By Dare Akogun
‘Do not destroy the pot that once gave you water. If it is no longer in service to you respect the days it once served you’, so says a quote which I can’t really trace the origin.
The Osun Gubernatorial election has been won and lost, while the PDP is jubilating with the declaration of Sen. Ademola Adeleke who defeated the incumbent Governor Gboyega Oyetola.Both Oyetola and Adeleke contested for the Osun governorship seat in 2018, which Oyetola won after a rerun.
Democracy as it is, is a test of popularity, not a test of competence and in a Democracy, skills such as compromise, diplomacy, negotiation, team-building, loyalty etc matter more than the beautiful ideas you believe about your own self that you have beyond others in any race with you.
From the debates one can safely say the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps Lasun Yusuf came tops with his oratory skills and the way he presented his ideas , the governor also tried albeit labouriously to articulate his achievements in the last 3 and half years, but he missed the main ingredients which is never destroy the ladders that helped you reached the top, because you will surely needs it on your way down.
The governor discarded the people who worked together with him in 2018 to get his victory, prominent among whom is his predecessor and current minister of interior Raufu Aregbesola whom he served as Chief of Staff and ensured that he got the party’s ticket and also measure his victory at the polls.
Aregbesola for the singular act publicly moved against the second-term ambition of Governor Oyetola.
Instead, Aregbesola endorsed the former Secretary to the State Government, Moshood Adeoti, who later lost to Oyetola at the APC governorship primary election held on February 19, 2022.
The governor like many of his colleagues in every part of the country denied those who they termed not loyal to them revalidation and registration during the APC membership revalidation exercise championed by their colleague governor and national chairman Mai Mala Buni who backed the governors in the shameful acts.
Betrayals they said don’t end well, from time immemorial and so shall it be till the end of time.Betrayal is common for men with no conscience and the saddest things about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies, but from close associates and acquaintances.
We have seen that of Osun which i am sure will definitely not be the last as more will be seen during the 2023 general elections and years to come.
For the politicians that have toed similar path like Gov Oyetola there is still little time for them to close ranks with aggrieved party members or former friends turned foe before the general elections.It’s high time politicians remember that the power in people is stronger than the people in power.
Dare Akogun is a Senior News Editor / Head of Digital Media Unit of Sobi FM he can be reached via akogundare@gmail.com
