By Gboyega Amoboye
In a letter of commendation sent to me in 1996 for returning an overpayment of Five Hundred Thousand Naira( N500,000.00) to the First Bank, Abuja Main in the course of my duty at NOA, Governor Olusegun Agagu said: “Your commendable act of honesty has once again brought to the for, the age- long quality for which a typical Ondo State indegene is noted for. You have not only written your name in gold as an honest Journalist, you have done our Sunshine State proud through your singular act”.
It is on the basis of this universally acknowledged integrity the Sunshine State is noted for that I predicted that Governor Ayedatiwa would win the contest on the basis of integrity. I described him and his Deputy, Chief Olayide Adelami as men of impeccable character. In allusion to the the great Dr. Namdi Azikiwe during his face off with the then Administrator of the East Central State shortly after the Civil war, Dr. Upabi Asika, “I remember the inscription, ‘Toju Iwa re’ on the body of a Mammy Wagon plying Owo to Ibadan”. Iwa ( manner) is the essence of “Omoluabi”. The Yoruba places a high premium on character.
Even in the Bible, Character is the essence of salvation. In Revelation 22:11-12, the Lord said ‘he that is unjust, let him be unjust still and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly,and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
The Lord visited Ondo State last weekend and gave to every aspirant accordingly. It was easy for me to predict Ayedatiwa’s success after reading and hearing what people were saying about him. As I had analysed, to reconcile his group and that of the late Governor Akeredolu, he picked his running mate, Chief Olayide Adelami a personification of integrity, from Owo, Ondo North. By this noble act, Ayedatiwa has already secured the confidence of the people of Ondo North in addition to his own Ondo South which is expected to be a walk over. The news about him from Ondo Central is that of commendation for ensuring continuity of Akeredolu’s suffering projects. He was said to have promptly mobilised contractors back to sites while unpaid salaries for months were cleared. He embarked on peace mission to communities to restore hope and confidence in the people. Magnanimously, he reappointed some Commissioners who had served under Akeredolu apparently as an olive branch and demonstration of continuity. By these, he had secured some points ahead of virgin competitors aspiring to take over from a tested and trusted incumbent. Above all, there is a law of natural justice. Ayedatiwa has just started the first year to conclude the second term of his predecessor. True democracy should have dictated that Ayedatiwa should be given the right of first refusal. But the APC leadership understands that politicians are incurable optimists and therefore were aloud to hear directly from voters that “there is no vacancy” as I had predicted.
When some jittery aspirants were sponsoring malicious propaganda to discredit the electoral process, I said the essence of a direct election is to ensure fairness and justice to all aspirants. It is unfortunate that some aspirants who scored zero all round the 18 local governments organized a protest for the cancellation of the results as if they could win even if the election were repeated 100 times.
If the APC leadership has allowed for a free and fair election, it is because they are working towards the 2027 Presidential election for whatever might happen now would determine how far the Presidential candidate would go in 2027 in the state. If the APC is ready to repeat its victory in the November Governorship election, the leadership knows that reconciliation would be easier when all optimists, curable and incurable were allowed to slug it out , though some had contested simply to attract political appointments.
With the Primary now over, all aspirants are advised to in the language of Prof. Humphrey Nwosu Chairman of Babangida’s regime National Electoral Commission, “bring the ball back to the center” and work together as a team to win the Governorship election in November so as to deliver the state to the President in 2027. As for Ayedatiwa, it is God’s speed.
*Amoboye is a journalist popularly called, “Governor”
