Some analysts saw it coming. They are the people described as discernible minds or better still the clairvoyants.
As soon as their names came up as ministers-designate, those who know and can read between the lines said their choice at this particular time is for a purpose. They added that, these politicians are primed for some less-than dignified jobs.
During their screening in the Senate, there was opposition from the ruling party in the South-West. The All Progressives Congress (APC) had wanted the Green Chamber to follow existing rules in the Senate, which demands that Senators in the state from which a ministerial designate is nominated must consent to his/her approval. In the case of Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan, nominated from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the State of Osun, the three APC senators did not give their blessings. In the case of Senator Musliu Obanikoro from Lagos state, the senators were not in agreement that he should scale the hurdle of screening.
Inspite of this opposition, the two ministerial designates scaled the hurdle along with their other colleagues and were inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan at the Executive chambers at Aso Rock, Abuja. Obanikoro was made Minister of State for Defence, while Adesiyan heads the Ministry of Police Affairs.
In response to the allegation of having a hand in the gruesome assassination of erstwhile Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Ajibola Ige on the floor of the Senate, Adesiyan shed tears and denied having anything to do with the murder of Ige, who he claimed was his political mentor. His outright denial in such an open place like the Green Chambers may have led to his confirmation as a minister of the Federal Republic.
However, hardly had they settled down when Nigerians began to see traces of what people with inner minds had anticipated earlier on. In Lagos State, the former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Ghana, Obanikoro was accused by the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola of stopping construction work on houses on the Lagos Island, ostensibly because Obanikoro is of the view that the land belongs to the Federal Government.
There is a dearth of housing for the teeming population of Nigerians, hence anything to bring about the construction of more houses should be encouraged. It is however, shocking and surprising that the Minister of State for Defence would stop the state government from constructing more houses.
Is the minister trying to prove that inspite of the opposition of the APC senators, he was able to scale the screening exercise, hence the state should be paid back in its own coin? If anything at all, one would have thought that the PDP would try to warm itself into the hearts of Lagosians.
By this act of stopping a popular programme of the Lagos State government, is the party endearing itself to the people or distancing itself from the people, knowing full well that elections are around the corner?
In the State of Osun, what transpired at the Ideal Nest Hotel, Osogbo, where the PDP topshots met to finalise their preparation towards the last state gubernatorial primary election was less than charitable.
An ex-Governor, Mr Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke alleged that Otunba Iyiola Omisore slapped him. The Minister of Police was also alleged to have contributed to the squabble. Adeleke was on tape to have reported this ugly act with the Commissioner of Police, State of Osun in Osogbo. It was well feasted on by newspapers the day after.
Though the spokesman of the Iyiola Omisore’s Campaign Organisation, Mr Diran Odeyemi, has denied the allegation, many people in the State of Osun are saying such denial can only be taken with a pinch of salt.
Despite the denial, many Nigerians are asking, could Adeleke, a Senator and ex-Governor deliberately lie to score a cheap political point? Others have also enquired to know whether truly Omisore and Adesiyan indeed assaulted Adeleke?
Whatever the true position of what transpired at the hotel was, some analysts have said they have been proved right. They saw it coming and it has happened. What they saw coming was really that as Minister of Police Affairs, Adesiyan would use the Police Force to support the party at the control of power at the centre during elections in the South-West. By this, Adesiyan would use the Nigeria Police Force to do untidy job during the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun states.
This column made a passionate appeal in the recent past that President Jonathan should try to learn from history. Unfortunately, however, if history is anything to go by, then it is unfortunate that people hardly learn from it. The beginning of the end of the first republic started from Western Region partly because rather than the leaders at the power in the centre intervened in the Western regional crisis, the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), led by Sardauna Ahmadu-Bello, preferred to take side. We all know what happened later.
Nigerians are more sophisticated now than they were in the first republic. The people of the south-west are not known to take manipulation of election lightly.
The experiences of the then deputy governor of old Ondo State, Chief Akin Omoboriowo and his boss, Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin in 1983 is still very fresh in our memory. With the support of the police, Omoboriowo claimed to have won the gubernatorial election in Ondo, even though he could not wait to savour the victory. He had to run for his dear life when Ondo became too hot for him, He escaped to Lagos.
It is against this background that as a patriotic citizen of the Federal Republic, I want to once again plead that we should not tamper with the decision of the people. The security agents, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and all those concerned with election should ensure credible, free and fair results.
We should be able to state in this column after the Ekiti and Osun elections that the fears anticipated by people in these states were misplaced after all. It is after that, that we can clink glasses for a victory well-deserved.
Audacious Exploit with Murtala Agboola.