors of production.

Every student of history would agree with me that poor labour relation has always been the bane of progressive government in Nigeria throughout history. The progressive government of late Bola Ige in 1983 in the then old Oyo State readily comes to mind. As much as people praised his infrastructural developmental drives, no better way could people have voiced their distaste with his poor labour relation than voting massively against him in that year’s gubernatorial election the way they did, which eventually ousted him.

Fast forward to twenty years after. 2003 marked a year of ‘history repeating itself’ when chief Bisi Akande, the then governor of Osun State who was adjudged the best in his time in terms of infrastructural development was humiliated at the polls, he paid dearly for having fallen into the same progressives’ pitfall of very poor labour relations.

It has often been argued that the most selfish group of people on earth is the labour unions. They do not mind that nothing else is achieved by a government, in fact they would praise a government that pays them full attention, even if other sectors suffer.

Aregbesola in his first term in office did for them what no other government had done when the means was available. For instance, he paid them thirteen month salary and ensured that their annual leave bonuses were paid on each employee’s birthday into their personal bank accounts. But when the means dwindled and he could no longer keep up with even paying the regular salary, none of them understood with him, even with his beautifully structured salary agreement to ensure something gets to the workers at the end of each month, in a time when other state governors could not pay anything, they still called him all sorts of names rather than praise his humane approach to solving a national economic downturn.

Well, Aregbesola has done his part and set to leave the stage. Here in Osun West where the next governor is zoned to come from, we must prepare a candidate who combines the infrastructure provision drives of Ogbeni Aregbesola and a deeper managerial acumen gathered from years of managing people and resources. I must make bold to say that none of the people who have been part of Aregbesola’s government is qualified to become our next governor.

We cannot revert to the governance of just paying salary, send people on pilgrimage and tar a few roads that contribute nothing economically to the state. WE NO LONGER NEED CORE POLITICIAN TO GOVERN US.
If Osun must grow like Lagos, we need,younger, brighter,educated and more exposed governor as against the old politicians now parading themselves as viable aspirants. We need governors like that of Lagos. We need a governor that understands what it takes to run a state like a business, a governor that would open up the state, woo investors and turn our dear state to a giant industrial estate. Where the state no longer relies on federal allocation to survive, where jobs are in abundance and people can pay tax without grumbling. Where health and education are at their best and security is sound.

This is the Osun of our dreams.
Like an army who desires to win a war, we must endeavour to prepare our Armory, motivate our soldiers, and be ready to cross hurdles and focus solely on winning. Osun West, Ikire are we ready?