Opinion
Oyebanji, Ekiti and purposeful leadership
By Abiodun Komolafe
Although the initial steps have to be taken by the individual, the picture of personality as having “power to uplift, power to depress, power to curse, and power to bless” is working for Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji of Ekiti State.
It is a poser that’s given back to the owner. It makes a man become enthusiastic because, each time he sees the good he has done, he becomes motivated to do more. Essentially therefore, it is an individual’s character that defines his or her legacy.
Tellingly, Oyebanji, aka BAO, has within a year in office redefined governance. He loves development. As a matter of fact, it is infused into his character; and that’s to the advantage of his people. Some leaders are averse to development. Although they say it with the words of mouth, they don’t quite understand what development is all about; and that’s why the pattern remains the same.
They leave office without any meaningful impact other than regrets; and the error is in the selection process. A little push, a little compromise; and the error is in the manifest.
Oyebanji is a golden boy in a golden era. Therefore, all he needs to do is to carefully check his options and give the people the best. From the look of things, the governor is not likely to ask for anything from President Bola Tinubu and for the president to be prevaricating, because the president knows that he (Oyebanji) is a shining star; and that’s to the advantage of the ruling party.
So, what other former governors could not afford or establish, Oyebanji can now attempt it; and he will get it. If you say it is luck, yes, it doesn’t get better than that! The only and major problem BAO may likely have – in the state or elsewhere – is with his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwarts who are with the chronic sense of entitlement, a reality which has moved with time and space.
Wherever such rears its head, the governor should match out in confidence and implement his policies while allowing the party machinery to arrive at achievable political objectives. He must be conscious of time. He must run as if this is the only tenure for him. During Bola Ige’s time as governor of the old Oyo State, he was always assuring Ijesaland that it’s the owner of his 2nd term in office, which he never got.
When he came to Ijebu-Jesa during one of his official tours, Ige promised, among other things, to turn the then Obokun Local Government Secretariat at Ijebu-Jesa, which was under construction at the time, to a 120-bed hospital. We were all elated! But that opportunity never came because the affectionate ‘Uncle Bola’ never won his reelection bid. So, Oyebanji must not procrastinate.
For this 1st term, let him be loaded and let him blast it because this is the day that the Lord has made, and it has been given to him. Let him run with the vision and the precision of the medieval archers.
They had that legacy of not missing their targets; and they became renowned for it. So far, Oyebanji’s interventions have ranged from human capital and youth development, to arts, culture and tourism.
From Education and Rural Development, to Transport and Power Infrastructure; and from Agriculture and Food Security, to Industrialization, the governor’s means and ends have shown consistency. Salaries and pensions are being paid promptly and loan facilities are being given to eligible government workers. Free Mass Transit Scheme was introduced for public servants and Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), complete with allied gadgets, were procured for the use of security agencies. On his watch, intra- and inter-city roads were either rehabilitated or constructed even as towns and villages were connected to the National Grid. In the Tourism Sector, BAO has not been wanting.
A man rich in ideas, Oyebanji is in the good books of the civil servants. He has also mastered the street politics of Ekiti. In terms of accessibility, he has demonstrated it.
He engages regularly with the citizens in both structured and unstructured manners and his feedback mechanism is also very active. He attends APC meetings, visits schools and hospitals unannounced and personally supervises projects through which he has significantly reduced the cost of governance.
Till date, Oyebanji has not bought official cars for his use, not to talk of changing the furniture in the Governor’s Office and/or in the Governor’s Lodge. Instead, he channeled the funds meant for those projects into other more pressing needs like infrastructure upgrade, erosion control and rehabilitation of schools and hospitals. Going forward, BAO must bear in mind that the disoriented and confused youths, and the ever-growing geographical territory of the unemployed are all watching. Since they are always operating without the enabled enhancement of the ‘Omoluabi’ ethos, they are not to be taken for granted. Unlike what worked for the past governors in the Western Region, that solid arrangement cannot be conjectured again.
So, the governor must strive to be ingenious all the time. Ekiti State is blessed with a fantastic natural climate, a relatively stable and safe environment and an economy that has value. It is one state where the Rule of Law reigns and where responsible, responsive and strategic leadership also thrives. It is a state where the legal tender is knowledge. But then, the naysayers and the easily-excited clowns will always be around and functional. In the days of former Olabisi Onabanjo of Ogun State, the same university that’s now performing wonders was put down.
So, Oyebanji must never be afraid of the opposition because ‘Ayekoto’, as Onabanjo was fondly called, insisted on what’s good. Now, Nigerians have him to thank for Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ago Iwoye, Ogun State. Ige was also assertive and he eventually suffered legacy comments from the public during the 2nd Republic’s ‘Universal Free Education’ programme.
The opposition came after him but he stood his ground. The ‘Cicero of Esa-Oke’ is no longer with us on this side of the divide but what he did when the opportunity beckoned continues to shout aloud; and it’s unstoppable, because it’s the truth. So, Oyebanji must remember that he is there now. Let something speak for him tomorrow. Notable among them are the Ado-Ekiti – Ifaki-Ekiti Road and Ado-Ekiti – Ilawe-Ekiti Road, which once caved in. In the same ship lies the destiny of the yet-to-be-completed Ado-Ekiti – Aramoko-Ekiti – Ita-Iddo Road.
In an ideal democracy, followership and political participation must always be subject to scrutiny. One: what is the party saying? Two: those implementing, in whose interest are they doing it; and, is there accountability? These become necessary because, ‘hey’, believe you me, whatever the answers are to all the raised questions will go a long way in determining the prolonged stay of the party, not the last minute distribution of money or running around to capture votes. In this part of the world, Local Government structure is considered as a governor’s structure.
So, how Oyebanji manages the forthcoming Local Government election in the state will go a long way in defining his government. Since this is a guided democracy which must reflect the wishes of the people, how he also redirects, especially the politics of the swing Local Governments (Ekiti West, Ikere-Ekiti and Ado-Ekiti) and adjoining communities will go a long way in determining the shape and size of his second term ambition.
Matter-of-factly, it is when an average person who doesn’t have a political appointment has passion for his political party of choice that the government can run smoothly and peacefully. Lastly, Oyebanji demonstrated the ‘Omoluabi’ ethos recently when he prostrated, full chest, for Afe Babalola, and ditto for his former teacher. He needs more of these! Most importantly, BAO needs to always consult widely with proudly-Ekiti leaders like Babalola, Wole Olanipekun, Niyi Adebayo, Femi Falana and former Ekiti governors – and they cut across party preferences – to make his first tenure a success. May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Ekiti State!
By: Adamu Muhd Usman
“Success is not by our thinking, our wish, our personal opinion, or selfish aggrandisement. It is destined and accompanied by good attitudes of honesty, gratitude, commitment, perseverance, sacrifice, endurance, selflessness, and determination.
—– Sule Lamido
When elections are approaching, political activities hasten. There has been speculation that Sule Lamido of Jigawa State will defect from the PDP and join a new party. It appears the speculators based their thinking on PDP’s unexpected devastating defeat in the 2023 general election. However, many people see the defeat as an outcome of a referendum on the PDP’s mistakes and adamant or foolish behaviour of an ordinary Nigerian, rather than a rejection verdict on the PDP, thus the party is expected to bounce back.
This is expected to happen with the help of people like Sule Lamido and other party stalwarts. Nonetheless, with speculation rife, it’s pertinent to ask, will Sule Lamido lead a revolt to ditch the PDP and form a new party or join SDP as H.E. Malam Nasir El-Rufai calls for?
Knowing Lamido’s styles of leadership and political antecedents, notably his being and ardent disciple of late Mallam Aminu Kano of blessed memory one may without mincing words say that Sule Lamido will not leave PDP he helped to give birth to; nurtured and played a very prominent role in.
The above assertion is provided by the fact that Sule Lamido does not have a history of inconsistencies in his political career, and he is not a politician that takes decisions based on the desire to play to the gallery.
Furthermore, Lamido, being one of the founding fathers of the PDP and a man with well-established connections, with political friends and associates all over and who enjoys tremendous support across the country, is not likely going to ditch the PDP.
If Lamido wanted to leave the PDP, he could have done it with the G7 governors who defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2014/2015. And, Lamido could have been one of the most celebrated ‘defectors’ the APC would now be flaunting.
Some people have mistakenly interpreted the recent news story of the former Kaduna state governor, H.E. Malam Nasir El-Rufai, defecting from APC to SDP, whereby he called bigwigs, though he dares not to mention the name of Sule Lamido in his list or invitation because he knows perfectly well Lamido’s space to that regard is a no-go area. But Lamido has dispelled the rumours via the interview he granted with the British Broadcasting Cooperation (BBC) Hausa service.
Governor Lamido asserted, I have no intention to leave the party. We dey kampe for PDP; we dey shelele for PDP. PDP has honoured and dignified me, and I am not leaving it for tenants. I am from a home background while others are from mere house backgrounds. We are well-groomed right from our homes, and we will not leave the party for anyone, especially for anger.
This is not a time for a blame game; the PDP should all accept that they made mistakes and find ways to correct them in the future.”
What people should best expect from Sule Lamido is rebuilding, reorganising, re-energising, and remodelling the PDP into a strong opposition party for the ruling APC. For instance, Lamido is well experienced in the art of politicking and governance; he will for sure lead other PDP founding fathers and party adherents to rebrand the party. Those that were instrumental in destroying the fabric that makes the PDP a strong national party may sooner or later become inactive in the party because they do not have the party in their hearts. Only causing trouble in order to be relevant and satisfy their pocket.
Sule Lamido has unequivocally assured their teaming supporters, party followers, and other stakeholders that he has no plans to join another party, leave the PDP, or allow intruders and interlopers to take over the house they have laboured to build.
The big question is, what should they do to correct their mistakes and reengineer a new beginning for the PDP?
Firstly, political pundits strongly believe that Sule Lamido and his likes will make sure the PDP returns to its cherished initial status—accommodating all people across the nations, running on democratic ideals that allow dissent and contrary views, but moves in harmony and as a family.
Secondly, Lamido will work painstakingly to rebrand the PDP and restore its hitherto attractive national ‘face.’ The PDP is like a bee, with six legs; once one leg is removed, the party becomes handicapped, unattractive, and motionless. This is what the intruders’ and interlopers that besieged the party do not understand.
Thirdly, Lamido is an expert in persuasion, trust building, patiently listening to contrary views, and also a political guru.
These skills of Lamido will be highly useful in time to come in order to return the PDP to the foundation on which its founding fathers built it.
The PDP will not regain its position as a strong and nationally spread political party without having individuals who share the spirit of the founding fathers of the party, individuals who passionately believe in one of the preambles of its constitution: “To mobilise like-minded Nigerians under the leadership of the party to build a nation responsive to the aspirations of its people, able to satisfy the just hopes and aspirations of the Black people of the world, and to gain the confidence of the nations.”
Many of PDP’s followers trust that Sule Lamido will be one of the like-minded individuals that will lead the way in the reclamation of the PDP’s lost glory.
Dr. Sule Lamido (CON) will remain in the PDP. He had the opportunity to defect, but he did not because he believes that defection is not the best way to develop and entrench democracy.
Whatever you see today is designed by God. It is not compulsory to be on the winning side always. One can see the spirit of patience and willingness to accept the will of the people in the duo of Lamido. Many Nigerians are expecting the duo to lead in the rebirth of the PDP, rather than ditching it.
Remember, Lamido is a party Founding Father, one of the original stoics who defied the brutal military dictatorship and formed a patriotic group of committed democrats that later formed the nucleus of the PDP.
Sule Lamido is among the nine people (G9) who formed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 1998 along with Senator Iyorchia Ayu, Professor Jerry Gana, the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the late Mallam Adamu Ciroma, the late Chief Solomon Lar, the late Chief Bola Ige, the late Senator Ella, and the late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi. They confronted former Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha, on the need to quit the office and allow democracy to prosper.
Lamido and Rimi were picked and locked up in DSS cells, Rimi in Ilorin and Lamido in Maiduguri. They were only released after the sudden demise of Abacha.
Lamido, Jerry Gana, and Iyorchia Ayu are the lone PDP founding fathers still alive and on the landscape in politics and PDP.
Lamido has been consistent in PDP. He displays his sagacity in full force. He also deployed his unmatched energy and political skills in campaigning for PDP candidates from the top to the bottom from 1999 to date.
He has a history of radically confronting the military junta of Abacha for the sake of restoring democracy (PDP) to Nigeria, and he was sent to jail several times during the PRP days and the military era.
Lamido was imprisoned for his emancipation of the masses. Some of these things will give him an edge and advantage over other compatriots on the corridor of Nigerian politics and the PDP.
Lamido’s almost five decades of experience in the rough terrain of Nigerian politics is being brought to bear in this election cycle. He is so often in the news for a combination of reasons, including his imposing physical presence, his simple style of doing things, and his solid records of commitment, loyalty, achievements, consistency, and sacrifice, etc., to PDP since its creation in 1998 to date.
Sule Lamido is one of the most experienced politicians in Nigeria and is arguably the most successful governor in Nigeria since 1999 to date. Before then, he was a former unionist (PRP national youth leader), Social Democratic Party (SDP) national secretary, the party that made the late chief abiola to win as a president in the most freest, fairest, credible and peaceful election in Nigeria, a parliamentarian, and a former diplomat (minister). He has made a lot of sacrifices for this country, Nigeria. His contributions have reunited and reawakened Nigeria, and as far as politics is concerned, Lamido is one person you cannot bury or shove away.
Sule Lamido always says his mind, which in all cases aligns with the interests of the common man. He never succumbs to sentiments. He was never accused of bigotry or nepotism. He is a nationalist, liberal.
May Allah continue to prolong and preserve your life’s span. Lamido will keep working for Nigeria for the rest of his life to be peaceful, efficient, united, progressive, and great (excel).
May Nigeria rise again and work positively well. 2027 is a testing year for Nigeria. May God see us through and make it easy for us.
Adamu writes from Kafin-Hausa, Jigawa State.
By Eromo Egbejule in Abidjan
Last July, Nigeria’s third-most powerful man gave a rare apology on the floor of the senate which he heads.
Godswill Akpabio had chastised his colleague Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for speaking out of turn, saying: “We are not in a nightclub”. But after receiving what he said was a deluge of insulting text messages from Nigerians, he apologised publicly a few days later.
In recent weeks, the two have been at the centre of a political row that has gripped the country, after an interview that Akpoti-Uduaghan gave to the broadcaster Arise TV in late February in which she accused Akpabio of sexual harassment.
She alleged that in one incident, Akpabio had told her that a motion she was trying to advance could be put to the senate if she “took care” of him. In another, she said that on a tour of his house he had told her – while holding her hand – “I’m going to create time for us to come spend quality moments here. You will enjoy it.”
Akpabio has denied the allegations.
Akpoti-Uduaghan submitted a petition to the senate alleging sexual harassment, but on 6 March the ethics committee struck it out on procedural grounds. It also handed her a six-month suspension without pay, citing her “unruly and disruptive” behaviour during an unrelated argument in the senate about seating arrangements.
The accusations have dominated conversations and highlighted longstanding women’s rights issues in the socially conservative country, where no woman has ever been elected governor, vice-president or president.
Only four women serve in the 109-member senate, a drop from the seven female senators elected in 2015. The number of women in the 360-member House of Representatives has also declined, from 22 in 2015 to 17.
In a phone interview from New York on Monday last week, hours before speaking on the matter at a joint session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women, Akpoti-Uduaghan railed against her suspension.
“This was orchestrated to silence my voice,” she said. “That action is an assault on democracy … I am not apologising for speaking my truth.”
Women’s rights groups have condemned her suspension, and hundreds of women and girls marched in the states of Lagos, Enugu, Edo and Kaduna on Wednesday during a “We are all Natasha” protest convened by the civil society coalition Womanifesto.
“Her suspension and the process that led to it was a shambolic show of shame,” said Ireti Bakare-Yusuf, a radio broadcaster and founder of the non-profit Purple Women Foundation, which is part of Womanifesto.
Ahmed Tijani Ibn Mustapha, a spokesperson for Akpabio, said Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition alleging sexual harassment had not followed guidelines because she had authored and signed it herself rather than asking another senator to do so.
He also said that after she had refiled the petition correctly, the senate began a four-week investigation into the claims.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, an opposition People’s Democratic party (PDP) senator from the central state of Kogi, first tried to enter politics in 2019 with a run for Kogi governor. Thugs reportedly loyal to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) jeered her during the campaign, calling her a sex worker, and on one occasion attacking her and her driver. “This is definitely not an election,” she told reporters at the time. “This is almost like a war zone.”
Four years later, on the eve of the senate election she was contesting, portions of the main roads leading to her district were excavated overnight. She accused the APC of attempting to prevent her from campaigning. Authorities said they were protecting residents against terrorist attacks, citing a December 2022 bomb blast by an Islamic State affiliate.
She lost the election, but in November 2023 a tribunal overturned the results, paving the way for her to become one of Nigeria’s youngest senators.
Akpabio, a political veteran, was the subject of another sexual harassment allegation from a former public official in 2020. He denied the allegation at the time and recently said he would sue his accuser. He had previously made headlines in 2018 when he predicted an election victory for his APC party by drawing comparisons with Hitler’s invasion of Poland. Last year, shortly after becoming senate president, he was involved in another controversy when a senator was suspended for saying there were inconsistencies in the budget.
After Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension, other senators coalesced around Akpabio, a powerful ally of the country’s president, Bola Tinubu.
One male senator said Akpoti-Uduaghan had fabricated the claims because she was angered by her removal as chair of a coveted senate committee in February. Current female senators dismissed her claims on national TV, while one former senator said Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claims were “a sign of weakness” and that sexual harassment happened only in schools.
“Male senators do not surprise me,” said Bakare-Yusuf of the reaction. “They mansplain even the basic of black and white to justify their selfishness. As for the female senators, disappointed is an understatement [but] like all hegemonic structures, patriarchy also has gatekeepers.”
In the aftermath of her accusation, a false claim that Akpoti-Uduaghan had borne six children by six different men surfaced on social media. The senate spokesperson said a kiss she shared with her husband on the senate premises before submitting her petition was “unspeakable” and an act of “content creation”. Over the last two weeks, crowds of pro-Akpabio protesters have turned up in public to abuse her in Abuja.
“Politicians sided with the senate president whom they believe has the power to grant them favours … and the poor were paid by those who have the most money to protest,” said Glory Ehiremen, senior analyst at Lagos-based geopolitical risk advisory, SBM Intelligence.
Some opposition senators have visited Akpoti-Uduaghan to show support. She also said she had received supportive emails from women across Nigeria, including some who were afraid to speak up about their own experiences. “In Nigeria, most women who are sexually harassed in workplaces don’t even tell their husbands because they are afraid of being judged,” she said.
As the episode unfolds, more women are praising her bravery, but few think Nigeria’s #MeToo moment has arrived.
Ehiremen said an entrenched culture of impunity was a barrier to justice. “The elite Nigerian cannot get justice unless they have alliances with the ‘powerful’,” she said. “Never mind the ordinary Nigerian.”
This was first published in Guardian Newspapers
By Abiodun KOMOLAFE
One of the off-cycle elections next year will take place in Ekiti State, where Governor Biodun Oyebanji will face reelection. Oyebanji has several strengths to leverage when campaigning begins, particularly his efforts to redirect the state’s political economy in a positive direction, as widely acknowledged by conventional wisdom.
Ekiti State has navigated the current economic transformation in very steady ways. The state’s poverty level is relatively manageable, rather than crippling. The governor’s strategic intervention in agriculture has built up buffers of price-modulating as well as supply-adjustment mechanisms. This approach has effectively withstood economic headwinds, serving as a model that other states would do well to emulate.
In many ways, Oyebanji’s agricultural policies echo those of Gabriel Akinola Deko, a former Minister of Agriculture from neighbouring Ondo State. Deko, known for his astuteness, established Marketing and Commodity Boards to shield the masses from inflationary pressures. Oyebanji continues this approach!
The governor also excels in two key areas: infrastructural development and management of the political class. His efforts have secured the Federal Government’s approval for the reconstruction of the Ado-Iyin-Igede-Aramoko Itawure Road. The Bola Tinubu government has allocated N5.4 billion for this project, aiming to enhance connectivity and economic growth. As the state's resources continue to improve, the expectation is that the ongoing Ado-Ekiti Ring Road project, connecting the new airport, will also be dualized.
The dynamics of Ekiti State provide the incumbent governor with a highly favourable position, particularly in terms of electoral advantage. In a country seething in the grip of its own helplessness, Oyebanji has proven himself to be a quality leader! Fortunately for him, but unfortunately for the polity, there is currently no coherent alternative emerging from the grassroots to convincingly challenge his position.
To upset an incumbent, one needs a coherent position, even if the incumbent is laughably incompetent. It is tragic that no such alternative position is in the offing, which says a lot about the current state of politics, not just in Ekiti State but nationwide.
May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!
*KOMOLAFE wrote from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria (ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)
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