I admire the exchange of batons in Kwara and Oyo states. In fact, I love it. One is unique, the other is peculiar. What a rare combination! An uncommon tale of two states.
And these two states are very dear to me. I have strong affinity with them. Kwara is my home state, while Oyo has been my state of residence since January 1988. You can now see my empathy for the two states.
In Kwara, power changed hands from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). In Oyo, it slipped from the APC to the PDP. It was a wonderful and pleasant swapping of power and “constituted authority.”
Interestingly, these states are neighbours. So? It was quite easy to “trade off” parties as it were. And they did it seamlessly. No qualms. All the same, the exchange was full of shocks and unending surprises.
The casualties of the new order in these two states are huge. In Kwara, the dreaded and dreadful Saraki dynasty caved in. It fell by the wayside. How are the mighty fallen!
The casualty in Oyo looks like a modern emperor. He has all the trappings of arrogance, haughtiness, insolence and big-headedness. Despite all these eerie qualities, Governor Abiola Ajimobi cringed and fell flat to the people’s superior power.
From “constituted authority,” to contaminated and/or constipated authority. He is one prodigious lesson to be learnt by willing and receptive hearts.
And for the next four years, we have brand new regimes in Kwara and Oyo states. While Alhaji Owolabi Abdulraham Abdulrasaq would hold sway in Kwara, his southern neighbour, Mr. Seyi Makinde, would be in charge in Oyo.
It was dramatic and wonderful. Nothing can be compared to it. It is a miracle; it is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes.
This resolve of the people has deepened our fledgling democracy. The electorate is beginning to distinctively identify and vote for individuals and not necessarily parties.
We are wisely shifting away from sentiments to issues. We are bringing ideas, character, ability, capacity and capability to the table. We are no longer swayed or moved by sheer emotions.
We are seeing beyond our noses and narrow parochial views. We are expanding our scope and space to accommodate our strengths and tolerate our weaknesses.
But there is a huge threat to this positive development. There is a giant clog threatening our wheel of progress. We have introduced another degrading dimension to our body politic. We carelessly dub it “inconclusive election.” And to our chagrin, greedy beneficiaries of this evil are celebrating it. Wicked!
It is getting messier by the day. The alarming rate of inconclusiveness in our electoral process is frightening. At the last count, six states, Kano, Bauchi, Adamawa, Plateau, Benue and Sokoto, have fallen victims.
It is terrifying and horrifying all at the same time. We are shamelessly taking it to a ridiculous level.
This should not the newfound “Next Level” mantra. This path the Independent (Inconclusive?) National Electoral Commission (INEC), is forcing us to tread is not at all pleasant. Glaringly, this is not a thoroughfare. We are not finding it funny. It is certainly not in our best interest.
To make the worst situation even more hopeless, they keep militarising our electoral process. The militarisation is being improved upon by every new election.
Soldiers are being armed for elections and unleashed on voters indiscriminately. It is election war. The unfortunate prey for now is Rivers State. The state was never given a chance to elect its leaders at the state level.
It had its elections suspended despite the heavy presence of military at almost every polling unit. Yet, we are practically leaving Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram insurgents, kidnappers, et al, almost unattended to.
On a costly platter of gold we oblige them to have a field day, unhindered, feigning they have been neutralised or even “technically” defeated. Whatever that means!
A militarilised election can hardly be free, fair and credible. It has never solved the problem, and it may never solve it.
Take-away: Soldiers are not meant for elections. I insist it is out place. The earlier we realise this the better for us, and generations unborn.
Talk Back
Re-visiting Kwara’s O to geeism
Femi, this is a piece (O to geesim: Kwara’s own home-grown democracy), written from the heart, not the head. It is like reading those tortoise stories when I was in primary school: fascinating, intriguing, mythical and unputdownable. Kudos, brother.
– 08034923937
Civil war memoir
Fantastic down-memory-lane write-up of Nigerian Civil War, Baba Femo
My personal memoir goes thus: My father and I were walking to school. Suddenly an army truck stopped and men were being literally thrown into the green army truck.
My father was approached by an army officer in well-starched green kakhi uniform demanding for his identity card (ID). He reached into his wallet to produce his headmaster ID, which prevented him from being taken away from me. So scared was I that my heart almost jumping out of my mouth.
As both of us recovered our posture of calmness, I asked, “Daddy why are they throwing men into the green army truck?”
My father answered as we kept walking, “their action is called conscription, compulsory military recruitment into the service to the nation.”
This was my first big diction or word in Primary Five, which was burnt into my memory by the action of the word.
+17164251671
God bless your pen
Good piece, Femi. May your usual flowing style of writing never cease. The larger project is to unite those of us Yoruba in Kogi with the Igbomina, Offa, Eruku and other Yoruba groups in Kwara State to form a solid Yoruba state and leave the Ilorin, Borgu and Igalla to also form viable and thriving entities, irrespective of the Awoniyis in our midst because, now, the Yoruba in Kogi are even worse off than Yoruba Kwarans.
It is a political project to which some of us are dedicated now but whose fruition is in the future. God bless your pen!
– 08105436124
Masterpiece
Your O to geesim: Kwara’s own home-grown democracy, was a masterpiece. Please, keep it up.
– Pade, 08142083543.
True submissions
Dear Femi, this article titled O to geesim: Kwara’s own home-grown democracy is a masterpiece. I am Igbo by birth but schooled in Ilorin for six years in the 1980s.
All your submissions are true and deserve a place in the National Archives.
Thumbs up.
– Dr. Goddy Okeke, Lagos, 08033442105.
Highest bidder
Judiciary is the architect of its embarrassment. Corruption in the arms of government is laughable. It has made them laughing stocks in the eyes of Nigerians.
They used to say judiciary is the last hope of common man, but that is no longer the case. The highest bidder gets justice because of the corruption in that system.
The suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, should be made to clear himself clean of allegations against him.
– Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia. 08062887535.