Governor Abiola Ajimobi, who made history recently by becoming the first governor to secure a second term, faced numerous challenges during his first term in office. It was his landmark achievements that saved the day for him. JEREMIAH OKE captures some major political scenes which almost thwarted the governor’s effort to break the second term jinx.
Oyo State is one of the states that may be considered as politically sophisticated in Nigeria. This is owing to the fact that it is a complex state to govern. This assertion was made by no less a personality than the late Chief Bola Ige, in his book: People, Politics and Politicians of Nigeria.
The incumbent Governor Abiola Ajimobi experienced a bit of the complexity of the state in his first between May 2011 and May 2015. From the time he took over the mantle of leadership, Ajimobi has been encountering serious challenges due to the opposition to his policies and programmes from unexpected quarters. Some of the challenges include: upsurge in political violence, unrest over the increment in tuition fees of state institutions, opposition to his second bid and the socio-economic implications of the rampant flooding in the state, particularly the capital city of Ibadan.
For instance, a day after his inauguration in 2011, students of the Polytechnic, Ibadan took to the streets to protest what they described as an exorbitant hike in their tuition fees. Ajimobi inherited unpaid salary of the workers of the Polytechnic Ibadan. He also inherited the face-off between his predecessor Adebayo Alao-Akala and the Osun State government over the ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho (LAUTEC).
The Ajimobi government described the moves by the students as a political motivated protest because they did not allow the new government to settle before embarking on the protest. Analysts say it was a good protest at the wrong time. The governor was compelled to order the management of the institution to revert to the old school fees to avoid chaos.
At the time, a statement by Ajimobi’s Special Adviser on media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, indicated that the order to stop collecting the outrageous fees from students was given by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Mr. Taiwo Otegbeye. He explained that the governor gave the order following the misunderstanding of the details of the earlier order for a reduction of the fees by 50 per cent, by the authorities of the school. On the other hand, the LAUTEC crisis, which had lingered for close to three years, was resolved in less than six months of his assumption of office.
Just as the government was settling down, some Ibadan residents were displaced by heavy rains and flooding, which also destroyed some bridges, in July 16, 2012. The government, in collaboration with some private sector operators, lodged the displaced persons in some school premises before helping to reconstruct their destroyed houses.
Areas worst hit included Apete and a link road that leads to Army Barracks, Odo-Ona Elewe and Sabo area of the state. The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Bosun Oladele, said there was no casualty. He added nevertheless that government had to demolish some structures that were damaged as a result of the rainstorm.
Oladele said: “It seems as if we are driving the water; it is finding its way. Some of the structures that were not marked for demolition before were being exposed and the government would have no choice than to continue with the demolition. But, on the whole, we thank God that no casualty was recorded.”
Also, in 2012, there was a rumour that the governor’s wife, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, was arrested by the London Metropolitan Police for allegedly being involved in money laundering. Surprisingly, Mrs. Ajimobi, who was abroad at the time to check her daughter schooling abroad, arrived Nigeria the following day, saying it was a mere rumour. She told reporters on arrival: “I am here live as you can see. I have never had any encounter with the London Metropolitan Police and I know I will never have.
“This has shown the true test of any human being’s ability to stand firm in times of crisis and controversy. My arrest is just a rumour and I think the time has come for us in Nigeria to stop playing dirty politics.”
Ajimobi also courted more controversy in his effort to embark on his urban renewal programme. In the process, some structures affecting free-flow of traffic in the capital had to be demolished, to ease traffic in the affected areas.
As a result, traders took to the streets several times to register their displeasure on the issue of demolition of shops. In one of the occasions, the Otun Iyalaje of Ibadanland, Chief Victoria Coker, led the traders to the Governor’s Office to register their grievances.
Meanwhile, Ajimobi had in many occasions challenged those whose houses were mistakenly demolished by agents of the government to come forward. The governor said on his last appearance on his monthly programme on television, E pade gomina (meet your governor) before the recent general elections that since he has been urging people to come and lodge complaint about houses that may be unjustly demolished, nobody responded because his administration did not actually demolish houses unjustly, but rather had built more houses and shops. He called on the people playing dirty politics to desist from such behaviour.
To compound Ajimobi’s woes, former Governor Alhaji Lam Adesina died after some brief illness subsequently, thereby saddling the former with the problem of settling disputes within the ruling party. This is because the late Adesina was also the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. This made governance and party affairs tedious for the governor. Thus, during the campaign for his second term, Ajimobi was playing dual role of the leader of party and government in the state.
In another occasion, Ajimobi was accused by political opponents of inflating projects. Former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, who later contested the 2015 governorship election against Ajimobi, alleged that the governor inflated the cost of fly-over at Mokola Roundabout, in the capital city. Drama ensued at a Governorship Debate organized by Ibadan’s first private radio station, Splash 105.5 FM, when the moderator, Mr. Edmund Obilo, called on Governor Ajimobi to confirm or refute the allegation.
The Governor was calm in his response. He said: “I think there is a need for education here. Now, if you go and check the records, Mokola Bridge was conceived in 1976. It was in the report of Dr. Olunloyo (former governor), it’s not even a bridge, it’s a flyover, and the flyover should be constructed. And during Senator Ladoja’s government, they produced estimates and so on and so forth. Based on what they produced, we called the engineers, the same engineers in the ministries and they studied it and they brought their estimate. In fact it was very close to each other, except that inflation of cost, the price of cement in 2004 and 2005 is different from the price of cement now. So, you don’t expect the same price. However, every contract must be done at an estimated cost by the ministry. So, the ministry provided the cost of N2.1 billion for that flyover. In between the cost estimate, there was a price increase of petroleum products, hence the price jumped by about 40 per cent. When I was building my house, cement was N3; today cement is no longer N3. So, the price was adjusted, the cost of living index also increased by over 50 per cent. In this case, the price with all the other adjustments became N2.9 billion. When you compare your cost of projects, if you are an engineer, and if you understand project costing, you will know that the cost of any project depends on so many factors and your cost elements, the infrastructure of the road you are doing, the furniture of the road you are doing, the areas of requirement in terms of moving. So, generally speaking, my answer is without any reservation, the price of that flyover, when you compare it relatively speaking, even with Ogun State is a very competitive price.”
When Ladoja was given the chance to respond again, he said “I want to say that my brother is very good at giving statistics. But, what we are saying is that we compared Ogun State flyover which is double lane and one and a half times our own, and we discovered that for every N1 Ogun State spent, we spent N6. That is why we cried out. Secondly, we said Ogun State allowed trailers to pass through theirs because it was pile foundation, ours was raft foundation. Two things we complained about: The Molete Bridge was built decades back; they provided for trailers to pass through, it was double lane and Ogun State was also double lane, nearly one and a half times our length here and it cost them less than our own. That is what we are saying. Is he saying the terrain of Mokola is worse than that of Ogun State which is very close to the Ogun River? I still insist that the price was not correct.”
He went on to aver that “and again, some people were sacked in the ministry because they refused to endorse the bills.”
The governor responded quickly, saying: “Ah, egbon, nobody was sacked for not signing. If you look at the papers, everybody signed but let me answer your question. The difference between a flyover and a bridge…” Ladoja however briskly interjected that “Ogun State was also a flyover”.
Governor Ajimobi later continued that “when you are doing comparisons, you must compare apples and apples”. It got to the peak when the Governor pointed out that the flyovers being compared were handled by the same contractor and Senator Ladoja described that as “the pity of it”. Ajimobi passed what seemed like a sentence without appeal when he responded, “let me explain now, ee ni information egbon. (You are ill-informed my elder brother). I want you to go and check the records, the width for our own flyover is about 10 metres, Ogun State flyover is 11.2 metres, our own length is about 540 metres, their own length is 360 metres. Go and check, you are lying egbon, iro le npa. Our own is more and that is why Obilo, before the questioning, that is why you should go and find out and show us.”
Governor Ajimobi also revealed recently how political opponents forced him to flee
from the Government House to his private residence, in Ibadan, the state capital.
He said political opponents directed evil traditional sacrifices (known as ebo in Yoruba) at him. Speaking during the eighth-day Fidau prayers for the late Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Sheikh Baosari Haruna, Ajimobi said some desperate politicians tried to send him out of the Government House through many devilish means.
His words: “They first came to you as Alfas to give them prayers that will send me out of office, but my own Alfa’s prayers superseded theirs. Every morning, I go out for exercise, if you know the Government House very well, it has many interchanges, popularly called orita, I see all kinds of sacrifices (ebo) placed at these junctions.
“Worried by these developments, some of you my Alfas here advised me to move out of the Government House to render their evil plots useless.’’ The governor said he had to leave “to thwart the evil plots of these desperate politicians.”
All these factors almost affected his second term ambition but his achievements helped him to overcome the challenges. But, with all the political gimmicks by his opponents, Ajimobi recorded unprecedented achievements in his last four years.
Oyo State used to record high numbers of violence before Ajimobi became governor. But, today, people can go to bed with their two eyes closed. One of the members of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Abiodun Adigun-Hammed, said if the present administration did not achieve anything, it achieved peace. He said: “If Ajimobi did not achieve anything, at least he achieved peace which is the bedrock of development in any given society. In terms of road network, Ajimobi has done well. Education has improved, compared to what we used to have in the past. Ask those who are campaigning against Ajimobi the rate of violence during their time. Ask them what they were able to achieve during their time. Their machinations did not work during the last elections. I think we are ripe enough to see through the politics of bitterness that was unleashed against the governor.”
A member of House of Representatives representing Ibadan North Constituency, Hon. Abiodun Dada-Awoleye hailed Ajimobi’s achievements, saying it was the main reason why he was re-elected.
According to him, the road constructed by Ajimobi is of international standard and cannot be compared to the sub-standard ones constructed by his predecessors. He said: “Ajimobi has set a prototype of governance for those who are coming behind on how to be a leader. What we are experiencing today is beyond what people expected. Let me start with the Mokola fly-over, nobody believed that place could be managed well, in such a way that eased traffic flow. The people of Oke-Ogun voted for him because of the standard of the roads he constructed in the area. The three campuses of the Polytechnic, Ibadan have been given autonomy, so as to stand on their own.
“The transportation of ‘Ajumose’ within the capital and other major towns has also helped to ease movement for our people. He built market across the state and promised to build more. Last week, one woman in such market precisely the South Camp, was praying for the governor, saying he is a man of God. He bought vehicles to convey the civil servants from secretariat to their houses. Before he came on board, Oyo State used to be among the dirtiest cities in Africa, but today we have improved. Nobody has ever done such a thing in the annals of the Oyo State history.”
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who pleaded for anonymity disagreed with the lawmaker on the issue of education, but however commended the administration in a number of areas. He said: “The problems we had during our (PDP) time were that we did not get our priorities right. In that respect, I want to give it to Ajimobi and his party. But, on the issue of education, I disagree with you. Are you telling me that primary and secondary education has improved, when some of our teachers are yet to receive their salaries? When most of our students are going to school with their chairs and tables? When the school structures are dilapidated. When our position in the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) is dropping? Let me tell you, any government that failed in the area of education has failed in all aspect.”
