For 5 weeks towards the last conducted general elections, men of the Nigerian Police Force were able to arrest and expose various crimes committed in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
Tag: ibadan
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The poisoned carrot of an Ibadan State
SIR: Nigeria Election 2015! There have always been some asinine, farcical and insincere features to the politicking and electioneering in Nigeria, even long before the real election times. Nothing has ever been normal or straightforward with politicians; if they are not involved in one corruption scandal or the other; they are involved in bloodletting, mudslinging and what not. It is entirely typical and with my universal experience, has come to realise that this particular trait of “insincere, do-or-die politics” is unique to Nigeria. Please I stand corrected and educated.
Anyway, before I continue, and in order not to be seen to be hypocritical, let me say my sympathy lies with the opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, so most of what I will be saying, will of course be biased against the ruling People’s Democratic party, PDP. But what I say should be weighed and balance with truth.
In my state of Oyo and in my city of Ibadan in particular, the PDP and its gubernatorial candidate and other aspirants are on a downward trend, and one of the causes of their demise is due to their outright lies, deceit and sincerity in their promises to the people. I listen to their campaign jingles and other electioneering gimmicks, and I could not but help marvel at their inanities, and how their mediocrity shows through every time. I am not even worried by their reputation for insincerity anymore; it is the quality of their deceitful claims.
The PDP jingle on radio stations (I never watch the TV stations), sponsored by an Ibadan daughter who happens to be a junior minister in President Jonathan’s mediocre cabinet, make claims of improved agriculture, an effective, efficient and easily accessible healthcare system, building and reconstruction of roads, empowering of women, improved electricity supply, enhanced, youth employment, refurbished and standard airports and improved rail transportation, etc.
My problem with this jingle is the dangling of the carrot of the creation of an Ibadan State, if Mr Jonathan is re-elected. This outright deceit and wrong promise is too much for me to take. With others asking for Oduduwa State in Osun State, and Ijebu State in Ogun State, and who knows how many others such small states to be carved out of the 26 existing states, it becomes pertinent to ask the disseminators of these lies how and why President Jonathan intends to prioritise the creation of an Ibadan State, assuming he can single-handedly do this or push a bill through in the National Assembly, over the others.
We should also ask the Oyo State Coordinator of President Jonathan’s Campaign, what mileage or advantage this will be to the whole people of Oyo State, if, as a campaign slogan, she is asking for the Oyo State people to vote for Jonathan, and at the same time telling them that their state will be split up and Ibadan exorcised from the rest of them, giving the Ibadans an advantage, which they already enjoy anyway, as the most populous and most metropolitan and most developed of the people of Oyo State?
I therefore find it very deceitful and condescending to the people of both Ibadan and the encompassing Oyo State to be assailed with such obviously fraudulent political promises and guarantees to get their votes.
But then I figured it out as soon as I know who the Coordinator is. Treachery and trickery, artificiality and grandstanding are not strange to them. Her father, a prominent, yet self-centred son of Ibadan, is likely to be one of the brains behind this creation of Ibadan State.
So, this poisoned carrot of an Ibadan State is bound to backfire. It will not work. Yes, I don’t mind an Ibadan State, but what’s the use of having it now; a state that will keep on going to Abuja to beg for a meagre monthly allocation; and because it will not be an oil-producing state, it will be getting pittance; a state that will not be able to stand on its own industrially because of short-sighted and clueless elites; a state whose existing industries are moribund and a lack of political will is not them resuscitate them. I don’t know.
Anyway, since it is a poisoned carrot at the end of the stick, the donkey will never catch up to eat the carrot, so we can conclude that, in the meantime, we are safe from the warped, insidious, invidious plans and chicanery of those who want to create private empires and states for themselves, where their fellow people will be their serfs and servants perpetually or allow them to perpetuate them and theirs in power continually.
Forget it for now. Let the Truth be said always.
• Akintokunbo A Adejumo
Lagos
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Another kidnappers’ den discovered in Ibadan
Pandemonium erupted Wednesday evening in Ibadan, when a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and two other people were said to have been feared dead in Adekile Goodwill area of the metropolis.
The situation occurred after a fracas broke out in the community following the discovery of a kidnappers’ den in a house in the area.
The Nation gathered that a child, who got missing in the community several days ago, was found in the underground apartment of the house.
The police was said to have been alerted on the development, which led to the arrest of the owner of the building.
The incident reportedly angered the youths in the community and they mobilised to destroy the building.
But the police was said to have prevented the irate youths from their mission.
This, as gathered, further infuriated the youths and the resorted to stoning the cops and allegedly fired gunshots at the police.
Fragile peace was said to be pervading the community as at the time of filing this report Thursday.
An eyewitness, who preferred anonymity, said: “The angry youths were many but the policemen were very few. I learnt that the mob killed a policeman. The police also killed two among the youths as a result of the alleged assault on them.”
Men of the Nigerian Army were said to have been drafted to the community to protect lives and property. The irate youths allegedly attacked the soldiers before they were dispersed with teargas canisters.
A visit to the area on Thursday revealed that the residents are still in shocking and are still panicking. Shops and stalls in the area were also closed.
In a telephone interview with the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Adekunle Ajisebutu confirmed that some arrest has been made by the command as regard the incident.
He said:”I am not entitled to talk yet about the situation. The commissioner will brief the press as at when due, because any information released now may jeopardise the investigation.”
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Jubilation in Ibadan, Lagos, Kano, Minna, Uyo, others
NIGERIANS took to streets yesterday in Ibadan, Lagos, Kano, Niger, Lokoja, Kaduna, Sokoto, Maiduguri and others jubilating from the moment it was confirmed that All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) would be declared as the country’s president-elect.
Men, women, youths and children, in joy, shouted: “Sai Baba, Sai Buhari” as they celebrated.
At Sabo area of Ibadan, residents, most especially northerners, brought out brooms, shouting “Sai Baba”, “Sai Buhari” as motorists had hectic time linking Adamasingba due to gridlock.
Some of the celebrants were on bikes, riding up and down the streets. A cow with the logo of the APC was bought for residents’ entertainment. A disc jockey was on hand to entertain the people.
It was the same story at Challenge, Gate, Iwo-Road, Felele, Ojoo and other areas.
Lagos residents also trooped out in their thousands yesterday night to celebrate the emergence of the APC presidential candidate and his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
The Hausas took over Ketu and Mile 12 axis of Ikorodu road, shouting: “Say Baba, Say Buhari”.
Lining up the two sides of the express road, they carried high the campaign banners of Buhari/Osinbajo and the state APC governorship candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode from Mile 12 market towards Ketu/Ojota shouting: “Sai Baba, Sai Buhari”.
The crowd caused gridlock among vehicles going to Owode/Ikorodu, forcing motorists to chorus the victory slogan.
Some northerners also took to beating drums and playing their traditional flutes as others danced in circles in celebration.
In Kano, it was wide elation, as the news of Gen. Buhari’s victory filtered into town. Youths in their hundreds stormed the streets in celebration.
Some of the youths engaged in acrobatic display with their motorbikes and tricycles, with majority of them waving brooms – the symbol of the APC.
Minna, the Niger State capital, was also enveloped with joy as the youth, party members and supporters rejoiced.
As soon as the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Returning Officer for the presidential election, Prof. Attahiru Jega, adjourned sitting for the collation of result from Borno by 6pm, the youth took to the streets.
In what was like an instantaneous reaction, horn blaring cars and motorcycles with jubilating youths took to the streets, waving brooms and APC flags, Buhari’s banners and posters.
From Chanchaga through Tunga to Mobil, Bosso and Tundu-Fulani, the jubilating teams took over the roads.
At Maitumbi, Saiko, Limawa, Nikangbe, Dutsen Kura, Maikukunle and Kapgunku, youths were seen rejoicing and celebrating.
Thousands of APC supporters also trooped to the streets of Kaduna in wild jubilation.
The supporters, who were on motorcycles, bicycles, Keke NAPEP and cars, carried brooms and started chanting ‘Sai Baba’ and sweeping major Kaduna streets.
Though Kaduna city was very quiet in the early hours of yesterday, at about 4pm, APC supporters stated gathering at major junctions like Ungwar Sarki, Tudun Wada and Ahmadu Bello Way.
As at the time of filing this report, rumour of dusk-to-dawn curfew was going round, but the residents were unconcerned.
In Sokoto, thousands of APC supporters and well-wishers of its presidential candidate yesterday started jubilating the anticipated victory of the candidate before the official announcement by Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
The streets of Sokoto, the state capital, were agog with jubilant youths, most of who entertained the crowd with their bikes.
Maiduguri and Emir Yahaya roads were taken over by the youth.
Residents also took to the streets in Lokoja, even as results from Borno State were yet to be officially announced by INEC.
Thousandsof Maiduguri residents also rejoiced before Gen. Buhari was officially declared winner of the election.
Security operatives also joined in the celebration, shooting sporadically in the air and blowing sirens on high speed with their vehicles on the streets of Maiduguri.
In Yobe State, Damaturu, the state capital, also went into wild celebration as APC supporters trooped out to celebrate the victory.
The youth besieged the Damaturu central roundabout and major streets, chanting party slogans.
The Nation gathered that Potiskum, Gashua, Nguru, Geidam and other major towns were also in celebration mood.
Many of the people were happy that their votes counted.
In Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, supporters of APC were not left out.
They brandished brooms, singing and dancing along the major roads in the state capital.
The state APC governorship candidate, Umana Okon Umana, described the victory as a historic moment for Nigeria.
Umana explained that Gen. Buhari has the required skills, experience and capacity to turn Nigeria around economically and politically.
Also, a member of the Board of Trustees of PDP, Don Etiebet, said the victory was as a result of rebellion against the PDP.
Etiebet described President Goodluck Jonathan’s action in congratulating Gen. Buhari victory as a new beginning for the nation’s politics.
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Again, rainstorm destroys homes in Ibadan
A three-hour rainfall accompanied by heavy storm descended on Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Tuesday, last week destroying in the process, several residential buildings, business premises and electricity poles in many parts of the city. OSEHEYE OKWUOFU reports.
After waiting for several months for the rains to come, residents of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital had the first rain of the year on Tuesday last week, but it was a bitter-sweet experience for many of them.
While the rain water and cool breeze tempered the excessively hot weather and provided free water for many households without pipe-borne water, the accompanying rainstorm damaged many buildings and public property.
At the end of the three-hour heavy downpour, many houses were left with no roof, having been blown away by the strong wind,
while many electricity poles were either broken or uprooted, leaving many households without public electricity supply.As was the case few year ago,in the city. Many residential buildings were badly affected by the wind that accompanied the downpour. Quite a number of concrete electric poles and cables were brought down and smashed into shreds on the roads, causing damage to shops and business places nearby.
Apart from the damage to electricity poles and cables belonging to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), the power company in charge of distribution of electricity to the city of Ibadan and environs, many fish ponds and farmlands were flooded by the storm water in some areas, causing heavy losses to the owners running into hundreds of thousands of naira.
In most of the areas visited by The Nation, nothing had been done to repair the damage since the unfortunate incident, except few areas where electricity has been restored.
At Omi-Adio and Apata areas of the city where the damage was much, electricity had been restored in some places while other areas were still in darkness.
At Ido town, many buildings whose roof tops were blown off were still without any roofing while electricity poles and cables were still lying on the roads. The situation was the same at Iyana-Ido area, especially after the railway crossing with most of the residents without electricity.In Ibadan South West Local Government where the rainstorm also left its traces, few residential buildings affected by the storm remained unattended to while others have been repaired by their owners. At Odo-Ona and Ago-Tailor areas of the city, it was tales of woe from the affected residents. They complained of blackout even as they await officials of the power company to replace the damaged electricity installations.
A farmer who lives in one of the affected buildings Mr Monday Iyasele said “We have been waiting for the officials of the power company to come and repair this light. In fact, we have lodged complaint and we hope they will do something soon to restore our light.
“We don’t have the money to buy poles, cable and other materials. And that is why you see the cables and poles still lying on the roads. Maybe they wanted us to contribute money to get the materials, but I can tell you that we don’t have that kind of money. They collect money for the electricity and it is their responsibility to repair these damaged equipment. Financially, some are incapacitated even to replace their roofing sheets damaged by the rainstorm.
“We can’t replace the roofing sheets because we don’t have the money to do so. It takes a lot of money to replace them and since the money is not there we have no choice than to bear the consequence of what happened. If there is rain now, everywhere will be full of water as a result of leakages, and we must cope with it because we don’t have any choice. We pray that God will one day provide the money to fix it”.
Even traders, welders, and shop owners who depend on electricity claimed their businesses have suffered a major setback since the downpour. Mr Wasiu Adebayo who owns a welder’s workshop at Omi-Adio described the blackout as unbearable.
Other residents affected by the rainstorm are still groaning as they are yet to recover from the loss, while the power distribution company is still battling to replace the damaged electric poles and cables.
Although, electricity supply has been restored to some strategic areas of the city, some residents yet to receive supply have been using private electricians to fix some of the damaged equipment.
Some complained about the conduct of the power company officials who they alleged were not alive to their responsibility.
They wondered why it would take the power distribution company more than two weeks to restore light to the affected areas.
Speaking on the damage to electric poles and cables, a school teacher at Iyana Ido, Mr Kingsley Oke lamented that since the rainstorm caused damage to power installations the workers of the power distribution company have not visited to assess the damage and proffer immediate solution.
However, the management of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has pleaded with the affected residents, assuring them that electricity would soon be restored.
The Public Relations Officer of IBEDC, Mr Frank William who spoke with The Nation said” we are working very hard to restore power to the affected areas. Our men are on the field working to ensure that we replace all the damaged installations. We plead that our customers affected by the rainstorm should exercise patience, everything will soon be normalised .”
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Physically-challenged leads campaign for Buhari in Ibadan
A physically-challenged man, Alh Wasiu Nurudeen Thursday staged a peaceful support rally in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhari and his running mate, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.
Nurudeen who was riding on a wheel chair with Gen Buhair’s posters, started his one man campaign at Agodi secretariat around 7:30am and moved around the state capital to solicit the peoples support for the APC. Presidential candidate on Saturday election.
He stated that he is supporting Buhari and Osinbajo because they have conscience and they are the best candidates for the job, adding that he is not an APC members but he is keen on seeing a positive change in governance.
Nurudeen said he is out to give direction and advice the masses on who to vote for and who should be voted out.
“I am not a politician or a group leader of any society, but I am concerned with what is going on in the country because I am a citizen of this country and I have the right to choose whom I want, and that is Buhari.
“On Saturday, Nigerians will go to the polls to choose their leaders for the next four years. The big question is do we continue with the present leaders of our country or do we change them? My answer is change. We have to change our rulers. I am tired corruption, insecurity, epileptic power supply, bad roads and the lokes. If we want our country to survive and make progress then we need to vote for Buhari/Osibajo.
He said a vote for Buhari and Osinbajo is a vote for sincere and positive change, describing as sincere, hardworking, patriotic and lovers of Nigerians.
Nurudeen said:” I had always believed that somebody that has the kind of Buhari’s character, his integrity and incorruptible nature should be supported to clean up the country irrespective of our ethnic, religious and geographical differences. It is a common knowledge that corruption is a major problem that has held this country down for many years. We all saw how this man tackled indiscipline and corruption in his first coming.”
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‘Ibadan State not feasible now’
Dr. Gbade Ojo, a political scientist, the Special Adviser to Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Political Matters. In this interview with JEREMIAH OKE, he says the people of the Southwest will not vote for the PDP at the general elections on the feasibility of promises by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to create Ibadan State, Governor Ayodele Fayose’s incessant attacks on the personality of General Muhammudu Buhari and the present administration in the state.
PDP has promised to agitate for the creation of Ibadan State. Don’t you think this campaign may make the people vote against the APC?
Our people know it is an attempt to deceive them. As a political scientist, I have done many researches on state creation in Nigeria. There are two angles to Ibadan State creation; I am an indigene of Ibadan. I was born and bred here in Ibadan. I have all my degrees at the University of Ibadan. But, I tell you that the creation of Ibadan State is not feasible. Many readers will be shocked that Ibadan man is not supporting the creation of Ibadan State. But, the truth must be told. If you are talking about Ibadan State, in terms of mere nomenclature, like Kaduna State, Enugu State and we are saying Ibadan being a state, I will tell you it is not feasible. There are some criteria for state creation, which we need to put into consideration. Based on scientific finding, the first principle is that the new state must be economically viable. If in Nigeria today, out of the 36 states, you cannot pinpoint six states that can pay wages and salaries without the federal allocation, then, why talking about state creation? Does it make any sense that you want to create an additional liability? To those who are not sufficiently exposed intellectually, it could be a political gimmick to deceive the electorate and they should not forget that our people are not dumb as they are. Talking of the geographic and demographic size of the state, if the new state is not economically strong to tell the Federal Government that ‘go away with your allocation’ and we are now agitating for a new state, our people need to check the level of exposure of the people deceiving them. Secondly, as we want Ibadan State, other parts of the country are also agitating for the creation of more states. The fragmentation of the federal structure will make the Federal Government to be stronger in political theory and the component part of the federation becomes weaker because they depend on the federal allocation. Federal government can use that as a weapon to fight states that if they refuse to give them allocation, they won’t be able to pay their salaries and their respective contractors. Most of the states of federation could not pay January salary because they are yet to get their allocations. What does that connote? Simply lack of economic viability. If the new states are not economically viable, it is a fundamental problem. That will make the Federal Government to become stronger than as it is today.
Why do you think that state creation is not feasible?
Jonathan, Akinjide and Folarin campaigning with state creation are not politically exposed because they are not political scientists. They are just trying to mislead our people with wrong information. They refused to find out information from those who know better than them. You don’t make issues out of no issue if you have not consulted properly from those who specialises in that area. Politicians being what they are, they can go out to hoodwink the electorate just to get what they want. To cajole the electorate that if the aspiration of an average of Ibadan man is Ibadan State, let us promise them Ibadan State so as to have our way. But, we can now ask ourselves: Since the beginning of this democratic dispensation in 1999, between 1999 and 2015, why is it that they have not been able to create Ibadan State? Why is it now that they are desperate to return to Aso Rock they are now promising Ibadan State? It is a poser for the ruling party at the federal level. It is a mere gimmick and not a campaign promise. The process of creating an additional state is rigorous and that is why since 1960, no democratically elected government has created a single state and all the existing states were created by the military. For Jonathan who has been there for the last six years to now begin to promise us Ibadan State, an Ibadan man like me need to sit down and think twice.
PDP alleged that the APC administration has not lived up to expectation. What is your reaction?
We have said much about it. Agreed that the Hon. Minister of State said there was a huge amount of money from the PET fund but, it is a ridiculous thing that a minister for that matter will intend to mislead the great people of Oyo State who are politically sophisticated. What is PETFUND? It is Tertiary Education Trust Fund, there is existing law which says certain amount of money must go to the purse of PETFUND for all the tertiary institutions in all the states of federation. The fundamental question is that; was it only Oyo State out of 36 States that collected the money? It was the constitutional right of the state and if you go to our schools in the state, you will see development in those schools. The money was deducted from money meant for all of us and it belongs to all of us. It is the right of every state to get their own money because it is being deducted to care for tertiary institutions across the country. Now, she mentioned the University of Ibadan. Is it a property of Oyo State? Can you now see the discrepancies in what the woman is spreading around? The money belongs to all the states of federation and I don’t know why that of Oyo State is now different from others. One other funny thing about her explanation to hoodwink the electorate is that Jonathan did more than Governor Ajimobi in Oyo State, in terms of education. Is Jonathan or the Federal Government paying the salary of the Polytechnic Ibadan, Ladoke Akintola University in Ogbomosho and others state institutions? Is Jonathan, who has not been paying opposition parties regularly, interested in supporting Oyo State? Does it make sense to argue that Jonathan has done anything reasonable for us in the southwest? That woman should look for something else to say rather than deceiving the intelligent people of the state. The Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose insisted that General Buhari is not fit to rule Nigeria because of his military background, as a political scientist, do you subscribe to this argument?
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A day in Ibadan
This last Thursday, a historic gathering of Yoruba leaders took place in the iconic parliamentary hall of the old Western Region. Summoned by the much respected and admired General Ipoola Alani Akinrinade, it brought out the very best and the brightest of the race. It has been said that the Yoruba people are always at their best when under grave political pressure. This meeting did not disappoint.
The cream of Yoruba intelligentsia, traditional leaders of thought, business barons, traditional rulers, technocrats, religious leaders, our consanguineous relations from the South South and battle tested representatives of the dominant political tendency gathered to chart a way forward for the region in the turbulent and tumultuous waters of contemporary Nigerian politics. Snooper was there.
In an important sense, the Ibadan summit was something of a watershed in the post-independence politics of the Yoruba people. It marked the formal end of hegemony of a certain kind of Yoruba leadership and the ascent to full dominance of another. There was a certain political élan and briskness of purpose in the air. Although regicide was in the air, there was not a word about the old political royals. The Yoruba, like all people of empire, can be very clever, classy and circuitous when dethroning their own kings.
The choice of venue could not have been more apt. It was an act of political wizardry, worthy of the greatest Yoruba political cognoscenti. Abiola Ajimobi, the urbane and witty host governor, was at his best as a discerning aficionado of the history of theYoruba race and his Ibadan people. Rauf Aregbesola, the politically focused governor of Osun state, electrified the audience with his grim agitprop. When Yemi Osinbajo made his late entry as if on cue, the entire hall erupted in wild jubilation. It was clear by then where the dominant spirit of the Yoruba resides.
It was in this storied building that the Yoruba people were first forcibly dispersed in post-independence Nigeria in a federally engineered disruption whose echoes reverberate up till this moment. Agents of the federal government acting in concert with political renegades and internally disaffected members of the ruling party conspired to unleash a memorable mayhem on the most sacred sanctuary of democratic governance.
Before that historic rupture, the Action Group led government had taken a clear lead in the political, economic, educational and social fields of the nation. Such were the radically humane policies, the revolutionarily innovative programmes, that in five years of the Great Leap Forward, the Action Group had completely transformed the Yoruba society in a way that could not have been imagined.
In one generation, the Yoruba people moved from the farm to the factory. Even our traditional western traducers were impressed. Television came to Western Nigeria before some backward and backwater European communities. It was too good to be true. But while our former colonial patrons nodded in admiration, other sectional Nigerian leaders also noted in affronted envy and cynical malice. For them, it became a question of the west and the rest of us.
Fifty three years after that historical dispersal, the nuclear fallout is still very much with us. It fed directly into the disputed and violence-suffused federal elections of 1964, the first coup, pogrom, the civil war and decades of untrammelled military despotism. It has also led to the political and economic retardation of the country on an industrial scale. As it was in the beginning, so it is at this end of the beginning; a conjuncture brimming with ruinous possibilities and fearsome portents.
Once again, the Yoruba society has been turned into a theatre of war and political hostilities with the barely literate trying to lord it over the vastly literate. Only in Yorubaland is this kind of “America wonder” possible. Those who are incapable of learning have taken to teaching, as Oscar Wilde would famously put it. In times of strife and stress and of a bitterly polarized political elite, the Yoruba political mob have always tried to seize control, as this column once warned. Have guns and cutlasses and the elite will travel out.
The consequences of this unending political gridlock are too horrendous to contemplate. In the course of time, the Yoruba nation and people have lost many of their illustrious scions and icons. From MKO Abiola who won a federal election only to be brutally murdered in incarceration, Architect Layi Balogun, another presidential aspirant, who died in cloudy circumstances, to James Ajibola Idowu Ige who was murdered in his bedroom.
Neither our women nor illustrious military scions have been spared. Kudirat Abiola was brutally gunned down in broad daylight. Mama Bisoye Tejuoso, a self-made billionaire and Iyalode Egba, and Suliat Adedeji were subject to unimaginable ritual torture before being callously dispatched.
Francis Adekunle Fajuyi who was despised and constantly dismissed as an Action Grouper by his Commander in Chief was killed while protesting the abduction of the same boss while Victor Anuoluwapo Banjo, a literary genius going by the power and potency of his letters, was finally silenced after several Biafran volleys had been emptied into him. “I am not dead yet”, Banjo continued to moan in heroic defiance of inevitable fate.
The question to ask and which was not addressed by the Ibadan summit is why the Yoruba elite have been such agreeable grist to the federal crushing mill. Morbid fear, hatred and envy we can understand as the inevitable pathologies of boxing people in different stages of spiritual, intellectual, political and economic development into a colonial cage of contraries. But the question we need to ask is why succeeding federal government, irrespective of its core ethnic affiliation, have always found it convenient to turn the Yoruba nation into a theatre of war.
It is not a question of pride or ethnic chauvinism, but as a result of their history and developmental trajectory, the Yoruba have come to accept certain minimum standards and bar of governance which they are not prepared to lower not even for any of their own wayward children. As this column noted a few weeks ago, it is a question of post-colonial political habitus. In the post-colonial colonium, all the nationalities retain their pre-colonial vibrancy and sense of identity. Here, the group-think and group-feeling are so strong that you do not need to meet at midnight to come to a consensus about what is best for your ethnic group.
The consensus emerges from the blues so to say and there is no political magic about it. It inheres in the subliminal subconscious of the people or what is known as the political unconscious. For example, nobody has begrudged Professor Ben Nwabueze when he noted that it was in the best political and economic interest of the Igbo people to vote for Goodluck Jonathan.
That was before the great constitutional lawyer began flying the famous Government of Unity kite. Intuitively, the Ijaw people also know who to vote for without being railroaded. Wise leaders know how to tap into the dominant mood and the political unconscious of their people. When they try to alter the dynamics without any corresponding historic shift in the mood of the people, they become political fools who are out of touch with the political habitus of their own people.
To repeat, the bane of modern post-colonial Nigeria is the fundamental incompatibility of habitus of its diverse people which has made it impossible for it to evolve into an organic nation. An organic nation is a cohesive community of shared values, ideals and aspirations. In the absence of an overriding national veto and ethos which can homogenize the diverse values of the diverse constituents, a restructuring of the huge amalgam of a nation into properly federating units is imperative. This is why after independence, the Yoruba people and their allies have been at the forefront of the struggle for genuine federalism.
Going forward, it will take an exceptional historical figure to override the veto of habitus by appealing to the best national instincts of the diverse people of Nigeria. This cannot be done by a leader who out of spite and contempt marginalizes a whole hegemonic bloc or who out of fear puts a vital region under military siege just to secure electoral advantage.
The Ibadan summit has gone a long way in distilling the contemporary political essence of the Yoruba people. As speaker after speaker, particularly those who were delegates to Jonathan’s confab, mounted the rostrum to denounce the confab in its entirety, it became very obvious that the main plank on which Jonathan seeks electoral reprieve in the old west has collapsed under the weight of its own inner contradictions. So also has the last shred of credibility of those who have been clinging to the sham confab as their political talisman.
In the flux and fluidity of post-colonial politics, it is not the betrayal of known enemies that hurts but the perfidy of known colleagues and former comrades in arms. In the past fifty three years in Yoruba land beginning with the decimation of the Action Group, going on to the struggle for the de-annulment of the June 12 presidential election and now the malignant presidency of Goodluck Jonathan, the fiercest battles in Yoruba land have always been between progressives and former progressives.
It may well be that these external battles are a reflection of the internal battles within the Yoruba soul itself, torn in traumatic ambivalence between a radically heady engagement with an unknown and scary future and a rearguard conservative action to preserve the gains of the immediate past. Without the colonial incursion, it is arguable that the Yoruba nation might have figured out its own engagement with modernity on its own terms and in its own right and with the flair for the dramatic peculiar to the race.
But there is no need crying over split milk. In the post-colonial hell that we have found ourselves, no Nigerian nationality or constituting units is exempt from the millennial horrors. The first step out of the debilitating debris and chaotic ruins is to see off the Jonathan calamity which is the regnant manifestation of a neo-military fascist machine gone haywire. It is only after this that we must all sit down to figure out what to do with a nation in permanent deferral and denial.
The beauty of the historic summit in Ibadan is that it is neither a vote against particular individuals nor a vote for particular individuals. It is a guarded endorsement of the future with all its scary shortcomings and shenanigans and of all the people who valiantly struggle for a seismic shift in Nigerian politics, personal foibles notwithstanding. A nation is a permanent work in progress and process and we cannot be slaves to the past. The problem is not in failing and falling but in falling and failing to get up. This is what we must keep in mind as the Nigerian ship of state once again trawls uncharted waters. It has been a historic day in Ibadan.
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‘Ibadan State not feasible for now’
Dr. Gbade Ojo, a political scientist, the Special Adviser to Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Political Matters. In this interview with JEREMIAH OKE, he says the people of the Southwest will not vote for the PDP at the general election on the feasibility of promises by the People Democratic Party (PDP) to create Ibadan State, Governor Ayodele Fayose’s incessant attack on the personality of General Muhammudu Buhari and the present administration in the state.
PDP has promised to agitate for the creation of Ibadan State. Don’t you think this campaign may make the people vote against the APC?
Our people know it is an attempt to deceive them. As a political scientist, I have done many researches on state creation in Nigeria. There are two angles to Ibadan State creation; I am an indigene of Ibadan. I was born and bred here in Ibadan. I have all my degrees at the University of Ibadan. But, I tell you that the creation of Ibadan State is not feasible. Many readers will be shocked that Ibadan man is not supporting the creation of Ibadan State. But, the truth must be told. If you are talking about Ibadan State, in terms of mere nomenclature, like Kaduna State, Enugu State and we are saying Ibadan being a state, I will tell you it is not feasible. There are some criteria for state creation, which we need to put into consideration. Based on scientific finding, the first principle is that the new state must be economically viable. If in Nigeria today, out of the 36 states, you cannot pinpoint six states that can pay wages and salaries without the federal allocation, then, why talking about state creation? Does it make any sense that you want to create an additional liability? To those who are not sufficiently exposed intellectually, it could be a political gimmick to deceive the electorate and they should not forget that our people are not dumb as they are. Talking of the geographic and demographic size of the state, if the new state is not economically strong to tell the Federal Government that ‘go away with your allocation’ and we are now agitating for a new state, our people need to check the level of exposure of the people deceiving them. Secondly, as we want Ibadan State, other parts of the country are also agitating for the creation of more states. The fragmentation of the federal structure will make the Federal Government to be stronger in political theory and the component part of the federation becomes weaker because they depend on the federal allocation. Federal government can use that as a weapon to fight states that if they refuse to give them allocation, they won’t be able to pay their salaries and their respective contractors. Most of the states of federation could not pay January salary because they are yet to get their allocations. What does that connote? Simply lack of economic viability. If the new states are not economically viable, it is a fundamental problem. That will make the Federal Government to become stronger than as it is today.
Why do you think that state creation is not feasible?
Jonathan, Akinjide and Folarin campaigning with state creation are not politically exposed because they are not political scientists. They are just trying to mislead our people with wrong information. They refused to find out information from those who know better than them. You don’t make issues out of no issue if you have not consulted properly from those who specialises in that area. Politicians being what they are, they can go out to hoodwink the electorate just to get what they want. To cajole the electorate that if the aspiration of an average of Ibadan man is Ibadan State, let us promise them Ibadan State so as to have our way. But, we can now ask ourselves: Since the beginning of this democratic dispensation in 1999, between 1999 and 2015, why is it that they have not been able to create Ibadan State? Why is it now that they are desperate to return to Aso Rock they are now promising Ibadan State? It is a poser for the ruling party at the federal level. It is a mere gimmick and not a campaign promise. The process of creating an additional state is rigorous and that is why since 1960, no democratically elected government has created a single state and all the existing states were created by the military. For Jonathan who has been there for the last six years to now begin to promise us Ibadan State, an Ibadan man like me need to sit down and think twice.
PDP alleged that the APC administration has not lived up to expectation. What is your reaction?
We have said much about it. Agreed that the Hon. Minister of State said there was a huge amount of money from the PET fund but, it is a ridiculous thing that a minister for that matter will intend to mislead the great people of Oyo State who are politically sophisticated. What is PETFUND? It is Tertiary Education Trust Fund, there is existing law which says certain amount of money must go to the purse of PETFUND for all the tertiary institutions in all the states of federation. The fundamental question is that; was it only Oyo State out of 36 States that collected the money? It was the constitutional right of the state and if you go to our schools in the state, you will see development in those schools. The money was deducted from money meant for all of us and it belongs to all of us. It is the right of every state to get their own money because it is being deducted to care for tertiary institutions across the country. Now, she mentioned the University of Ibadan. Is it a property of Oyo State? Can you now see the discrepancies in what the woman is spreading around? The money belongs to all the states of federation and I don’t know why that of Oyo State is now different from others. One other funny thing about her explanation to hoodwink the electorate is that Jonathan did more than Governor Ajimobi in Oyo State, in terms of education. Is Jonathan or the Federal Government paying the salary of the Polytechnic Ibadan, Ladoke Akintola University in Ogbomosho and others state institutions? Is Jonathan, who has not been paying opposition parties regularly, interested in supporting Oyo State? Does it make sense to argue that Jonathan has done anything reasonable for us in the southwest? That woman should look for something else to say rather than deceiving the intelligent people of the state. The Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose insisted that General Buhari is not fit to rule Nigeria because of his military background, as a political scientist, do you subscribe to this argument?
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Police recover 23 vehicles, 17 in Ibadan
The police in Oyo State have recorded a major breakthrough with the recovery of 23 vehicles, 17 motorcycles and 3,000 live ammunition.
Commissioner of Police Muhammad Katsina aanounced this while parading the suspects and the recovered vehicles at the state headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, the state capital.
He said: “The cars were recovered from Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Kwara and Kano states. The command’s intelligence gathering has paid off.
“The Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) conducted a painstaking discreet, diligent investigation leading to the recovery of assorted cars, which were snatched from their owners and stolen from where parked.
“Two cars were recovered from Lagos, five from Ogun, two from Oyo, 11 from Kwara and Kano states.
“Adejuwon Olanipekun aka Marchal, a member of a notorious robbery gang, which specialises in snatching posh cars, was arrested on February 19 on the Lagos/Ogun State axis.
“Other suspects are Funsho Aderope Jeffery, Oyelade Ganiyu, Bala Aliu, Yahaya Mohammed (receiver based in Kano), Oladotun Oluwafemi, Babalola Kazeem and Suaibu Busari aka Damenda.
He said two locally made cut-to-size single barrel guns with two live cartridges and 49 live berretta pistol ammunition were recovered from them.
Katsina added that 17 motorcycles were also recovered from a syndicate, which rebrands stolen motorcycles.
Over 3,000 rounds of 7.6mm live ammunition were recovered from some hoodlums at Idi-Iroko community, Soka, Ibadan.
Five suspects who specialise in selling human parts were also arrested. Katsina said the suspects have excavated six graves at Muslim cemetery in Apete.
The suspects are Abati Kolade, Tayo Akinrinola, Ramon Korede, Mojeed Adediran and Saki Adediran.
Praising the policemen, Jamiu Adebayo, whose car was recovered, thanked the security operatives for their timely response.
He said:” My brother sent on an errand with his car on March 6, but on getting to Oke -Ado three people on a motorcycle told me that my tyre was flat.
“As I wanted to get down, they dragged me away and took the car. I called my brother immediately and we reported the matter to the police and our car was found two hours later.”