Lam Adesina, Ibadan’s new political godfather?

Posted by emotan.wordpress.com on May 1, 2011

Tola Adenle

The news report that Alhaji Lam Adesina, Chairman of the ACN in Oyo State asks Oyo’s Governor-elect, Abiola Ajimobi NOT to probe the outgoing governor is troubling. The incredible suggestionwas widely carried by other newspapers, including the Punch but below is excerpted from The Nation:

“… While lauding the people of the state for voting massively for the party during the election, the former governor promised that the party hierarchy would prevail on the governor-elect not to probe the outgoing administration.

It will be recalled that Ajimobi had at a news conference on Thursday promised to probe the activities of the Alao-Akala administration.

But Adesina said that rather than probing the PDP government, Ajimobi would concentrate on his work as the state governor with a view to showing the people that the ACN government is a better alternative.

He said: “We will prevail on him not to probe Alao-Akala. He (Ajimobi) will concentrate on his work.

“The EFCC and other agencies are there to do the work of probing. What we shall do is to work hard to show the people that we are a better alternative.”

This bizarre unsolicited advice to a governor who recently vowed not to listen to any godfather because, in his reported words in newspapers, “those who know me know that I don’t believe in godfathers …” – was so surprising and so out of tune with the ethos of the Action Congress  – that I submitted the following two quick blogs:

///THE NATION, Saturday, April 30, 2011

TOLA ADENLE

Alhaji Lam Adesina, this is worse than embarrassing; it’s disgraceful. It’s like Ladoja, Ibadan spoilsport who almost derailed Ajimobi’s election declaring Obasanjo as the impediment to a PDP victory! As far as the West is concerned, your declaration is almost treasonous. Happily, Ajimobi told the world BE4 the election that he will not answer to any godfather. Leave the Governor-elect alone to do whatever he thinks is the right thing to do. You had your chance.

TOLA ADENLE

Postscript for the records: Ladoja is Accord Party, better known as Egbe Honda Accord onidaru [A party set up to upset how things should go]. Ladoja was disgraced by the same General Obasanjo out of the PDP and we are all at a loss in Oyo State his stake in getting PDP a victory. Go figure.///

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LAM ADESINA, the new Ibadan political godfather?

Ibadan politics has always been less than easy to understand but the current trend is even more baffling.  First, we have Ladoja, a former governor who was not only disgraced out of office by Obasanjo but is now politically buried in his native Oyo State in this recent election, thanks to what Ibadan people believe is his just dessert for his spoilsport role.  We all recall that the former president not only laid the egg that hatched Ladoja’s impeachment as governor but was also the bulwark of support for late Adedibu, Pied Piper of amala politics: he reportedly once suggested Ladoja share Oyo State security vote with Adedibu!

It is a new era but Ladoja is proving the old saying right: you cannot teach an old dog a new trick.  During the ’07 elections, Ladoja, a solid member of Nigeria, Inc. from his PDP days, flew the flag of the Action Congress, improbable as that might be back then but after losing to Governor Alao or Governor Alao-Akala, his former deputy who had become governor after his impeachment, Ladoja, like AC’s presidential candidate, Atiku,  returned to his natural habitat: the PDP, Africa’s largest party whose umbrella insignia does not guarantee welcome to all and sundry.  I wrote “Ladoja returns to his v – - – -” following the act.

Now, the papers have carried reports of the former governor lambasting the former president of causing the loss of the PDP in Oyo State’s recent elections.  Pardon me, this guy is supposedly now a member of the Accord Party!  Why should he care if the PDP lost, especially since it was a loss for his former deputy who – so to say – sat at the feast of his quartering?

Another Ibadan guy – forget whatever late amala politics exponent said about poor Lam (that he’s Nupe or whatever!) is now pleading for the candidate of his party, the Action Congress of Nigeria NOT to probe former governor, a PDPer as it would “distract” him from his job.  C-r-a-z-z-z-y, a Ross Perot choice of song after his independent candidacy got Bush the First ambushed on the way to a second term and gave Clinton a victory.

I say, those who make up the “party hierarchy” of the Action Congress in Oyo State, ESPECIALLY Lam Adesina who has come out to say they “will prevail on Ajimobi not to probe” the former governor do not have the interest of the masses and that of the state at heart.  Mind you, I have no idea what – if anything – the former governor may have to hide that Lam would be his advocate or – pardon my usual cynicism – what could be in it for Lam and the “party hierarchy” – IF Dr. Alao-Akala is not probed.

Whether to probe or not should be the sole decision of the new governor AFTER his  team would have reviewed the books of the State since the past governor’s tenure started.

God moves in mysterious ways.

Ibadan did not become Yoruba political capital because of its sheer size although it was always much bigger than her other cities.  Its politics centered around people with strong conviction and stronger character.  Take your mind back to Adelabu Adegoke penkelemesi era and a political song that showed the city’s total commitment to a “son of the soil” and his party, the NCNC:  Adelabu ma a ko ‘wo wan a; Igunu l’o ni Tapa, Tapa l’o n’Igunnu.  My translations are never good but this was the indigenes’ response to the opposition Action Group’s allegation of Adelabu enriching himself at the city’s expense.  The guy, the song says, should do what he liked with them because of their absolute commitment and faith in his political leadership.

While the city – with an accurate population that would dwarf several states in Nigeria – still must have innumerable people who are replicas of those of the Yoruba warring era, their voices seem now drowned out by the amala politics that merely germinated under the late enforcer who parlayed his capabilities to ensnare political positions for his family, including a London “returnee” who was a senator now swept away by The Broom Revolution.  If truth be really told, amala politics was planted under the mainstreaming madness of you-know-whom who more than muddled Yoruba politics – and Nigeria’s – enough that a person running for governor in Oyo State was perhaps so confident of “victory” the PDP way that one of his zillions of posters right in Ibadan near the homes of two prominent Ibadan elders had “Ibadan or no Ibadan …”!

I believe most Oyo indigenes and residents who voted for Ajimobi would agree with me that Alhaji Lamidi Adesina and his “party hierarchy” in the state are really on their own regarding their absurd request.