Osun Defender - August 23rd 2014, Edition

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 2014

The victory of the All Progressives Congress, APC in last Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Osun State reinforces the opposition against a seemingly rampaging political train of President Goodluck Jonathan

It was a welcome relief to the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Those who saw him yesterday morning asthe result of the Osun State governorship poll was

VOL. 9. NO.101

Front Page Comment

Osun and 2015: The game changer declared said they Besides being an saw a man greatly relieved but reinforced for the battle ahead.

elixir to the opposition that was badly traumatized by defeat in Ekiti a month ago, the

Osunvictory acts as a spring for the opposition towards the 2015 presidential prize that was being considered a foregone booty of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The message yesterday

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was that 2015 is still within play. Despite earlier claims by the APC that the presidency was determined to rig the election in favour of the PDP’s Senator Iyiola Omisore, the outcome of the election showed the limit to which President Goodluck Jonathan would go in forcing his will on the electorate.

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Tragedy Hits Omisore’s Home •As His Orderly Shoots Colleague To Death In Ile-Ife •2 Cops In Detention Over Incident - See Story On Page 3

•(L-R) State of Osun Commissioner for Home Affairs, Culture and Tourism, Mr Sikiru Ayedun; state Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Barrister Bashiru Ajibola and the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Olanipekun, at the 2014 Isese Festival at Government Technical College, Osogbo, State of Osun, last Wednesday.

Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI.

Osun APC Thanks Jega Over Election Rigging Revelation - Pg 3 Foreign Tourists Defy Ebola - Pg 4 Threats, Attend Osun Isese Day Aregbesola’s Govt ‘ll Not Sack Civil Servants - Oyawoye - Pg 3

Osun Guber Poll: Court Arraigns, Remands Fake DSS Personnel In Prison

- See Story On Page2

•ALADEGOLU VICTOR

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OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

Tragedy Hits Omisore’s Home •As His Orderly Shoots Colleague To Death In Ile-Ife

By ISMAEEL UTHMAN

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fresh agony has hit the defeated governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Iyiola Omisore, as one the police officers attached to him was killed inside his house at Parakin, Ile-Ife, on Monday.

The deceased, identified as that ensued between the duo.

According to sources, Abdulwahab Olayinka Abdullahi, was allegedly shot Abdullahi was shot at close a dead by Omisore’s police range by Busari, the triggerorderly, known as Taofeek happy policeman.

Though, details of the cause Busari, following an argument of the row that led to the killing

of Abdullahi was kept from newsmen, OSUN DEFENDER learnt that it might not be unconnected with the sharing of largesse given to the policemen

by Omisore for their jobs during the election period.

The medium learnt that Busari, alongside one Sergeant Bisong Fedelix, has been arrested and detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Osogbo, the state capital for interrogation.

Sources said that the late Abdullahi was an indigene of Ilorin, Kwara State, who had served at Ijebu-Ijesa Police Division before he was transferred to Ile-Ife about two years ago. He was a father of two, leaving behind his widow.

The killing of the late Abdullahi brought to the fore the murder of innocent lives by trigger-happy security agents, who sometimes claim it was accidental discharge.

However, the incident was said to have added salt to Omisore’s injury, who lost to Governor Rauf Aregbesola in the August 9, 2014 gubernatorial

election in the state.

Some opinion leaders, who spoke with OSUN DEFENDER under condition of anonymity on Wednesday, attributed the unprovoked shooting by the erring policeman to the arbitrary and needless sporadic shootings by the security agents drafted to the state for the last gubernatorial election.

According to some of the opinion leaders, the triggerhappy Busari might have forgotten he was firing a colleague, considering the level of impunity of the security agents in harassing and

intimidating the people of the state during the election period.

The opinion moulders asked: “In what respect was Omisore given large member of security officers? For what purpose? He is not a government official.

What is the rationale behind the multitude of security officers attached to him; just because he is a member of the PDP? “It is not the first time a person would die in Omisore’s domain. How many lives would be lost because of an individual?

Why must he have all species of security agents; could it be to protect himself or intimidate the people? Why does he need such large member of security gathering?”

150,000 Seek Enlistment Into O’YES - Commandant

By FRANCIS EZEDIUNO

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OLONEL Oyewole Enibukun (Rtd.), the Head of Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O-YES), has revealed that more than 150,000 youths have applied for enlistment into the programme.

Enibukun made this applications had already known in Osogbo, the State been received as at the of Osun capital, while close of registration on relating to media men on Saturday,’’ he said. activities of the He stated that the organisation. application procedure was “The process of internet-based, adding that recruiting another 20,000 this was to create youths into the O-YES opportunity for a large programme is currently population of youths to ongoing. enlist into the programme.

“More than 150,000 According to Enibukun,

•A foreigner, Mrs Osunmuyiwa Ajala, answering questions from newsmen during the 2014 Isese festival in Osogbo last Wednesday.

Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI.

Aregbesola Vows To Sustain Religious Equality

By KAZEEM MOHAMMED

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state since the assumption of Aregbesola’s administration.

In her lecture, titled: “Are the traditional rulers still second-incommand to the gods”, Mrs Adeola Faleye of the Department of Linguistics and Africa Languages, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, challenged monarchs to retrace their steps, with a view to restoring the lost respect of the institution.

She expressed disgust that the institution is now being politicised, while modernisation has continued to denigrate the system, saying, if this must be changed, the traditional rulers and those who believe in culture must take appropriate steps.

Highlight of the programme was the parade of traditional artefacts and offering of traditional prayers for peaceful co-existence and success of Aregbesola’s administration.

DHERENTS of traditional religion in the State of Osun have requested for the inclusion of Ifa religious study in primary and secondary schools curricular in the state.

This was just as the pilgrimage boards. governor of the state, Ogbeni He said this would enable Rauf Aregbesola, again traditionalists to also have a reiterated the commitment of sense of belonging and have his administration to continue their fair share of democratic to give all religions a level play- governance. ground.

Also speaking at the event, While the governor spoke the State Commissioner for through his Commissioner for Regional Integration and Home Affairs, Culture and Special Duties, Mr Ajibola Tourism, Mr Sikiru Ayedun; Basiru, called for peaceful cothe President, Traditional Religion Worshippers existence among the adherents Association in Osun of different religions in the (TRWASO), Chief Idowu state.

This, he said, would ensure Awopetu, made the request in Osogbo during the 2014 the continuation of the peace Traditional (Isese) Festival, that have been existing in the organised by the state government in conjunction with the traditionalists.

Every August 20 is celebrated as the Isese or

By SOLA JACOBS traditional religion celebration day and the state government EPUTY governor of the State of Osun, Otunba (Mrs) raised the bar last year by Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, has solicited for officially declaring annual continued prayers and support of religious groups in public holiday for the celebration of the traditional the state for the sustenance of ongoing development in the state. religion.

The governor stated that in Mrs. Laoye-Tomori made its assumption of office, had a bid to promote communal this call while receiving a made the State of Osun the most peace and progress, as delegation of elders of the All peaceful state in Nigeria and the contained in the six-point Saints Cathedral, Balogun- second fastest growing economy integral action plan of his Agoro, Osogbo, who paid her in the country among other administration, it is important a congratulatory visit on her re- numerous achievements. to give all religions level play- election for another four-year She attributed the victory at ground, which, according to term at her Government House the polls on August 9, 2014 to him, the government has been residence. the efficacy of prayers and doing to the letter.

The deputy governor noted reiterated that Governor Earlier, Awopetu had that prayers of all Christians Aregbesola’s equal disposition to requested the government to in the state, irrespective of every religious faith in the state inaugurate the Ifa religion denominations, for the contributed in no small measure board, just as we have the administration of Governor to his achievement in office.

Earlier in his remark, leader Muslim and Christian Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, since

those recruited in the current exercise would take over from the present cadets exiting the scheme in February, 2015.

“Presently, the scheme is not limited to indigenes of the state alone, as the current batch of cadets comprises of youths from 12 other states in the country.

“The criteria, however, used to select and absorb those from outside the state into the scheme is based on their residency in the state,” he added.

He advised other states to replicate the programme, saying it could help tackle unemployment.

Osun Guber Poll: Court Arraigns, Remands Fake DSS Personnel In Prison

By SHINA ABUBAKAR and ISMAEEL UTHMAN

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TATE Government of Osun last Thursday arraigned one Victor Aladegolu,22, before an Osogbo Magistrate’s Court over alleged impersonation.

The charge sheet read in the at about 12:05pm, while open court disclosed that the terrorising members of the accused person, in company of public. others now at-large Barrister Biodun Badior , impersonated themselves as while announcing his personnel of Directorate of appearance, said the State State Security (DSS).

Attorney-General of the state It added that the offence was taking over the matter from was contrary and punishable the police to ensure diligent under Section 517 of the state prosecution. criminal law 2003. The suspect Defence counsel, Barrister was alleged of wearing a black Nnenna Ngwu, did not object T-shirt with the inscription of to the application.

Police in the front and DSS Meanwhile, the suspect behind it. pleaded not guilty to the twoIt added that the suspect count charge against him. committed an offence contrary Presiding Magistrate, Mr and punishable under section 109 of the state penal code.

The charge sheet added that he committed the offence before Saturday, August 9, 2014 governorship election in Ile-Ife

Olusole Aluko, urged the defence counsel to apply for the accused person’s bail formally.

He also ordered that the accused person be remanded in prison custody and adjourned the matter till September 12, 2014 for hearing.

It would be recalled that the suspect formerly held in Police custody before the poll, was initially released on the order of a superior officer, but was re-arrested having discovered that there were too many interests on the matter.

The medium gathered that the suspect was confident that he would not be prosecuted, as his benefactor had assured him of safe passage from the state to Ekiti, his state of origin.

Laoye-Tomori Calls For Prayer

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of the delegation, Prince Dejo Babalola, delivered a congratulatory letter of the church to the deputy governor and described her as a pride to the Church, Osogbo community and the state at large.

He however restated the continued support of the church to the state government, saying the visit was an appreciation to God for His love for the State of Osun.

Prayer was offered for the state governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, the state deputy governor, Otunba (Mrs.) Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, members of the state executive council and the entire state.

•One of the fake Department of State Service (DSS) officials, Aladegolu Victor, arraigned at an Osogbo magistrate’s court on Thursday.

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OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

Aregbesola’s Govt ‘ll Not Sack Civil Servants - Oyawoye

By FRANCIS EZEDIUNO

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T was merriment and cheers all the way as ministry staff, officials of agencies and clients of the Ministry of Environment and Sanitation in the State of Osun held a thanksgiving party to thank all for their support in re-electing Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for a second term as governor of the State of Osun.

At the event, the State Commissioner for Environment and

Sanitation, Professor Olubukola Oyawoye, stated that despite all that they

faced before and during the election on August 9, the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Ogbeni Aregbesola defeated all his opponents with a very wide margin.

The commissioner, who was singing songs of praises to God, as she was delivering her speech, ascribed the victory to the

grace of God and the love the people had for the governor.

Professor Oyawoye, who was visibly elated, further reiterated the earlier promise of the governor to the people that the administration would not sack any civil servant but would seek ways to improve on their welfare.

Osun APC Thanks Jega Over Election Rigging Revelation

By ABOSEDE AKINPELU HE All Progressives Congress in the State of Osun has thanked the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, for his candid revelation about how Osun election was almost rigged by a group of people he did not identify.

However, he made all along that the People’s sufficient inference to Democratic Party had a confirm what we had known master plan to hack into

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INEC’s database and corrupt the electoral register in order to disenfranchise thousands of voters.

“We made these information public on several occasions, weeks before the election, but few people believed us.

“This was the reason

•SLEEPING ON DUTY: A masquerade taking a nap during the 2014 Isese festival in Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI. Osogbo, State of Osun, last Wednesday.

they were buying up permanent voter’s cards.

“We had also informed the public that the PDP was planning to abuse and misuse the security personnnel to terrorise, arrest and harass APC supporters and leaders before the election.

“Jega has now told us that they even went beyond arresting APC leaders and supporters, they locked up, in their overzealousness, some INEC adhoc workers.

“When we complained about hooded security officials, DSS spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, in a very unprofessional outing, justified the deployment of such hooded security officials who almost killed our national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

“We thank God that Jega had come out publicly to condemn the deployment and to declare the occurrence unacceptable, the APC said.

“He even said the INEC will not allow the deployment of hooded security officers in any other election process.

The party hinted that it hoped Ogar was listening.

Esuleke Advocates Teaching Of Traditional Religion In Schools Ebola is the wrath of the gods, which requires sacrifice and precaution, adding that the fever is not new, as it just coming this time around in a different dimension and with a different name.

He added: “We challenged the orthodox doctors last week to clearly define and analyze Ebola, after all they said it is a fever.

Is fever a new disease in the world? The question of time lapse for the victim is

By KEHINDE AYANTUNJI HE Baale Esu of Osogboland, Chief Koyode Esuleke, has advocated the teaching of Yoruba culture, tradition and religion in Nigeria schools.

He said the inclusion of honesty and forbid Yoruba culture and religion corruption and indiscipline. in school curriculum will All these are core Yoruba eradicate social vices in our ethics that our children society and reduce the must learn in schools.” influence of foreign culture Also on the deadly Ebola on the younger generation. virus that is fast-spreading, Esuleke stated this in an Esuleke said the spread of interview with OSUN DEFENDER during this 2014 Isese Day by the Traditional Religion

By SOLA JACOBS Worshipers Association, HE call for more women to be elected as State of the Osun held on legislators has been demanded and termed Wednesday at the necessary for women in the State of Osun.

Government Technical The call was made by is need for women College, Osogbo.

According to him, United Nations Women appointees in the State of teaching of Yoruba culture (UN-Women) and Osun House of Assembly, and tradition will instil ECOWAS Representative as well as local discipline and promote in Nigeria, Dr. Grace governments, which had moral values among the Ongile, at a programme no women political young generation, which organised by Women appointees as members. will go a long way to Advocate Research and She stated that Osun address the challenge Documentation Centre legislature without any posed by social vices in the (WARDC), after an woman appointee is society. election which held at unpalatable, as she called He said: “Naturally, Leisure Spring Hotel, for projection of women Yoruba people are cultured, Osogbo, the state capital. participation in coming disciplined, and always into the At the programme elections lives in hygienic tagged; Accountability parliament. environment. All Yoruba Women Elections Forum, Congratulating traditional religions preach Dr. Ongile stated that there Governor Rauf Aregbesola

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another issue entirely.”

He however commended Governor Rauf Aregbesola for giving equal opportunity to every religion in the state, saying the bedrock of democracy is promotion and protection of fundamental human rights, which include the right to religious beliefs.

He said the support of the government for the traditional worshipers has redefined Isese Day, which has now become a global event.

In the same vein, the Special Adviser on Environment to the Governor, Honourable Bola Ilori, maintained that nobody would be victimised and punished, as the governor sees himself as the governor of all Osun.

He also attributed the success of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola at the polls to the grace of God and the love of the people.

Ilori observed that it was the first time that civil servants would come out publicly and endorse a governor and this was attributed to the fact that Aregbesola was a people’s governor.

Earlier the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Honourable Sunday Akere, had described the August 9, 2014 governorship election in the state as the re-enactment of the Biblical battle between David and Goliath, in which the former emerged victorious.

According to him: “The election was not a battle between the PDP and Aregbesola but between the Federal Government and Aregbesola and the victory was achievably due to God.” He maintained that the good work of running the

state would still continue and promised that things would change for good.

He further used the opportunity to call on the people to use their votes to effect a change of the Federal government at the February, 2015 general elections.

On the issue of Ebola virus disease, the Special Adviser on Health to the governor, Dr. Rafiu Uzamotu, revealed that the government of the State of Osun had approved and designated four towns in Osun with facilities for isolation in case of an outbreak of the virus.

He stated that centres in Osogbo, Ejigbo, Irojo in Ilesa and Iragbiji have been designated.

In their contributions, both Commissioners of Information and Strategy, Environment and Sanitation, made it known that the 2014 Osun-Osogbo festival would hold but it would be devoid of the usual fanfare in order to forestall any outbreak of the disease.

They explained that the step became necessary and the state government deemed it very expedient so as to forestall any transfer of the deadly virus across state and international boundaries.

There Is Hope For Osun Education Sector - Educationist

By ABOSEDEAKINPELU N educationist, Mr. Edunjobi Ayodeji, has disclosed that the future is bright for the State of Osun in subsequent years despite this year’s WAEC and NECO’s results, which is nothing to write home about across the country. in subsequent According to him, that the despite the mass failure examinations, recorded in this year’s investments in the education WAEC result which was sector in the state would recently released, there was bare dividends. room for improvement in “The government of successive examinations Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola had due to the large investment invested a lot into education the state government had in the state. committed to the education “Teachers have gone for sector, which would soon refresher courses, new ones start bearing fruits. been employed by the He put the blame of the have state and the quality of poor performance of the students in the examination education delivery and to their non-challant enrolment in public schools attitude towards their has gone up.

“All these are indices to studies, which was as a result of devoting more of point to the fact that next their time to the internet than year’s WAEC and NECO results would record some their academic pursuits.

The educationist was level of improvements,” he however quick to maintain added.

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Elect Women Into Parliament - UN-ECOWAS Rep on his re-election, while

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calling on the state’s helmsman to take cognisance of the fact that 53 percent of the women electorate registered and voted for him, for a second term in office, and that it is expected that the women be represented at all levels of the government.

She also urged the women politicians to step up from being party followers to card bearers, as she noted that, though Nigerian men have dominated the political scene, yet they must pave way for women because

times have changed.

Advocating for attitudinal change among women, she stated that there is need for more women participation in politics and electoral processes, and that UNWomen believes that women should be part of peace and governance in Nigeria, hence their launching out with full force to ensure that women are involved in politics and ablyrepresented.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Executive Director of WARDC, Dr. Abiola Afolabi, stated that

the programme was initiated by United Nations Women to see that women are empowered to occupy political posts at local, states and national levels through networking and platforms to promote women’s participation as candidates and voters, as well as appointees in electoral processes.

The programme had representation from women civil societies and groups, such as NAWOJ, FOMWAN, NCWWS, WADEM, as well as youth organisations, and political parties in the state, among others.

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OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

Nigeria ‘ll Generate More Income From Tourism - Lecturer

By SHINA ABUBAKAR

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IGERIA has been described as a country capable of generating huge revenue from its numerous tourism potentials, if properly harnessed.

This assertion was made by religion as an offshoot for a lecturer of Obafemi Awolowo tourism marketing and attract University, Ile-Ife, Mrs Adeola tourists into their countries, Faleye, while speaking at the making reference to Israel, 2014 Isese Day on the lecture Saudi Arabia and many others.

The lecturer opined that the tagged: Tapping into Religious Tourism in Nigeria, held at the country has much potentials in Goverment Technical College, the tourism sector, but needs Osogbo, the State of Osun to put necessary facilities in place to encourage and attract capital.

She disclosed that other investors, as well as tourists to countries of the world use explore the potentials in the

country.

According to the paper, the growth of religious tourism in the country has been hinged on Christians, Islamic and Traditional religious festivals and programmes that have been attracting foreigners into the country, crediting preference to the Christian religion.

She further stated that the role of traditional rulers is important in ensuring a valueladen society like it was during the reign of traditional institutions over western system of government.

According to her, it is difficult to place the role of traditional rulers in modern day system of administration, making it difficult to place any specific function on traditional institutions in the country.

She also blamed the partisan nature of traditional institutions on its reliance on government for means of survival, saying there is no way traditional institutions could be devoid of partisanship with the present arrangement.

Mrs Faleye therefore called for a new system that will give

concrete roles to traditional authorities in the country, with a view to adding value to the society structure, as well as redress the social vices inherent in it.

In his goodwill message, the Aare Lotoosa of Ibadanland, Chief Adegboyega Mabinuori, urged for a regular usage of Yoruba language as a medium of communication among the immediate-family members as a means of preserving the lineage heritage.

He also called on other state governments to emulate the

governor of the State of Osun in declaring public holiday in commemoration of the Isese Day in the region.

In his remark, the Araba Awo of Osogboland, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon, commended the state government for giving traditionalists the required recognition, saying it is an attestation that government did not give preference to a religion over another.

Highlight of the event was the special Iwure for the country and the State of Osun in particular for progress and development, as well as prayers for leaders to lead the people the right way.

Traditionalists from all the local government council areas in the state did a march-pass, showcasing their various masquerades in various traditional attires.

Ataoja Congratulates Aregbesola On His Reelection

By FRANCIS EZEDIUNO

T •The governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (middle); former Anambra State Governor, Senator Chris Ngige (red cap in white dress); President, Igbo Community in Osogbo, Chief Mazi Sam Nwaoha (in red cap with glasses) and other Igbo indigenes, during an endorsement of Aregbesola’s re-election and a decoration on him as a man of infrastructure by Benue and other Middle Belt communities. INSERT: Governor Aregbesola and Chairman, Benue Community in Osun, Chief Augustine Tsol, at Government House, Osogbo, recently.

Foreign Tourists Defy Ebola Threats, Attend Osun Isese Day

By KEHINDEAYANTUNJI

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scared in my faith.”

Osunmuyiwa urged government and corporate organizations to support the festival to make it an annual global event.

Also, a South African, Mr Brand Arubaike, said it would be “lack of faith in the gods should the Ebola virus scare any traditional religious worshiper.

He said the virus is a global virus that is not peculiar to Nigeria alone and it is not enough not to come for the festivals.

He said: “I have been attending Osun Osogbo festivals in the last five years and despite the terrorist attacks in the Northern part of Nigeria, we are coming to Nigeria and

ESPITE the global outrage on the deadly Ebola virus which has persisted in some West African countries, the virus has failed to scare foreign tourists from visiting State of Osun, Nigeria, to grace the annual Traditional Religion Worshipers Association Day popularly called Isese Day. Those who spoke with we have made all the OSUNDEFENDER said necessary sacrifices to the they were protected by the gods. I am not in any way gods and that they were in Nigeria to worship, stressing that they had made necessary sacrifices to member of the State of Osun House of Assembly, As loyal party members, we appease the gods. representing Boripe/ Boluwaduro State Constituency, must also continue to support Osunmuyiwa Ajala, an Honourable Bello Osuolale, has tasked politicians his administration to succeed African-America and married to a Nigerian, said in the state, especially, members of the All Progressives in its task to better the lots of she had made necessary Congress (APC) to double their support for Governor Rauf the people.”

He added that the second sacrifices before leaving the Aregbesola in his second term. term is ‘work in progress’ and United States of America Osuolale said the winning of “No doubt, the support of last week, which gave her urged the people to work hard confidence of protection the election was just a part of the people was a result of the by strengthen party structures the democratic process, adding performance of the governor in against any disease. and unite for the progress of She said: “When I was that real democracy is to make the last three years and we the state. life more abundant for the must see this second term as a about to leave the United The lawmakers commended call for more responsibilities.

States, there was a very people. the traditional rulers in the The lawmaker stated this on Aregbesola will never fail us. strong advice, warning against coming to Nigeria, Sunday during the victory but as a traditional celebration by APC chieftains worshipper, I believe in the and supporters in Iree, Boripe gods I serve and have Local Government.

By FRANCIS EZEDIUNO According to him, the sixconfidence that nothing will happen to me.

HE government of the State of Osun under Ogbeni point integral action plan of the “This festival gives me governor must continue to be Rauf Aregbesola, has reiterated its commitment to joy and happiness that the guiding philosophy of the the development of agricultural sector in a bid to cannot be quantified with party members and must not make it profitable to farmers and provide food for the state. any other thing in life and lose focus by supporting the The State Commissioner agricultural facilities such as governor with a view to placing for Agriculture and Food fertilizers, Change Of Name seedlings, Osun on a global map.

Security, Mr Wale chemicals and other farming I, formerly known and He said: “We have every Adedoyin, stated this in equipment at subsidised addressed as MISS reason to celebrate the victory Osogbo, the state capital, rates.

ABDULRAHEEM RAFIAT of the governor, considering the during a meeting with He added that the state ADERONKE, now wish to federal might and tyrannical members of farm settlers government had also be known and addressed as nature of the government at the across the state. reduced land use fees to MRS ADEWOLE centre, but with the support of He said the current N1,000, which would be due ABDULRAHEEM our people, especially the poor administration in the state after 24 years for arable RAFIAT ADERONKE. All masses, who stood by their would continue to support crops, while cash crops former documents remain votes to ensure that Aregbesola farmers by providing would be 49 years, which valid. General public should returned as the governor.” necessary farm inputs and would be renewable after the take note.

now it is Ebola. It cannot stop us from worshiping our gods”.

Arubaike commended the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for supporting the traditional worshippers in Nigeria and urged other state governors in Nigeria to emulate Osun, saying that the festival would soon become a global event.

Osun Lawmaker Canvasses Support For Aregbesola’s Administration

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community, religious leaders, community leaders, party leaders, and party agents for their hard work, which led to state governor’s victory.

Other party leaders at the victory celebration included Prince Adeleke Adebayo, Engineer Salami Kazeem, General Manager, Osun Road Maintenance Agency, Chief Mike Omolaja, Mr Abiodun Oladejo among others.

Osun Govt Assures On Agric Development

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specified years of use.

The agriculture commissioner however implored the farm settlers to henceforth ignore any issue comes to them without the authority of his ministry.

In his address, the Director Agricultural Services in the ministry, Mr. Kola Ajisekola, enjoined all farm settlers to keep on abiding by the state government’s agricultural policy, so as to continue to enjoy the dividends of democracy, which A r e g b e s o l a ’ s administration would continue to give.

HE Ataoja of Osogbo; Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Olanipekun Larooye II, has congratulated the governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on his deserved victory at the last gubernatorial election.

In a statement signed by the Media Assistant to the Ataoja; Deji Adekola, and made available to OSUN DEFENDER, the royal father stated that Aregbesola’s victory was made possible by his resourcefulness in developing the society educationally, economically, culturally, socially and in all innovative facets of life.

Oba Olanipekun made this observation during the celebration party he organised at his Palace in Osogbo.

According to the first class monarch: “There is no doubt that the governor brought changes in the nooks and crannies of Osogbo, considering his unequalled infrastructural, grassroots and people-oriented policies, which earned him the people’s love during his first term.”

“The victory was made possible by God and the support of the appreciative people of Osogbo.”

He added that the governor was an agent of change in Osogboland.

The Ataoja also extended felicitations to the deputy governor of the State of Osun, Otunba (Mrs.) Grace Titilyo Laoye-Tomori for being a very supportive and loyal to her boss.

He observed that the unprecedented crowd that always trooped out to rejoice with Ogbeni Aregbesola in Osogbo was a clear indication of her acceptability and love the people of Osogbo had for them.

“Osogbo people believe in continuity in order for the governor and his team to complete their projects for the transformation of the state capital.”

The royal father prayed for more strength for them to be able to achieve the desired change.

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

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News

Osun and 2015: The game changer Continued from pg1

Overwhelming presence The overwhelming presence of security men in the state in the days ahead of the poll did not impede the electorate from exercising their will on who governs them. That indeed, is a reassuring sign for many Nigerians and the international community that the 2015 election could be a free and fair election.

Indeed, ahead of the polls last weekend, the APC and its flag bearer, Aregbesola, had in the face of the strong presence of security men around the state betrayed clear signs of unease. The APC’s national spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in statements painted the impression of the determination of the presidency to rig the election in a clear determination to reshape the political configuration of the Southwest ahead of the decisive 2015 election.

Such panic caused the opposition party to summon all its elected office holders and political appointees from across the country to show presence in Osun State from last Tuesday as a way of boosting the morale of its supporters in that state.

The PDP’s candidate was also lifted by the presence of strong detachment of the security forces whose presence helped to suppress whatever advantages the incumbency factor would have given to Aregbesola.

Omisore also had his friends from the Senate including Senators Enyininnya Abaribe, Ehigie Uzamere and some others to lift his heart. But the most decisive factors were the voters on ground who at the end of voting on Saturday showed their preference for the incumbent.

The outcome was, however, not a rout as the Aregbesola camp had predicted it would be without rigging.

That underscored the agitation among some PDP loyalists who had sought for an alternative candidate. Omisore, a former deputy governor of Osun State had before this election been on the winning side of all the gubernatorial elections conducted in Osun State.

He was deputy governor to Chief Bisi Akande, strongly supported the immediate past governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola in 2003 and 2007, but, however, came short in delivering himself into an office he had in the past helped others to enter.

Though a very lively man with sound education, the factors against Omisore were mostly fanned by perceptions about him arising from his trial for the murder of Chief Bola Ige, a former attorney general of the federation. Omisore who was acquitted of complicity in that murder, however, did little to clear that perception. Besides, his political foes helped to fan the negative perception about him.

Oyinlola, the immediate past governor of the state who himself had a grudge against the PDP rubbed in the Ige wound on the people when he questioned why President Jonathan had surrounded himself with all those who were questioned over the murder of Ige. “The candidate of the PDP was arrested for killing Ige. He was arrested and detained. “The national secretary of the [PDP], Professor Wale Oladipo, was also detained in connection with the killing. The Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, was also detained.

“The chairman of the party in this state, Ayobami Olaoluwa, was also arrested. So, why is everyone who

was in detention given appointment or put in a position of authority? We need to ask the government,” Oyinlola said.

Great minus Linking anyone or party with the death of Ige was a great minus especially given the adoration that Ige continues to draw from most parts of the state. The election was also an opportunity for political enemies in the Southwest to hit at him. Tinubu had by every indication mounted the platform of political leadership of the Southwest with the dominance of his party in five of the six Southwest states. After the loss of Ekiti, his political empire was trimmed to four states and the prospect of losing Osun, had in the last weeks of the campaign become an exciting lure for Tinubu bashers in the region.

Internal dissent It was especially so, given that Aregbesola was generally considered the closest of the APC governors to Tinubu.

The internal dissent to Tinubu in the Southwest was especially fanned by vestiges of Afenifere, the socio-political organization through which Tinubu, himself emerged as governor of Lagos State in 1999. But the former governor’s alleged role in splintering Afenifere after his emergence as governor helped to create animosity that today irks many Yoruba leaders.

Even though many Afenifere leaders did not come out openly to antagonise Tinubu and Aregbesola ahead of the election, some of them were enthusiastically waiting to celebrate the downfall of the APC in Osun.

Celebrating the downfall APC leaders who learnt from their laxity in Ekiti were well prepared for Osun and went out of the way to woo known and unknown enemies. PDP on the other hand did not help its candidate with the clear animosity towards rebels in the party. The treatment of Oyinlola

and another former governor of the state, Senator Isiaka Adeleke subsequently proved to be one of the major problems for the PDP on Election Day. Though Oyinlola did not muster enough votes to win his booth, Adeleke’s grip on Ede, one of the largest towns in the state helped to firmly deliver the town to the APC. After being lured into the PDP gubernatorial contest, the former governor was allegedly forced out by what he claimed to be impediments put on his way. That was the beginning of his defection to the APC, a move the PDP would now regret not to have stopped.

One APC source revealed that Adeleke was the candidate the party feared most could trouble Aregbesola. But even after he withdrew, the PDP hierarchy in the state failed to soothe him giving him room to defect. Tinubu, the APC national leader and the many presidential aspirants in the party would be very gleeful with the outcome of the polls. Yesterday, a source said Tinubu was himself very bouncy as he saw the result as a vindication against the aspiration of his internal foes in the Southwest. For the presidential aspirants, the outcome of the election gives hope that their permutations of forging a Southwest and Northern alliance against the PDP remains feasible.

For President Jonathan, the permutation may have been that whatever loss of support he may have suffered in the North would be gained in the Southwest. Now, it is back to basics.

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

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FEATURE

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

Soyinka Lied: Rust Isn’t Ripeness N a lucent case of a stubbornly I opaque, intentional fallacy, Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, still talks and writes to the effect that the ripest fruit is, after all, not the saddest. One grants that, at eighty, Soyinka; the literary giant is constitutionally entitled to say, within the limits of decency and honesty, his say. One grants, besides, that Soyinka’s famously, visible silver hair, is, indeed, a sign of wisdom and mental alertness; the one of a quill, whose mind and brain are still stubbornly whet. And so, far from being ripe and sad, Soyinka is stubbornly green. Those who may disagree with Soyinka would point, for political reason, to the second coming of street-wise, ruggedly bent and mercurial Mr. Ayodele Fayose, the standard-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of Ekiti State. By his stunning victory on June 21, 2014, Fayose seems to be telling Soyinka, rather stubbornly, that “in vain” his impeachment, many fulgent moons and destructive deluge ago, by political thugs and dirty pigs, who were, shamelessly, Baba’s errand boys.

Soyinka, in his perspicacious best, argues that Fayose’s second coming, was prophesied by Brother Jero, and it’s quite heartening for some reasons.

The first is that it was Soyinka’s sometimes wily, sometimes nakedly ambitious, with devious intents, creation – Brother Jero – that prophesied Fayose’s second coming.

Therefore, Soyinka thinks he can predict, correctly, who’ll succeed Fayose. The second reason is that, for Soyinka, Fayose is a solid representation of political rascality, tenacity, ruggedness, unbendingness and, more than anything else, constructive and much-applauded political stubbornness – a la Uncle Kongi. There is a third reason, and it is this: Fayose – as Soyinka told some of his closest associates, including Professor Femi Osofisan, a playwright, and Mr. Odia Ofeimum, alias Shakespearian Cinna – eighty minutes after Fayose was declared the winner of Ekiti gubernatorial race – is a promising, welcome addition to the class of the politically-stubborn in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. And so, somewhat unwittingly, both Soyinka’s opaque quill and Brother Jero were instrumental in fashioning, Fayose, who now promises to be, for the foreseeable future, a stubbornly recurring, influential decimal in Ekiti politics; in vain any malicious intent to impeach him, for the second time.

Soyinka is visibly sad, though, that a politically-stubborn Fayose is not a top member of the Progressive Front for People’s Federation (PFPF). Were governor-designate Fayose an operative of the PFPF, Soyinka, Osofisan and Ofeimun calculate that his victory would have had a distinguished, longlasting shift in the paradigm of the politics of the South-West. Fayose, as a PFPF governor, Soyinka thinks, would have signalled a stubborn intention of a squad of exceptionally gifted, wild, revolutionary pigs – about 1,934 of them, all frighteningly armed with machine guns and AK-95 rifles – to invade and occupy all radio stations, seats of government and legislative houses in the South-West in 2015. In the course of all that, the lawless pigs would demolish every newspaper house, harass supposedly stubborn journalists and, in extreme instances, such journalists, who think they know

•SOYINKA

By NDUKA UZUAKPUNDU

too much, would be shackled and held for, at least 1,934 seconds in Tartarus, in obedience to orders from above. In that event, Soyinka told Osofisan and Ofeimun, rather cooingly, “our gloriously peaceful party would have been transformed to Progressive Pigheaded Front for Pigs’ Federation (PPFPF)”. Sad, indeed, that all that sounds poetically in vain. Sad, still, that a reverent Fayose has sent a text message to Soyinka to the effect that he would have no business with the apostles of conservative, cerebral politics – as opposed to politics of rascality and “service to the good people of Ekiti State who voted for me”. Quote he: “Nigeria is not ripe – as ripe as the opaque quill at four score – for a brand of politics that would be skippered solely by a literary titan; the kind of opaque politics that would be played in the image and likeness of a certain lawless idiot who prides himself – with a stubborn touch – in invading and occupying radio stations like an exceptionally gifted, wild, revolutionary pig, so that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would be held, in a stubbornly firm leash, from announcing false gubernatorial election results.”

And, if one may ask, what is Soyinka’s business with an electoral body that elects to announce false election results? Why is Soyinka so morbidly obsessed with electoral rectitude? Besides, can he win, cleanly, in his ward, in Abeokuta – in the event of an energy-sapping race for the chairman of his local government?

Truth is that Soyinka is so unpopular in his over-crowded ward that he’s sure to lose, abysmally, in such a race – even if he decides to snatch the ballot box in an unconstitutional and criminal attempt to rig the vote. And, given the character that Soyinka is, he’s the kind

that would go to the Election Tribunal – in the company of Osofisan and Ofeimun – to contest the results of the ward election, all because he, too, wants to be an honourable chairman of a local government. There might be others, who’d queue, rather straggly, behind a litigious Soyinka and the roll call would include such fake journalists as Dele Alake, Joke Kujenya, Sonala Olumhense, Segun Babatope, Funke Fadugba, Nnamdi Obasi,Wahab Oba, Tony Ubani, Rotimi Ogunleye, Hope Orivri, Rotimi Adebayo, Femi Adesina, Ikechukwu Eze, Lekan Ogunbanwo, Peter Ikhuria, Amaechi Ikechukwu, Olayinka Oyegbile, Mohammed Garba, Kunle Adekoya (alias Editah), Akintunde Muyiwa, Kenneth Ugbechie, Effiong Nyong, Oguwike Nwachukwu, Deji Elumoye, Ebere Wabara, Ray Ekpu, Theophilus Abbah, Tunji Bello, Kayode Komolafe (alias K.K.), Emeka Eluem Izeze, Onuoha Ukeh, Tony Onyima etc., whose sole reason for backing Soyinka, in his inordinate political ambition, would be that the Nobelist once edited a defunct newspaper: The Eagle. There would, besides, be other supporters of Soyinka, amongst whom would be fake broadcasters like Ron Mgbatogu, Roseline Ogunro, Mojisola Makanjuola, Soni Irabor, Sidney Ufeli, Jones Usen etc., for no other reason than the fact that Soyinka once sanitised a radio station. Still, there would be an eminent, fake journalist, in the person of Major-General Ike Nwachukwu (rtd), who’d intervene by saying that it was Soyinka’s pigheaded, radio-station adventure that was the foundation of the military holding radio stations to ransom each time they wanted to plot a coup. “As a matter of fact”, he told this writer, “Soyinka is the cause of all the troubles with this great nation called Nigeria.

Truth is that each time prospective coup-plotters wanted to hold a radio station to ransom, they’ve always

consulted with Soyinka for a flawless, professional advice”.

In an insightful aria, Nwachukwu advised that “historians of coups in this great country of ours should do more research on the subject. If that is done, I suspect that their conclusions would be that the first coup in Nigeria was plotted, single-handedly, by the inexperienced oenophile called Soyinka, and not the military, as some mischievous elements have, over the years, made some gullible Nigerians to believe. It’s now very imperative that every law-abiding and well-meaning Nigerians – alongside ex-journalists, exkhaki boys, ex-military governors, exForeign Affairs Ministers, ex-senators, you name it – who desire flawless anodynes to the numerous political, economic and social problems facing the country, should lobby President Goodluck Jonathan to organise another National Conference with the sole brief to establish very strong legal basis to arraign Soyinka before a Federal High Court, possibly in Ibadan, for being Nigeria’s first coup-plotter; a criminal act that has since led to the underdevelopment of Nigeria, via bad leadership, political indecency and gargantuan corruption.”

Besides, Fayose does not, for now, intend to associate with Soyinka and the reason is this: Nigeria, according to him, is not ripe for the politics of deafening, opaque rhymes and rhythms, assonance and alliteration, opaque literary style and classical lines; the politics of opaque odes, prizewinning plays and dramatis personae – including vampires and false prophets; the politics of opaque novels, quatorzains and quatrains, iambic pentameter and octometer; opaque sonnets – a la the original W.S. – and opaque oeuvre; the opaque politics of a stubborn insistence that Kiswahili should, peremptorily, be adopted as Africa’s lingua franca; opaque philology; the politics of opaque rejection of national honours, punic faith and carpet-crossing; the politics of fake, opaque poetic license; the opaque politics of someone, who, for very strong moral reason, was opposed the genocide against the Igbo people in the Republic of Biafra and the politics of an opaque skull that, more than forty years on, has been curiously shrouded by a dense taiga. And, lest one forgets, opaque Negritude and tigritudinal attitude!

Fayose says Soyinka is too opaque for his liking and that he’s less comfortable with the stubbornness and hairless ambition that ring Soyinka’s design to smuggle into the dictionary of Nigerian politics what is clearly a forcefully-contrived, unimpressive cluster of alliterations – as in PFPF. If Soyinka, the opaque neologist, becomes the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, on the platform of the PFPF, he would gladly smuggle what he considers his best literary invention – “soy ink” – into the same 1,934-page political dictionary exquisitely compiled and edited by Osofisan and Ofeimun. In the same dictionary, Fayose would be defined as a person who quarrels with and fights anyone who proves openly

Continued on page 11

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

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PHOTOTALK

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

2014 Isese Festival At Government Technical College, Osogbo, State Of Osun, Last Wednesday.

Photo: GBENGAADENIYI.

•(L-R) Araba Agbaye, Pa Adisa Mokoramaye and Chairman of the occasion, Chief Adegboyega Mabinuori and his wife.

• •(L-R) President of Ogboni Worldwide, Oba Adetoyese Olapitan and President of Traditional Religious worshippers’ Association, State of Osun, Chief Idowu Awopetu.

•

•A cross section of Osun worshippers at the event.

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PHOTOTALK

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

2014 Isese Festival At Government Technical College, Osogbo, State Of Osun, Last Wednesday.

Photo: GBENGAADENIYI.

•(L-R) Alhaji Najeem Okikiola and Chief Yemi Elebuibon.

• •Masquerades at the event.

•

•A cross section of traditional chiefs during the programme.

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PHOTOTALK

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

2014 Isese Festival At Government Technical College, Osogbo, State Of Osun, Last Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI. Wednesday.

•Sango Olukoso performing during the programme.

• A cross section of dignitaries during the programme.

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FEATURE

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

Soyinka Lied: Rust Isn’t Ripeness Continued from page 6

irreverent to royalty; a spring of political surprise and electoral upset; a beguiling baby face.

For obvious space reason, Soyinka would be defined, appositely, thus: solitary confinement; a stubborn fidus Achates of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa; a future president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who may nullify a popular election – as did the late Leabua Jonathan of the Southern African exclave of Lesotho, in January 1970; a conscientious political animal, who campaigns for the constitutional rights of pigs; a future leader of Nigeria, who’d order electricity companies to distribute free electricity to every home every July 13; a president who may send parcel bomb to any journalist who proves too vociferously censorious of his government; a president who would loot the treasury; a Commander-inChief of a network of seasoned John Barsads, numbering about 1,934, such that he knows what is happening in most strategic places in the country; someone with eyes and ears in key decision-making bodies, nation-wide; a president who would surely gag the press by bringing back, through the back door, Decree No.4; a breaker of the Senate’s mace; a smuggler of toy guns into the sacred chamber of the National Assembly. It would be such a unique dictionary, laden with all manner of tongue-twisting, opaque words, in which ‘Soyinka’, in the prophecy according to Brother Jero coming tom pass, would be misspelt as “Shoyinka”!

And it’d be discovered later by no other voracious reader of dictionaries than Lakunle that the typographical error was caused by a former managing director of the Daily Times – largehearted Dr. ’Yemi Ogunbiyi!

The fourth reason for Soyinka’s fixed, broad smile, since Fayose’s stunning electoral victory is this: “it happened on the eve of my birthday,” he told some of his friends recently.

“Fayose’s victory, to me, is like a surprisingly, wonderful birthday gift.

Fayose has proved that it pays, exceedingly, to be politically stubborn. I hope to be in Ado-Ekiti on October 16, 2014, when he’d be sworn in, to congratulate him.”

Soyinka is immeasurably happy with Fayose, for fashioning out a political situation – one with poetic a ring to it – in which an in-coming governor, whose surname begins with an “F”, will be taking over from an out-going one, whose surname also begins with an “F”. But, an out-of-humour Soyinka says “the two Fs were lifted from my party – the PFPF – without my permission. This is a clear case of political party plagiarism (PPP). It is a breach of Section 19, sub-sections (3) and (4) of the bye-laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. Therefore, Soyinka is, presently, consulting with Osofian and Ofeimun on how to go about taking a legal process against Fayose and Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the Ekiti state governor, and their respective parties – the PDP and All Progressives Congress (APC).

Fayose’s second coming reminds Soyinka of the late educationist, Mazi Alvan Ikoku, who, after losing an election to his son, who was popularly known as “S.G”, said he never knew that there was an ample room in Nigerian politics for those who were genuinely rascally.

•SOYINKA

At eighty, Soyinka is an appealing representation of the poet’s metaphorical object concerning the mysteriously seamless proximity of life and death: a ripe fruit. And yet, it’s no less true that the green, guarding and guiding fruit, long produced by a wild Christian tree, is still waxing, inexorably, hard, in defiance of his favourite subject. He’s more of a great, great, grand-father of a people opposed to corruption, impunity, inexplicable brutality by agents of the state, impoverishment of a majority of Nigerians, soaring youth unemployment and unbridled looting of the country’s brimming treasury. Soyinka seats in a position well befitting an imperial majesty, telling his biological and literary off spring – as would a sire, in his twilight years – what is expected of them for the betterment of society. If Soyinka is, today, not the poet’s saddest fruit, it’s understandable: he’s lived a fruitful life. He’s a unique, politically-enterprising quill. He’s a bundle of some political stubbornness that anyone who’s genuinely desirous of Nigeria’s unity, fair distribution of her vast financial resources and more rapid development, than is currently the case, should associate with.

Soyinka, one suspects, is far from happy that the forced exit of Republic of Biafra was the product of international conspiracy. He’s gratified, though, that, in place of being held in solitary confinement, he was allowed to circulate, unrestrainedly, such that he attended the funeral of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu – the leader of the Republic of Biafra. On that occasion, it’s on record, Soyinka delivered his finest, opaque epicedium.

But because of the peculiar constitution and conflicting tastes of the Nigerian society, Soyinka ought to be celebrated at all tiers of government

for his contributory, heroic struggle, which made possible the birth of the Fourth Republic. Soyinka is surprisingly sprightly as an octogenarian. For such sprightliness, it may be asked: where’s rust and ripeness? Do they – as contradistinctive representatives of the fixed, numerous pigmentations of life’s nearest, if mysteriously faceless, neighbour – lie elsewhere, in deference to the titan in Soyinka? Still, it’s as if he has been in a stubborn controversy with each year that has lapsed, since his most glorious moment in Oslo – when he conquered the literary Everest.

Many thanks, he once told this writer, to Jesus Iscariot for standing faithfully by him. It’s no less many thanks to the same Jesus Iscariot that all the serpentine, treacherous roads that Soyinka has travelled, since his adventurous days as an implacable enemy of press freedom – as demonstrated by his failed attempt to gag the mike – were not famished!

While the man who was held behind rusty bars, for some debts unpaid, has long died, Soyinka soldiers on. What’s the magic? For his sprightliness, Soyinka is a sure gold medalist in a marathon race that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is rumoured to organise for Nobel Prize winners, on July 13, 2015. After the race, it would be said, in fulfillment of the prophecy according to Brother Jero, that Soyinka – the Pheidepedes of the 21st Century – actually cheated in the Leeds marathon race, which he won in a record time of 2.19.34 hours, by using a banned, opaque steroid – a la Lance Armstrong.

Soyinka would not only be compelled to return his gold medal, he would also be dragged to the World-Anti Doping Agency (WADA) for appropriate punishment.

And yet, as a crushing majority of

Nigerians felicitate with Soyinka, praying that may he, in Christ’s name, remain unripe, in the next two decades, only one man – ex-petroleum and education minister, Professor Jubril Aminu – thinks differently. Said he: “There’s nothing to celebrate about Soyinka scaling the Biblical three score and ten. Soyinka is a bundle of political rascality and directionless meddlesomeness”. Aminu told this writer that, not so long ago, Soyinka, it was, who went about telling lies in North America, the European Union and Russia that he was killing harmless pigs and their Christian owners in the north of the country – in a manner reminiscent of the carnage that led to the Biafra war. Soyinka, he said, was the one who went to The Hague and lied that “my campaign against pigs, which was for health reason, was akin to a crime against humanity and for which I should be kidnapped and smuggled to The Hague for trial. It has also been observed that some people are hiding behind marking Soyinka’s birthday to act irresponsibly by being unduly noisy. Others are drinking themselves to stupor, all because they admire Soyinka. Such lousy elements ought to be arrested by the police for breaching public peace. And Soyinka, too, should be warned never to encourage anyone to behave senselessly in the name of celebrating his birthday”.

“Soyinka should consider himself lucky that he’s in circulation today to celebrate his birthday. Well before now, there was a plan to kidnap and keep him in solitary confinement in a sty – with about eighty, specially-trained wild, revolutionary pigs guarding the pen, so that Soyinka, the seasoned escapelogist, does not escape into the bush – for his many sins against innocent ewes and sows, amongst which was slaughtering and consuming them like a lion that he claims he is.

And that’s the same Soyinka whose utmost ambition is to be Nigeria’s second president of South-West extraction; a president that will spend his days at the Presidential Villa devouring pigs without gastronomic options. Whenever Soyinka joins his older tribesman – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – there will be uproarious jubilation in the Federal Democratic Republic of Pigs, for it would be the end of oppression and the dawn of ‘freedom, liberty, enfranchisement and democracy’. May I request that you go to Soyinka’s house, which is located at a squalid and irritatingly noisy area of Abeokuta and tell him that he should bear in mind that Nigeria is not ready to have an unrepentant enemy of innocent pigs as a tenant at Aso Rock. Tell Soyinka, besides, that he should call as many as eighty barbers to clear the opaque forest he spots. This is because such barbers have a constitutional right to feed fat from his rich purse. Soyinka is eminently qualified to be the president of PEN International, not Nigeria”. But, in a transport of rage, Aminu concluded by saying that, at eighty, Soyinka is the oldest and most notorious pig that has ever lived.

•Uzuakpundu is a Lagos journalist.

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FEATURE

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

The Houses That They Built Iheonukara Okpara DR. Michael (1920-1984) took over as Premier of Eastern Nigeria in January 1960 from Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe (1904-1996). The old Eastern Nigeria now consists of nine states namely Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu and Anambra states. For six years, he was head of government of Eastern Nigeria. Dr. Okpara was the son of a labourer but rose to become a medical doctor of distinction. He practised what is termed “Pragmatic Socialism” and his hobby was building infrastructure development for Eastern Nigeria, as well as encouraging agriculture. After the unfortunate civil war, he went to exile in Ireland, where he practised Medicine.

Before his return from exile in 1979, his close associates took up a collection to build him a house in his village at Umuegwu in Umuahia, Abia State and that was the only house and property he ever had. He died on December 17, 1984 and today a University of Agriculture is named after him in Umudike and likewise a street is named after him in Abuja. It was in the house built by his friends that he was buried in 1985.

Apart from Dr. Olusegun Kokumo Agagu (1948-2013) no other elected leader is better appreciated and admired in Ikale land particularly in Osoro Kingdom, in Ondo State, than Chief Christopher Oluwafunmi Akinfosile (1920-1996) the Minister of Communication in the First Republic. He was an encyclopaedia of ideas. His hobby was in giving scholarships to students, building schools, roads, post offices and agricultural settlements in Ikale land. I was, in a way, his chauffeur, assistant and friend between 1977 and 1984 when he was the National Chairman of NPP. Although I was still working in THE PUNCH as National Assembly Editor but there comes a time in a reporter’s career when your reporting career goes beyond mere coverage of a leader you are assigned with. Several times during that period, I would give Chief Akinfosile a ride in my old Volkswagen from a flat he rented at Mende in Maryland area of Lagos, to political meetings.

On October 18, 1979 through the NPN/ NPP accord, he made some notable NPP members including Paul Iyorpuu Unongo (77), Mrs. Janet Adefenwa Akinrinade, Mr. Geofrey Ademola Thomas(1925-2013) and others, Ministers under President Shehu Shagari.

Myself and his cousin, Mr. Opeyemi Oyedele alias John Bull persuaded him to make himself a Minister or someone from Ondo State. He rejected our plea, insisting it will be the greatest height of nepotism to do so. Yet, interms of physical cash, he had none. Chief Akinfosile was a very forthright individual, highly principled and too much in love with his people.

With my cousin, Chief Babu Akinbobola, I attended his funeral service held at St. John’s Anglican Church, Igbotako on Saturday November 2, 1996. It was a befitting burial organised by his children, relations and friends, including Egbon George Akinfosile, Femi Omoniyi, John Bull Oyedele and his brother, Ife Oyedele, a public relations guru. The house that he built in Igbotako is in the hearts of the people of Ikale land and they expressed their gratitude, some with tears, in their eyes, on the day he was buried.And they still remember him till today.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1906-1987), a man with a commanding presence and magic touch, was Premier of Western Nigeria between October 1 1954 and December 15, 1959 – about 5 years before he made the mistake of crossing to the centre. Imagine the lasting achievements he made in that region within such a short period.

One of the most romantic figures in Ibadan politics was Alhaji Adegoke Oduola Akande Adelabu (1915-1958) alias

•OBAFEMI AWOLOWO

•AHMADU BELLO

•TAFAWA BALEWA

•NNAMDI AZIKIWE

By ERIC TENIOLA

Penkelemesi. My friend Akogun Lekan Alabi has written so much about the man.

Yet, when he died in a car accident on March 23 1958, Alhaji Adelabu, “the lion of the west”, had no house. Today in Ibadan, the house he built is still in the hearts of the people that is 56 years after his death.

Since the people’s lawyer, late Kanmi Ishola-Osobu, himself an advocate of the oppressed introduced me to late Mallam Muhammed Aminu Kano (1920-1983) in 1975, I could count on how many clothes the late Mallam wore throughout my coverage of him till he died on April 17 1983. People hardly noticed because he wore only white with his customary red cap- now the trademark of Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankaso, Minister of Defence in 2005 and now second term governor of Kano State. In terms of money, he had none, even though he was born into wealth like Dr. Yusuf BalaUsman (19452005), a defender of the destitute and the needy. He chose to be poor to fight for the talaka was like Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi (1869-1948) of India.

He once said that “All parties are but the expression of class interests, and as the interest of the talakawa (commoners) is diametrically opposed to the interest of all sections of the master class, a party seeking the emancipation of the talakawa must naturally be hostile to the party of the oppressors”.

People often forget that Mallam Aminu Kano was once the Minister of

Communication (1967-1969), Minister of Health (1971-1975), leader of Northern Element Progressive Union (NEPU), 19501966 and leader of Peoples Redemption Party until his death. He is best remembered as the leader of the poor people. After his death, the only house he had was in Kano, which was converted to the Centre for Democratic Research under the Bayero University in Kano.

Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912-1966), who was from Jere ethnic group (a branch of the Hausa), had neither fortune nor palaces when the military killed him on January 15, 1966.

He left behind19 children, an ailing mother, Hajia Inna, a post-humous daughter Zainab, a home in Tafawa Balewa in the present day Bauchi State, a farm, a small bungalow in Kaduna, which was later donated to Jamatu Nasri Islam, a wrist watch, a worldwide short radio, a ceremonial scimitar given to him by Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello and three wives including Laraba and Jummai.

His own fate was far better than that of the late leader of government business of Northern Nigeria between 1951-1954 and Premier of Northern between 1954-1966 and also leader of the ruling Northern People’s Congress (NPC). Sir Ahmadu Bello (1909- 1966), who had no house in Kaduna, yet he was the most powerful politician during his era. The two houses he had were in Sokoto and in his village at Rabbah. He was the grandson of Usman Dan Fodio, who founded the Sokoto

Empire. After he too was killed on January 15 1966 with his most senior wife, Hajia Yangu Wan, all his belongings at the Premier’s Lounge were looted. His head of the domestic staff at that time Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki (90) was in Mecca and his most senior permanent secretary, Alhaji Ali Akilu was hidden by the then Commissioner of Police for Northern Nigeria, Mr. M.D. Yusuf from being killed by the military. Only a few of his aides, including the Minister of Lands and Survey and a wealthy Kano businessman, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gashash, his Chief Private Secretary, Alhaji Gidado Idris (79) and Turaki Zazzau, Alhaji Aliyu, were brave enough to organise his burial at Sultan of Sokoto’s residence in Kaduna.

He had no bank account.

The life style of these men, is in sharp contrast to the conduct and personal fortunes of the present day generation of political class, who have made the looting of the treasury their desperate hobby and passion. I believe great leaders are better remembered and admired after their demise, more for services provided, the goodwill they cultivated, the structures they were able to build while in power, the amenities they were able to provide, more than the billions of dollars and naira they looted in power.

And as they say in Latin “fax mentis incendumgloriae”, which means “the passion for glory is that of the torch of the mind”.

•Eric was a former Director at the Presidency. He lives in Lagos.

13

FEATURE

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

Lessons From The State Of Osun F

ELLOW Nigerians, what happened exactly one week ago in the State of Osun was not as simple as it looked.

Lest we take some things for granted as we love to do in our country, kindly permit me to do an elaborate post-mortem of that much anticipated gubernatorial election. It is no longer news that the incumbent, Governor Rauf Aregbesola won. I never believed for any second that he was going to be defeated by his main challenger, Iyiola Omisore, for reasons I will explain shortly.

The battle for Osun was fought on different fronts and at different levels.

There was the personal angle to the war.

Who was Aregbesola and who was Omisore? That is usually the first layer of the struggle for supremacy. That aspect is always enhanced by media hype and propaganda. This was palpable in the war of modern day Ekiti-Parapo which was won

by Ayo Fayose. Fayose had succeeded in projecting himself as being more popular, streetwise and down-to-earth than the current Governor, Kayode Fayemi. I had warned those who cared to listen to watch how the Governor had failed to challenge Fayose’s popularity contest. That, for me, was a fatal mistake. Human beings tend to follow what Francis Bacon called Idols of the Market Place.

The second mistake from Ekiti was simple and straight-forward. Theoretically, political parties would always attempt to rig elections in Nigeria because of the psychological fixation that the other party will rig. It then becomes the contest of the bigger-rigger.

But a party can’t successfully rig where it is not overwhelmingly popular. This happened in 1983 when the NPN successfully took over power in Oyo State and sacked the supposedly popular government of the Cicero of Esa-Oke, Bola Ige, but could not get away with Akin Omoboriowo’s electoral victory over Adekunle Ajasin. This is an eloquent example of how elections are rigged and sustained through subtle connivance of unwary electorates. Omololu Olunloyo, an Ibadan man and Mathematical icon, had succeeded in projecting himself as matching Bola Ige intellect for intellect, popularity for popularity, thus erecting the optical illusion that Bola Ige was indeed defeatable.

But Omoboriowo did not invest in such monumental hypnotisation and mesmerisation of the people as a prelude towards preparing the people of Ondo State for the forceful takeover that the NPN had envisaged for most of the difficult and unfriendly states needed for the grandiloquent coronation and canonisation of President Shehu Shagari. Fayose had learnt this lesson in grandstanding and was able to reduce Fayemi into a pitiable pulp.

Had Fayemi challenged Fayose’s farcical apotheosis, perhaps the results would have been different. But once the hunter transfigured into the hunted, it became obvious that Fayose was going to win fairly or crookedly because a fait accompli had been adequately prepared for the outcome of the election to be believable. If you doubt my theory, please, crosscheck the areas that returned incredible voter turnout and stupendous voting in the Osun election.

They were mainly from Ife Local Governments. PDP would have loved to replicate and return such humongous votes all over the State but couldn’t because they had foolishly lost most of their warlords and protectors like Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Isiaka Adeleke. Fayemi did not have such formidable supporters in Ekiti.

This Ekiti scenario was cleverly avoided and nipped in the bud by Aregbesola’s strategists. They refused to be cowed or intimidated by the blistering PDP machinery and militarisation or, more appropriately, blitzkrieg. Those claiming that the unprecedented security presence in Osun was to make the election free and fair missed the point, or just chose to be clever by half.

The whole idea was to establish a regime of scaremongering and if possible discourage many voters from even coming out to fulfil their civic responsibility. It is very easy for electoral manipulators to utilise the cards of disgruntled voters who refuse to vote to perpetrate their nefarious activities. This coupled with the fact that the bloated voter

•AREGBESOLA

By DELE MOMODU register is a mirage, in any event, makes rigging a delight for electoral cheats.

Anyone who watched the PDP Grand Rally in Osogbo and listened to the speeches of their leaders would have come to the same conclusion with me that they desperately wanted Osun in their kitty, not because they loved Omisore but for future purposes. PDP was merely laying the grass for the electoral Olympics which would be staged in 2015 and must be won by their team. There was no indication whatsoever that PDP was going to be benevolent towards APC. Let me expand this further and better.

The 2015 Presidential election promises to be a battle-royale. And the main stage for this rumble in the jungle is likely to be the South West region of Nigeria. This makes it absolutely necessary for PDP to capture these States ahead and prepare the grounds for a major offensive. Their job would not be too difficult if they can secure Ondo, Ekiti, Osun, and others as at when due. Ondo and Ekiti have become friendly States and Osun would have made things even better by being the icing on the cake.

PDP victory in Osun would have opened up APC for demystification and ostensibly subjected it to obvious ridicule. Had APC lost Osun, believe me, the game would have been over by now. The complete annihilation of Yorubaland would have been promptly achieved in one fell swoop. But God saved APC by the whiskers and gave them a second life.

The smartest thing APC did was to take on the PDP so fearlessly. They were able to reassure the people of Osun that they were ready to fight with everything if PDP ever attempted to rig them out and the people trusted them. If they had shown any sign of weakness and inner fears, PDP would have smashed them into smithereens and run away with cheap victory like they did in Ekiti where the stunned Governor who was hit by thunderbolt had to hurriedly concede defeat. The people of Osun went out boldly on Election Day to vote and seriously guard their mandate. They were not ready to tolerate any hanky-panky. The message was very clear in the way they turned the election into a celebration of the achievements of their Governor. Social media played a key role as well. The people were able to establish contact with every part and monitor the peaceful way Osun people went about the business of the day.

Even the security guys tacitly supported the people contrary to whatever they were brought in to achieve in the first instance.

It must be noted with every emphasis that

•OMISORE Aregbesola’s candidacy was very formidable and not a fluke. One mistake that PDP continues to make is its preference for brawn over brains. But it must be reminded that no leader has ever succeeded in enslaving Nigerians and no one has been able to subdue the people of South West through the use of coercion. The people are too sophisticated to be dragged on a leash by any leader no matter how popular and wealthy. This is the reason their leadership changes constantly and rapidly because of their impatience with aspiring slave-drivers.

APC itself has so much to learn from Yoruba history. This victory is an indication that the party still has a fair chance of winning at the Federal level if they can resist the rascality being credited to some of their leaders. I doubt if anyone tells them the home truth about the reason many of their admirers are afraid to join the party. This must be reiterated at this stage if for nothing but for posterity. If APC fails it would be as a result of the vaunting ambitions of its own leaders who keep coming up with all manner of selfish permutations in order to gain the upper hand in the power equation. It is such a tragedy that so much time is being wasted in coming together to present a common front that can convincingly confront the candidacy of Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 elections.

I will enumerate some of the major hurdles ahead of APC. The first is that many keen watchers of its affairs and conduct still see it as a private and family business of Bola Tinubu. There is no question that this man has been the biggest single investor in what has become APC today but he must be extremely careful not to waste the uncommon goodwill he has garnered as dividend for his gallant effort. How he tries to wash himself clean of allegations of handpicking candidates at local and national levels would help in shaping people’s impression, perception and decision about him and the party. This was part of what caused the misfortune of the party in Ondo and Ekiti. It takes a lot of sacrifice for a great man not to exhibit his prowess but it can only be counterproductive if care is not taken at the end of the day. It would be to his eternal credit if the party is allowed to grow into an octopus rather than a one-fingered party. The party should be worried about possible and sudden disintegration after all that has been done and achieved so far.

The second hurdle is how to contain the combustive ambition of some of its members. I believe, it needs to form a shadow kitchen cabinet of its key members

urgently before most of them are poached away by PDP. The party has practically lost key allies in Borno, Edo, Ogun, Adamawa, Kano, Sokoto and other places. This emigration must be stopped before it turns into a mass exodus. It should never take 20 years to prepare for madness, a lot of time has been wasted already. For every day it dilly dallies, the PDP resurgence gets stronger. The APC should look for the most credible Nigerians from all over the world and walks of life to bring together as a powerful team to strategise for the forthcoming elections and then form the cabinet after winning those elections.

The third is how to connect speedily to the largest army of angry youths in Africa who have lost all hope in their country. APC would gain so much if they can offer genuine optimism and rekindle the fire of patriotism in them. What I see at the moment is the over reliance on hard-core politicians who may not be able to match PDP in the game of numbers. There is no way APC would defeat PDP without galvanising the overwhelming support of non-traditional and first time voters.

The fourth and probably most vital is how to balance our ethnic colouration and volatile religious sensibilities. APC is going to have an uphill task picking the number one and number two candidates for the Presidential election. This needs not be so if the Party simply realises that what Nigerians want is that somebody for once puts merit into the forefront of the choice of leaders without sacrificing equity and justice. Unfortunately, I’ve already uncovered so much confusion from them about who to pick, where to pick, the religion, the gender, and so on. If the truth must be told, only PDP can gain from this unnecessary commotion.

The more I listen to the argument of some of these APC members, the more I pray for these guys not to voluntarily throw their best chances into the Atlantic Ocean. What saddens me is that some of their permutations are based on selfish personal interests and do not take the larger interests of the Party or indeed Nigeria and Nigerians into consideration. Sometimes, I wonder if PDP has bewitched Nigerians and especially the opposition leaders. By now, there should be no argument whatsoever about sacking the party permanently for gross infractions and selecting the best candidates to achieve this objective. The disorderliness and seeming lack of focus of the opposition may ultimately keep the PDP in power in a manner even more serious than we can ever contemplate.

It is a sad reality we must grudgingly accept when tomorrow comes.

14

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

A

lot has been written and a lot would still be written about the victory of Governor Rauf Aregbesola in the last gubernatorial election in the State of Osun.

People, who are watching from afar, may not appreciate what really went on. To many on-lookers, it was another gubernatorial election. And come to think of it, there are 36 states in Nigeria, so what is special about the Osun election?

However, in truth and reality, there were certain peculiarities in the Osun election, which cannot be discountenanced.

The victory of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate in the Ekiti gubernatorial election, where the incumbent governor, Dr John Kayode Fayemi, was roundly defeated, gave the PDP a false hope that they are now in the control of political events in the South-West geo-political zone.

They boasted and bragged that they have now acquired the magic wand to achieve success at the poll in the zone.

Nothing was done to assess the individuals involved in the elections, nor did they try to study the impact which different leaders have made on their people. Like him or hate him, incoming Governor Ayo Fayose is a populist politician, who is in the minds of the Ekiti people. He has his faults when he was at the helm of affairs as governor, which led to his tenure been abruptly terminated in undignified circumstances.

With the victory of Fayose in Ekiti State, the PDP thought they had secured the universal magic wand to capture the South-West.

In their plan, the next state to fall was Osun, where the governor by every standard is not only performing but popular with majority of the people.

In addition to his popularity and performance he campaigned as if his life depended on it. It is true that Senator Iyiola Omisore traversed the nooks and crannies of the state for his campaign, but many indigenes of the state cannot remember what he promised to achieve if elected as a governor. He boasted that the only thing delaying his victory was for the election to come. His victory was a fait accompli.

The only thing that featured in his campaign most was that he would undo all the damage Aregbesola has done. Simply put, he would halt the separation of buildings in Osogbo, the state capital. He would also give public schools back to their original owners. His 8-point programme is not known to many people.

Upon enquiry from an ardent

AUDACIOUS EXPLOIT with MURTALA AGBOOLA TEL: 0806-119-7897 E-mail: murtalamuag@yahoo.com

Still On Aregbesola's Victory

•AREGBESOLA

supporter of Omisore, why the standard-bearer of the PDP has refrained from being categorical on what he wanted to achieve, he simply replied that Omisore said he did not know the extent of the state’s indebtedness, so he did not want to promise anything that would be used against him in the future. This is a clear case of being uncertain of what the task of governance is about.

Inspite of the heavy support of the Federal Government, the PDP machinery and PDP governors, candidate Omisore fell like a pack of cards.

President Goodluck Jonathan and his team were at the Osogbo Township Stadium to campaign for Omisore a week before the

election. The chairman of PDP Governors Forum, Chief Godswill Akpabio, brought a PDP Governors Membership Form for Omisore to be filled after the election. He was sure that Omisore’s victory at the polls was just there for the taking.

With the support of the hooded security officials, the PDP was cocksure that victory will come their way. It is a great credit to Professor Attahiru Jega that he has condemned the wearing of mask by security officials during elections.

On should not be surprised by Akpabio’s action. In Ado-Ekiti when he accompanied the President to the campaign of Fayose, he said his party would hire the services of 20 Senior

“Even the little delay it took the process of announcing the results to take its final course, gave the die-hand PDP supporters chance to impress upon people that Omisore would be returned. The fact that the state has been in ecstatic mood since then is a reflection of the choice of people emerging. Individuals, social groups, organisations and trade guilds have taxed themselves to organize celebrations in support of Aregbesola’s victory. This shows clearly that if the result had been otherwise, only God knows what would have happened.”

Advocates of Nigeria (SANS) because he knew the All Progressives Congress (APC) would challenge the election result.

Members of the PDP were so sure that their candidate would be returned as the winner in spite of the fact that before the results was announced by the Returning Officer, Professor Bamitale Omole, the results was in the public domain.

Even the little delay it took the process of announcing the results to take its final course, gave the die-hand PDP supporters chance to impress upon people that Omisore would be returned. The fact that the state has been in ecstatic mood since then is a reflection of the choice of people emerging. Individuals, social groups, organisations and trade guilds have taxed themselves to organize celebrations in support of Aregbesola’s victory. This shows clearly that if the result had been otherwise, only God knows what would have happened.

During the electioneering campaign, Aregbesola was alleged to have hired crowd form neighbouring states especially, Lagos. However, the result of the election has debunked that. The result of the election is a true reflection of the feelings of the people rather than those who were expecting a higher power to foist a particular candidate on the people. Despite this analysis, however, it is to the credit of the PDP that it made an inroad into local government council areas apart from the four in Ile-Ife and its environs.

This is so because for the progressives that won everything in 2011 elections, that total dominance has reduced marginally. It is a reflection that a deep analysis of the voting structure should be done and the necessary corrections made before February, 2015.

The message being sent across is that the APC should not allow the victory to becloud what needs to be done. Yes, the victory must be savoured, but the needful should also not be left undone.

Aregbesola has done a lot and for now he has made an indelible mark in the state and therefore deserves to continue for another term. Akpabio can keep his form for Omisore till another time.

The overwhelming vote for Aregbesola was not based on sentiments but objective analysis. We can only support him to do more in the next four years. It is our hope that he would do more than he has done in the last four years.

15

PHOTOTALK

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, August 23, 2014

Brutalisation By Soldiers, DSS Officials On Lateef Aliu During The August 9, 2014 Governorship Election In Osun.

•Marks created by numerous caning on Lateef Aliu’s back.

•Lateef explaining his predicament.

•Another pose showing the beating by the soldiers, DSS officials.

•Another picture showing the attack on Aliu.

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 2014

By BIODUN JEYIFO

Be se tiwa, bee si se tiwa, Demo a wole (Whether you are with us or not, Demo will win) Declaration on radio and television by Chief Remi FaniKayode on the eve of the 1965 Western Regional Elections Ogbeni’s Victory

F

REE, fair and credible elections are to a genuine democratic order what oxygenated blood that flows without blockages, clots and haemorrhages is to a healthy human body. In this case, the human body is like a nation’s body politic: a nation on the brink of becoming a failed state, a nation that hobbles from one nationwrecking crisis to another is like a diseased human body, whose arteries and veins are so blocked that the vascular and circulatory systems are prone to, and sometimes give way to cardiac arrest or stroke. Fortunately, and thanks largely to the wonders of modern medical science, cardiac arrest and stroke are not always fatal. A quick and effective intervention can bring a person stricken by stroke or heart attack back to life and the chance to gradually recover either completely or with a fairly good chance of a long and productive life. These thoughts were at the back of my mind on Sunday, July 10 when around 8.00 a.m. Berlin time (7 a.m. in Nigeria) I went online and discovered to my great relief and satisfaction that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola had soundly defeated Iyiola Omisore in the recent Osun governorship elections. To me, the Ogbeni’s victory was like a successful triple bypass heart surgery to an electoral system that has hovered for a very long time on the edge of political cardiac arrest. Please note that I say that these thoughts comparing the diseased human body to a national body politick in a perpetual terminal crisis were at the back of my mind and not in the foreground of my consciousness. Let me explain.

Now, the regular reader of this column ought to know by now that I am not a supporter of any of the ruling class parties in Nigeria. I am resolutely against the ruling party, the PDP, which, in my opinion, is one of the worst, one of the most corrupt and one of the most mediocre ruling class parties in the world. But I do not consider any of the opposition ruling class parties a sufficiently consistently progressive and clean counterforce to the PDP. As political parties aspiring to power, the only claim that all the opposition parties have is the fact that any other group or party can and will do better in office than the PDP. The most telling fact of the absence of a real or true choice for voters between our ruling class parties is the quite phenomenonal scope of the perpetual crossing and re-crossing from one party to another by members of our political class. In other words, in the present political order in power at the centre and in the states in our country, you can never be so corrupt, so mediocre, so cynical and so devoid of any ideas as a politician that you cannot move from being a chieftain in one party to becoming a kingpin in another party. Nothing, absolutely nothing, disqualifies you from being a power broker in one party today and a strongman in another party tomorrow. This situation is similar to the phenomenon in the linguistic philosophy of the identity of the letters of the alphabet in which, say, the identity of the letter A is established, not by anything in itself, but by the fact that it is not B, or C, or D or any of the other letters in the alphabet. Thus, by the logic of this philosophy, in the Nigerian political context APC is APC not because of some things inherent in the party but because it is not PDP. But real choice for the voter in Nigeria is fortunately not completely absent. For if it is the case that, at least for now there is no real choice between the political parties as parties with programs, policies and worldviews that distinguish one from another, there is sometimes a choice between candidates. In the Osun State governorship elections last week, there was a

Ogbeni’s Victory; Omisore’s Defeat: The 1965 Western Regional Elections Revisited

and stalked the length and breadth of Osun State. The choice between Aregbesola and Omisore seemed about to be completely abrogated and denied the good people of the state. But Ogbeni’s victory sent it back to the shades of the netherworld of bad conscience and troubled and troubling memory where it belongs.

We must not be complacent. PDP is determined to make every election before the 2015 showdown a prologue, a foreshadowing of the total elimination of choice and popular will in our country’s electoral politics. The militarization of the electoral process is particularly apposite here. Most commentators have said of this phenomenon that it is meant to intimidate voters, especially those voters that wish to exercise their choice, not only between parties, but also between candidates. While this is true, I think there is something more sinister, more ominous in this militarization of the electoral process that Jonathan has taken to a far much bigger scale than we had hitherto ever seen in this country. The sheer size of the military presence can mean only one thing: anticipation of mass uprising, of widespread popular rejection of election(s) that people in their hundreds of thousands or even millions perceive as rigged, stolen. Ekiti and Osun: two gone, more still to come before 2015. I repeat: we must not be complacent; we must not tire of protesting to the high heavens and to the whole world that we reject the militarization of the electoral and political processes in our country.

Ogbeni’s victory is enormously gratifying in itself; it had the additional advantage of reminding us that the popular will counts and must be defended.

Omisore’s Defeat “Congrat Osun people, Congrat APC, and Congrat Nigerian, people have speaking and God have speaking too” From a tweet by someone self-identified as “Musco”

•The governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, showing his appreciation to his suppoters of Osun after the INEC declared him the winner of the 2014 governorship election at Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo, recently.

I encountered the epigraph above when I was reading the reactions to the defeat of Omisore on the internet. The bizarre and colorful murder of language in the tweet made me laugh hard, very hard. It reminded me of the language of Chief Zebrudaya Okoroigwe Nwogbo, alias 4:30.

The language of tweets on the internet is often so awful that it seems to come from undiagnosed cases of mental leprosy. But in the particular case of this tweet commenting on Omisore’s defeat, it seemed to come straight from the heart.

And at any rate, it read like vintage Zebrudaya English. But consider the following strangulation of logic, syntax, tense and grammar from a letter that Omisore wrote to the press on the night of Saturday, July 9, to protest what he saw as premature release of elections results by the APC in order, according to him, to delegitimize the true results of the elections which he was confident would end up in his favour. The statement was personally signed by Omisore who, by the way, added the title “Dr.” to his name. Here goes: “I hereby condemn the APC candidate, Raufu Aregbesola declaring his own version of the results without recourse to INEC. With the facts of results, its apparent the PDP candidate, Dr. Iyiola Omisore, is leading. This act of APC is in conflict with the provisions of Electoral Law 2010 whereby a candidate can concoct figures and released to confuse the public thus make this election inconclusive until facts behind the figures are released by the INEC. The peace and stability of this state is such under an unprecedented threat. The result so far by APC remained cancelled.”

A use of language protesting defeat that paradoxically ends up in a thorough defeat of language. It is unintended but is revealing, very revealing.

real choice for the voter between the Ogbeni think, rather subliminally about the analogies and Omisore, quite apart from the election being between a diseased human body and our national a pre-2015 showdown between the APC and body politic. And as I did so, I worried greatly the PDP. Indeed, so palpable, so stark was the that the PDP might have completely buried the choice between the two candidates that it was real choice between the Ogbeni and Omisore under like a choice between day and night or between the weight of pre-2015 showdown between the light and darkness. The most evident indicator APC and the PDP. In the entirety of my of this is the fact that Aregbesola is quite experience as a Nigerian very much aware of the possibly the most articulate governor on the precarious nature of electoral politics in our ideals and practices of good governance in our country, no incident stands out more in my country at the present time while Omisore, on consciousness as the ultimate negation of the the evidence of his unscripted speeches and voter’s choice than the chilling declaration of the impromptu pronouncements, cannot put two late Chief Remi Fani-Kayode on the eve of the or three coherent thoughts together on legislative elections in the Western Region in responsible and accountable governance.

October 1965. This is the declaration that I have To expatiate a little more on this distinction, appropriated as the epigraph to this piece: “Be Aregbesola belongs to the rather rare order of se tiwa, bee si se tiwa, Demo a wole”. I have politicians in our country at the present time given an approximate translation of this who actually think; who actually have declaration: “Whether you are with us or not, progressive and compassionate ideas about Demo will win”. By “Demo”, Fani-Kayode who obligations that governments have for their was the Deputy Premier to Chief S.L. Akintola, constituents; and who actually have meant the Nigerian National Democratic Party sophisticated knowledge regarding where our (NNDP), perhaps the most fascist, right-wing country and our continent stand in relation to party this country’s politics has ever produced. the rest of the world and the contradictory But what does this observation have to do with forces of modernity, especially in the new last week’s Osun state elections? Again, let me millennium. By contrast, Omisore is a political explain. operator whose vocation begins and ends with Among other things, all fascist parties have making the best for himself politically by this in common: the votes – and the will of the following party diktats and carrying out the electorate – are always already subjugated to the will of his superiors in the party apparatus. control of the Party. Last week, the ghost of the Last week as I waited anxiously for the fascist political legacy of the late Deputy Premier results of the Osun state elections, I began to of the old Western Region in the mid-60s appeared OSUN DEFENDER is published by Moremi Publishing House Limited, Promise Point Building, Opposite Guaranty Trust Bank GTB, Gbongan Road, Osogbo, State of Osun. All correspondence to the Managing Editor, KOLA OLABISI, Telephone: 08033927286 (kolaolabisi@yahoo.com); Editor, KAYODE AGBAJE, Telephone: 0803-388-0205, E-mail: osundefender@yahoo.com, kayodeagbaje@yahoo.com. ISSN: 0794-8050.Website: www.osundefender.org.