Playing the politics of bitterness
The recent rejoinder which explains his position on the Ade Komolafe and sundry issues in Osun State makes interesting reading even if intriguing. Both in literary interpretation, as well as in political analysis, the thesis can be likened to that of the proverbial Prince contending to ascend the vacant stool of his ancestors. He was […]
The recent rejoinder which explains his position on the Ade Komolafe and sundry issues in Osun State makes interesting reading even if intriguing.
Both in literary interpretation, as well as in political analysis, the thesis can be likened to that of the proverbial Prince contending to ascend the vacant stool of his ancestors. He was asked to react to the general unease about his candidature on the ground of his temperament by which he lays curses on people on very minor issues. But as if to confirm the fear against him, hardly did he allow the charge to be completed before he jumped in anger hitting the roofs that whosoever made such a wild and untrue allegation against him would not live to bury his father. With that confirmation by him albeit indirectly, the case was closed against him.
The first point to be looked into His Excellency’s confession is that he said Fadipe has problem with some leaders in Ilesa. The governor was quick to separate Ijesaland from Ilesa in his plea for mitigation for his “favourite son”. But let the governor be assured that when it comes to abhorrence for crime especially on the destruction of human lives, there is no sub culture within the cultural affinity that binds us together that tolerates such heinous acts. Besides, because it is within Ilesa metropolis that he was lorded on the people as the chairman of Ilesa West Local Government Area, he could not have generated any interest or attention from outside that local government.
I hate to believe that the insinuation Mr. Governor was drumming is that since both Komolafe and Ibukun are of Ilesa extraction and the act was executed also in Ilesa, there is nothing to generate non-Ilesa-Ijesa interest. Most surprising about the governor however, was his “suspect” silence on the case of another prominent Ijesa man, Agbo Obadare, in similar circumstance under the tight hands of the “physically achieving” chairman.
The governor might have chosen not to dwell on the case of Agbo Obadare on the ground that since he belonged to the PDP, his death was an “internal affair” of the PDP.
But to those who knew Agbo, and I am one of them, he was a patriotic Ijesaman, whose burning desire was the socio-economic transformation of Ijesaland as a whole and Ilesa in particular. It was in one of these factional fights in the PDP that the same Tyson chairman descended on him physically and to which he died few days after. Perhaps his own case had been settled internally with his younger brother, my good aburo, Joseph Akin Obadare (aka JAO).
That it was the “Owa and his people” and not the Ijesas that have problem with Fadipe can also be understood against the backdrop of politics in Osun State.
To some people, the size of Ijesa is too big for comfort. For Owa Obokun to be allowed to preside over the affairs of such a big kingdom can lead to some royal hiccup and disequilibrium in the state.
To me, it does not matter the number of traditional councils that are created in Ijesland as long as it is done with equity and transparency across board in the state. For instance, while Ijesaland with common history, culture and dialect had been broken into three, Ife with diffuse background and different ethnicities are still trapped into one.
In the build-up to weaken Ijesa unity, the famous story teller in Osun State had once come out with the tales that some Obas in Ijesaland are ‘superior’ to Owa. But fine enough, nobody, not even such Obas believe such feeble issue captured in the context of under-the-tree night tales.
Then, if it is true that some people admonished Fadipe for conveying Owa’s message to the governor literally unedited, it can only be seen in the context of his doubtful pedigree in Ilesa. This is because it is a generic maxim that whereas a freeborn will always strive to douse tension, the bastard will always work towards escalating it.
But for the fact that it was another opportunity to settle an undecided score with the Owa, I do not know what the allegation of fratricide by a sitting chairman has to do with the creation of traditional council and the alleged threat conveyed to him by his errand fratricidal chairman.
To buttress his democratic credential and respect for rule of law, the Okuku prince mentioned the case of some people in Okuku including some of his nephews. It was alleged that upon their rampaging some public property, they were made to face the wrath of the law. That rampage coming from his home town could only have been against his own government. If his nephews could join in anti government rampage, it only means to him that politics is thicker than blood.
The same thing can be said of the selected justice reference to Ede and the rumpus within his PDP. Since the party is famous with survival factions, the brunt of the arrest might have been borne by factional victims. With regard to the orchestrated bomb blast, I choose to ignore his views. This is because the “bomb blast” had since become a code for political persecution in the state.
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