By Jimoh Olorede
Ross Hickman, a professional relationship counsellor once said: “My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” In human communication studies, it’s believed that a person ‘cannot not communicate’. This is because communication is ubiquitous and it’s an indispensable human attribute. So, when a person decides not to say anything and remains silent, that person is still communicating but however, nonverbally (that’s communication through means other than words, e.g. body language, symbols, and so on).
One piece of communication that accompanies our nonverbal reactions is silence. Most often than not, the meaning of silence depends on the communication situation and context. We convey approval, disapproval, anger or other messages through a silent response. Similarly, Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State is only using a ‘healthy silence’ in his matured response to political communication contexts and situations in the state. His silence, for instance, should not be misconstrued for approval of lies and unfounded rumours peddled against him by his adversaries. The governor only epitomizes a quintessential unique personality. And the strength of his uniqueness is in his silence, no matter the level of provocation!
Nonetheless, with his ‘healthy silence’, the governor says a lot, replies his critics and responds to every communication situation. In his ‘silent response’, Oyetola demystifies the intriguing and machinating antics of his critics to bamboozle the unsuspecting members of society in their malicious attempt to defame his personality. With his silence, the crafty mystification of his adversaries, meant to belittle him thus sway public members to their fold, disappears in the sight of right thinking members of society. Also with his golden silence, the governor says a lot though nonverbally. For instance, he refuses to dignify his opponents’ accusations by not responding to them; his response would have ennobled his critics’ points of view. It is a common knowledge that silence is an answer; it approves and disapproves. People believe it is the best answer for a fool. Moreso, it appears, in Oyetola’s instance, to be the best answer also for a wiseacre, who acts blindly foolhardy.
With his power of ‘golden silence’, the governor has been able to whip up public emotions and sympathy. His silence has exposed the overbearing, overzealous, conspiratorial and sinister mission of his opponents. Consequently, the situation has now become ‘vox populi’ (voice of the people), which is also ‘vox Dei’ (the voice of God). By now, Oyetola’s opponents must have realized that they fight more persons than him; they also have members of the public, who can go to any length to fight on his (Oyetola’s) behalf, to grapple with!
Those who antagonise Oyetola should be ready to grapple with indigenes and residents of the state, who would perceive their attacks on the governor as an attempt to divert his attention from his ongoing dividends of good governance. They also should be prepared to wrestle with state workers, who would understand their antics to mean an attempt to frustrate the governor’s efforts and fiscal strength with which he pays their salaries regularly despite the paucity of funds in the state. Not long ago, the governor employed one thousand teachers in a country where some governors could not pay salaries of their workers, let alone recruiting new ones. Surely, Oyetola’s political enemies should prepare to fight a battle with these fortunate, ersthwhile jobless, but now gainfully employed workers, who would perceive an attack on the governor that rekindled their lost hope of getting a pensionable government job as an attack on their survival.
Osun Council of Obas (traditional rulers), thousands of members of transport unions/associations, artisans, many sociopolitical and nonpolitical groups, trade unions and other bodies, have at different times declared their solidarity and support for Governor Oyetola, passed votes of confidence on him and even endorsed him for re-election. This solidarity is their expression of gratitude to Mr. Governor for his good performance. Obviously, these are other prominent members of public who fight Oyetola’s cause.
The governor’s silence makes a louder noise for discernible ears. Instead of replying his critics verbally, he responds to their unconstructive criticisms nonverbally via his achievements. For, instance, he overhauls the state health sector by rejuvenating 332 primary health centres in all the political wards across the state. He did this in addition to other remarkable interventions in that sector. State Indigenes and residents receive free medical treatments including expensive surgical operations, just as the government further insured their health through Osun Health Insurance Scheme (OHIS). Again, this is another set of beneficiaries who fight Oyetola’s cause.
There has been an impressive increase in the state internally generated revenue (IGR). But for the governor’s prudent, managerial expertise, and especially fiscal innovations as manifested in the IGR increase with which he maintains recurrent expenditure obligations of government, the inherited throat-taken debt would have kept him incapacitated, and the state would have remained stagnated with the status quo on its inability to pay workers’ salaries, and perform other statutory obligations.
Instead of responding to naysayers who continue to cast aspersions on his government, using the inherited huge volume of debt coupled with grossly inadequately low federal revenue allocation as an alibi for non-performance, the governor remains steadfast, focused, unperturbed and resiliently committed to the development of the state. To me, Oyetola exemplifies the essence and quintessence of a good leader in governance.
Olorede is Ph.D communication research scholar, college don, public affairs analyst, and poet. He wrote in via [email protected].