The governorship election in Osun State tomorrow is do or die all over again. Maybe not exactly in the sense in which former president Olusegun Obasanjo used the words in 2007, when he inferred that the general election was for the criminals in his party to lose. Yet, the two major parties – the APC and the PDP – have had such a slugfest that the outcome could truly be a turning point for 2015.

Ekiti was a wake-up call. Most people, especially aliens like me, predicted a clear win for APC’s Governor Kayode Fayemi. In four years, he had repaired the roads or built new ones, fixed the schools and a number of hospitals, put the aged on a stipend and re-energised the Ekiti spirit of noblesse.

Even if Fayemi had done nothing in four years and had only been a one-eyed king in the town of the blind, his opponent, Ayodele Fayose, had less than an eye. He seemed like an effigy from a past to which the people would never return. The shock result from the election, which returned Fayose by a landslide, is not only a lesson in how to fix an election; it’s also a big lesson in how not to lose one.

That’s precisely what the APC is rallying to avoid in Osun. Where the party was taking things easy, leaving Fayemi to do his gentleman-style campaigns in Ado and elsewhere, and Lai Mohammed to issue press statements, the APC has launched a blitz in Osun. Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has gone from door to door, cornered clerics across faith lines and surfed open-air vans to get voters on his side.

He has reminded them of his sterling record of the last four years. He has spoken to them in their own idioms and metaphors, quoting generously from the Quran, the Bible and Ifa-dom to connect with the last doubter of his liberal credential. Where infighting and bad blood undermined the APC in Ekiti, Aregbesola has managed to build one of the most astonishing partnerships of former foes.

Say what you like about Ogbeni, you cannot take away his steadfastness to a cause or commitment to service. I saw these qualities when Osun voted ACN presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu, in 2011, against the tide in the south-west. I saw these qualities in his days as commissioner of works in Lagos and they have not changed in his years as governor in Osun.

His passion to make Osogbo the country’s next commercial hub, which led him to revive the rail lines and fix the moribund coaches; his vision to leapfrog the state by putting the youths to work and giving children modern tools at school make him a voter’s dream and a rival’s nightmare.

A man who has earned my respect for his constancy, I was a bit shaken on Tuesday to find him sharing a soapbox – and even dancing – with Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Isiaka Adeleke, his implacable foes. If these men could, they might have killed themselves at the height of their feud five or six years ago. I never thought their paths would cross again and I bet followers on all sides would have stuck out their necks thinking the same. But as Hillary Clinton suggested in her book, Hard Choices, on Barack Obama’s invitation to her to become secretary of state after one of the bitterest contests, it’s in the nature of politics never to say never.

The coalition leaves the PDP on the ropes. It’s not just their names; it’s the potential electoral value of these former enemies, who collectively come from constituencies that could account for over 60 per cent of the 1.4million votes in the state.

Unlike in Ekiti where President Goodluck Jonathan promised not to interfere only to lock down the state three days to the elections and deploy troops in numbers fit for Sambisa forest, the APC is wiser now. Instead of sitting on their hands and complaining about a monstrous federal government intent on swallowing up another opposition state, the party’s rank and file have embedded in Osogbo, days ahead of the election. Its officials at different levels have given themselves over to the campaign, showing voters why they should vote and how.

The PDP has not been an onlooker. A party used to stitching together its Humpty Dumpty, it has been inspired by its success with Fayose to try to give Iyiola Omisore a new lease on life. I thought the senator was more comfortable with life in the country’s sterile capital in the last four years than he could ever be in Osogbo where his detractors never fail to remind him of the death of Bola Ige. But he is not giving up the fight, throwing in everything he has to re-energise his base.

It’s not Omisore’s mojo alone that the PDP has going for it in Osun. The victory in Ekiti and the coup in Adamawa, which restored the latter state to its original PDP fold, have also been huge incentives for the party. With the party now far better organised, it needs Osun to prove that Ekiti was not a monument to scientific rigging.

Which is precisely why the APC also needs a win – to prove that Ekiti was a fluke and that the creeping fear of a domino effect among its followers is exaggerated.

May the rigging side lose!

LEADERSHIP

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The stage is set for the electoral battle royale tomorrow between the incumbent Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyiola Omisore. The atmosphere is already tense, as anyone that has a reason to pass through Osogbo this week can attest to, as the ruling party in the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the national ruling parties, PDP, are poised for what they deem a game-changer.
Political pundits and electoral star gazers have already been projecting the outcome of the election and most of the fore-casting favours the incumbent Governor. This is understandable against the background of the achievements that the Government of Ogbeni Aregbesola has recorded in the acclaimed State of the Living Spring over the past four years when his stolen electoral mandate was judicially and judiciously restored.
But beyond the well-known achievements of the Governor in education, infrastructural development, social welfare (for the students and the elderly) and others, there are five factors to my mind that ordinarily give Aregbesola an edge over his co-contenders for the coveted Governor’s Office in Osun. These factors, for the people of Osun State that I know, are more appealing than what is known of other contestants especially where one voter, one vote really counts.
First, the saying that the Devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know applies to the situation. Given people’s familiarity with Aregbesola’s programmes, there is no doubt that people would want to give him another opportunity as human beings generally have the fear of the unknown. Aregbesola has been tried and tested, others have not; he therefore stands a better chance.
Secondly, there is something striking in the simplicity and humility of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. In a culture where politicians try to grandstand and decorate their irrelevant personalities with supposedly relevant, even if sometimes bogus titles, Aregbesola is unique. His adoption of the “ordinary” title of “Ogbeni” or “Mr” is a mark of simplicity. According to Mozart, “simplicity is the true mark of genius.” It is not what you call yourself that matters, it is who you are.
There is also humility in the carriage and comportment of Aregbesola such that he is strikes you as a true man of the people. I think this is why many people identify with him. I once watched him acknowledge on a Lagos TV programme that his Deputy is older than he is and he would accord her due respect as a Yoruba man. He invited her to speak and Mrs. Grace Laoye-Tomori also displayed humility in kind.  The mercurial poet, T. S. Elliot tells us in memorable words, “The only wisdom we can hope to acquire/ Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.”
Thirdly, Aregbesola is the type of what is referred to in literature as a dynamic character; he is not a flat one. People connect easily with those who are perceived to be dynamic, not the flat, lame duck type. He is certainly controversial but that is true of dynamic personalities. He takes risks and as the legendary Muhammed Ali, once said, “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
For example, the whole world knows who actually won the Friday May 24, 2013 election of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) through the ingenuity of Aregbesola. Knowing well that the powers that be had strategised that the preferred candidate of the Governors would not “win”, he smelt a rat when the Governors were not allowed to go into the venue of the election with their mobile phones. Aregbesola “smuggled” a pen camera in and secretly recorded the election. It was that video that exposed the “democratic credentials” of our contemporary “democrats”.
Then, Aregbesola appears as a person committed to social justice, one virtue that is lacking in the polity, where leaders trample roughshod on others. While giving Muslims their demanded Hijrah public holiday, stirring the hornet’s nest for which hagiographers spew venom on him, he shocked even Muslims by declaring another public holiday, “Isese Day”, for the traditional religionists. Around the same time, he controversially contributed the princely sum of N35 million to the burial of a prominent Christian cleric, Prophet Timothy Obadare. It was as if he was saying that at least everybody had something and those who did not like it should leave it.
Lastly, one masterstroke that favours Aregbesola is how he has been able to rally the past leaders of the State behind him, including the strategically important former National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party and the same Governor that was ousted for him to assume office, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola. With the array of those opinion leaders and political actors, it is difficult not to win if there is a commitment to one voter, one vote principle.
However, in our brand of democracy, things are not that simple and no one will be taken aback if the popular candidate eventually loses. This is because Sociologist Stahwood Cobb could have had Nigerian democracy in mind when he wrote several years ago thus:
“Democracy claims to be ‘Government of the people by the people for the people’. But at its best it is oligarchy, and soon turns to dictatorship of an individual. It claims to aim at ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number’. In fact, it gives rise to frustration, failure, anxiety, misery. It encourages altruism and a social conscience in its rhetoric, but its policies are selfishness run riot, with no regard for the fate of others. Individuals and groups that get in the way are trampled ruthlessly underfoot. This age surpasses all others known to history in exploitation, profiteering and power-hunger.”
Ultimately, what is of utmost importance is for the state of “Omoluabi”, as the state is now branded, to be true to the spirit of the term. As the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdul Ganiyu Ambali, once conceived it, among the Yoruba, “an Omoluabi is someone of excellent character and s/he is someone who is hard working, diligent, responsible, serious-minded, fair, honest, trust-worthy, kind, respectful and Godly in all his activities.  An Omoluabi values good name more than gold and s/he is a symbol of everything good and admirable.”
As Osun decides, let everyone involved be Omoluabi by making one voter, one vote principle work.
Mahfouz A. Adedimej – DAILY NEWSWATCH

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Download and Share our Countdown Posters. It is 2 days to the Day Osun Decides. Who will you be voting for?  Share with us on Facebook (Government of the State of Osun) or Twitter @stateofosun

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The Osun State Commissioner for Health, Mrs Titilayo Ilori, said on Wednesday that residents of the state  have been put on red alert to avert the spread of the Ebola virus.

Ilori told newsmen in Osogbo that  health education was crucial in checking the spread of  the disease.

The commissioner said that although the state had no record of the disease inspite of  its proximity to Lagos, it was important to put residents  on red alert.
She urged residents to be more proactive in terms of environmental hygiene since the disease could  easily be transmitted through the body fluid of an infected person.
Ilori also said that the state government was committed to healthy living in line with its unique health policy.
“It is indisputable that health education is highly germane for the promotion of health and reduction of diseases in any population. This  informed our efforts to embark on incessant awareness programmes. Inspite of  the fact that we have not recorded  incidence of the disease in our state, there is need for our people to be vigilant and more proactive in the area of personal and environmental hygiene. The means of transmission, which is basically through the body fluid  of the carrier,  makes  it compulsory for us to take our personal hygiene seriously,’’ she said.

Ilori, however, called on churches to be careful about keeping Ebola infected persons in their premises for spiritual healing, describing such act as  “dangerous and inimical.’’
“We are appealing to our men of God to quickly report any case of Ebola infected person to the appropriate authority and not keep such persons  in their churches  for miraculous healing. In as much as we are not doubting the power of God, the Ebola virus is too deadly for an infected person to be kept in a place without thorough medical attention,’’ she said.
She further advised residents to desist from eating bush meat for now, especially carriers of the disease like bats and monkeys. (NAN)

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Incumbent Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, is predicted  to be returned by as much as 65 per cent of vote counts in Saturday’s gubernatorial election in the state, a poll  on voter preference conducted by Upward BAO Consulting, a management consultancy research firm based in Lagos, with associate consultants across Nigerian and UK universities and research institutions has revealed.

The firm said it used survey data to predict voting patterns in Osun in the run-up to the election.

The state-wide opinion poll carried out between Sunday, July 27 and Saturday, August 2, 2014, and in 12 of the most populous cities and towns in the state, also revealed that Iyiola Omisore, candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), would most likely get 17 percent of the votes, while Fatai Akinbade, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), would get 10 percent.

According to the poll, the percentage of Osun residents who planned to vote for ‘others’ or remained undecided was eight percent.

“Methodologically, the poll was carried out in the 12 cities and towns, given the fact that Osun is a highly urbanised state with high population density concentrated in the cities and towns. The poll areas include Osogbo (with 110, 670 voters), Ile-Ife (mostly East and Central with 95,471 and 81, 430 voters respectively), Ilesha (East and West with 54, 746 and 52, 286 votes) and Ikire (53, 487 votes). Others are Ila-Orangun, Ede, Ikirun, Gbongan, Iwo, Ipetumodu Okuku and Modakeke. The 12 cities and towns cut across the three senatorial districts in Osun State,” it stated.

The poll, which also sought to know the respondents’ views on level of performance of the incumbent administration in the state, disclosed that “81percent of the respondents approved that the incumbent governor has performed creditably”, citing the school free feeding programme, farmers’ welfare, O-YES, road networks, and security of lives and property, as indicators of performance. A minority of 19percent believe otherwise.

“Yet, several of those who said they would vote for PDP or Labour said that the APC candidate was a better performer than his predecessors,” the poll revealed. 

 On the possible voter turnout, the survey shows that “a large voter turn-out is expected, as 88percent of the respondents said they would vote and around same percentage said they had permanent voters’ cards”.

 Based on the data collected, collated, coded and analysed, none of the other major candidates is said to have a chance of getting any appreciable number of votes.

Aregbesola is also shown by the survey to be very popular among the indigines and voters of Osun.

“If the election is free and fair, it is postulated that Aregbesola will get a second term, since the overwhelming majority of the electorate want him as a result of performance,” the poll further shows.

“The predictive value of the polling exercise for the forthcoming gubernatorial election is very high. With revelations from across the big cities and towns, having the highest percentage of the voters, conclusions from data analysis show clearly that all things being equal, the incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will win decisively, to be distantly followed by Iyiola Omisore of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Fatai Akinbade of the Labour Party (LP) in that order. Several of the other candidates were not known to the people,” it maintained.

BUSINESSDAY

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I was greatly saddened to read the material written by Mr. Eyieyien urging “The Remnants” to vote out the current Governor of Osun State Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and vote in Chief Iyiola Omisore. I am also still somewhat puzzled as to how what appeared to be an opposition to a bond issue and other sundry allegations degenerated to the running down of the APC as an Islamic party, a propaganda tool notoriously deployed by the PDP through its various organs.

Are we as Christians now being urged to support the PDP or what exactly is the message? Reason, is one of the most important contributions of the Gospel to development. From it emerge the practical concepts of fairness and justice for all, especially our enemies. Which is why lynching, even of an intellectual kind is unacceptable

I am not an unbiased intervenor,   I had the good fortune of  serving in an AD/ACN government in Lagos State. The ACN is a major partner in the APC. I will come back to the PDP APC issue presently.

Also,  I have known Ogbeni  Rauf Aregbesola, Governor of the State of Osun,  since 1999. We served on the policy committees of the then newly elected AD governor of Lagos State. He served in the infrastructure sub-committee  and I, in the Justice sub-committee. I also served with him for 8 years in the government of Lagos State. He as Commissioner for Works and I as Attorney General. I developed a close personal relationship with him.  His early ideological belief was shaped by Marxist-Socialist thinking, which probably influences his left- of- centre world view in governance.  His first son Kabir went to university in Cuba on a scholarship. In 2005 when he graduated, only Rauf and I attended his graduation . He is a devout Muslim but liberal in his approach to other faiths. This is not unusual amongst the Yorubas largely because most families have  both Muslim and Christian members and have always interacted without rancour.  Of his six siblings only one other is a Muslim. All the others are Christians. His sister who is of the RCCG, is widowed ( her husband died a Christian) her two sons have lived with Rauf for years, he insists that they must practice their father’s faith faithfully. They both attend the RCCG.

He and I shared and still share a burden to provide honest, transparent, people-centered governance. He is a scrupulously honest person, as Commissioner for Works in Lagos State he left office without a home and no financial comforts. I know, because aside from my personal and official interaction with him, I coordinated his legal team for the reclamation of his mandate for over three years. I know first hand, his difficulties with sustaining his family, and a small staff for that period. Not surprisingly no one can accuse him in Osun State of corruption. He is just not wired that way.

Indeed,  in keeping with that commitment to serve the people with complete fidelity, his major projects have been solely directed at alleviating the suffering and deprivation of his people. The hiring of, now 40,000  unemployed graduates , the provision of free balanced meals for all primary school children, provision of free uniforms, the provision of  tablet computers for senior secondary school students containing all their textbooks, past jamb questions etc., monthly stipends to the elderly – all of these in a State that is the third poorest in Federal allocations and  currently gets N2.6 billion monthly, a  40 percent reduction from 2013, courtesy of the Federal government.  Mr. Eyieyien perhaps was not aware that even the 10 billion sukuk bond was  purely for the building of  24 model state-of the art schools, most of which are now completed. The Wole Soyinka led Osun education summit recommended the replacement of the  completely broken school infrastructure in Osun State  with schools capable of accommodating 1000 students with modern labs, classrooms, power  and sports facilities. The idea was to use economies of scale to benefit the largest number of students.

When Mr. Eyieyien describes him as “Sheikh” it is clearly to give the impression that he is an Islamic fundamentalist. The facts on the man completely belie this. First, as Commissioner for Works in Lagos State, he built the chapel at the State House Marina. Pastor Adeboye at the opening commended him and remarked that he would be a pastor soon! Within a year of coming into government, he commissioned in Ilesa the Open Heavens Christian Evangelical Arena , a purpose-built facility for evangelism which according to him was to celebrate the icons of the Christian faith who are from Osun namely- the Late  Apostle Babalola , the Late Apostle Obadare,  Pastor  E.A. Adeboye, Pastor W.F Kumuyi and  Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo . Today, his government supports the establishment of  five Christian universities in Osun, including  The Redeemers University at Ede, the Joseph Babalola University, Dominion University , and Bowen University.

How about the composition of government in Osun State? You will notice that his critics are never able to say that Christians are marginalised in government, why ? Because only Muslims can make that allegation! In the Cabinet of Osun State there are 10 more Christians than Muslims. In addition,  the largest Ministries are headed by Christians-  Ministries of Finance, Justice, Education, Health, Environment , Agriculture, Physical Planning and Youth and Sports . The Legislature (House of Assembly), which came into office after he won back his mandate  in  court in November 2010, has a majority of Christian members – 18 Christians and 8 Muslims. Everyone knows that at that level if the Governor does not support your nomination by the party your ambitions are dead in the water.

The State Judiciary is headed by a Christian who he appointed although he had preferred and proposed a judge from Lagos Justice Olubunmi Oyewole also a non-Muslim. Of over 30 new Permanent Secretaries appointed by him 22 are Christians. If  the majority of your cabinet, ( including your Attorney-General), your  Legislature,  Judiciary and top echelon of your civil service are  Christians  how can we in truth say that such a person has an Islamisation  agenda? Surely the least a “Sheikh” with an Islamisation agenda  should do to achieve his objective is to populate the structure that can achieve that objective with Muslims!  It is also entirely false that he patronizes or uses “TAAWUN” guards for his security. It is common knowledge that he hardly even uses any security at all, except for a couple of SSS men, his monthly LIFE WALKS , where he walks alongside his people for kilometres without any significant security cordon was commended recently by a former Governor in the South East.  It is incredible what prejudice can do to us. Everyone in Osun knows that the State was nicknamed “State of the Living Spring” in reference to the Osun River after which the State  is named.  Renaming the State “the Omoluabi  State ” – meaning “the State of children born of God” or “the State of men and women of virtue” certainly gives greater glory to God.

To suggest that benefiting from a   Sukuk bond to better the lives of his  people of all faiths, is  enough to justify the grave allegation of an Islamisation agenda,  is with all due respect , calling a dog a bad name simply to hang it.  I agree that it may have served the politics of religion better not to take the bond, but it is a fairer judgment of his motives, knowing him,  that this was borne out of his desire to serve his people well. The 24 mega schools  with state-of -the art facilities is a quantum leap  in education for the majority of children of the poor who before now schooled in what the Soyinka committee saw as scandalous. The alternative was not to build the schools.

When a man who is doing right by the poor and deprived people  he governs, is being condemned by those of us who are called to serve the poor, the sick, , the naked, and the hungry then it is fair to ask what the values in governance we really intend to promote are? In any event the alternative is Chief Iyiola Omisore whose antecedents we ought,  to put it delicately, be cautious  to associate with.

A problem with uncritically accepting as useful advice  this viciously anti-APC  propaganda,  is that  it throws the baby out with the bath water. So we are now expected to reject the landmark achievements in Lagos, in Ogun ( the huge infrastructural developments), Oyo ( which for the first time most admit is making real progress) , Edo, and Ekiti ( where almost everyone agrees the governor did a good job but Fayose understood stomach infrastructure better!) Or now Kano or Rivers ( where a REAL rail service is about to begin; Lagos is also about to complete a rail service amongst other exemplary achievements )!

It is  also   false that the APC’s new executive reserved its top positions for Muslims! The Chairman  of the party Chief John Odigie-Oyegun is a Christian,  the Deputy National Chairman (South) Engr. Segun Oni is a Christian, so are the National Organizing Secretary Senator Osita Izunaso,  Deputy National Secretary Hon.  Orji Ugofa and Chief Pius Akinyelure , the Vice Chairman of the South West. For what it is worth, there are 22 Muslims and 21 Christians in the APC National Executive Committee.

Regarding the rather thinly veiled  ‘support the PDP/ JONATHAN’  message,  it is incredible that we are invited to ignore the cynical manner that our President Goodluck Jonathan uses Christianity and the church to further his political ambitions. Why are we being urged to support a PDP/Jonathan bid again? The platform has largely on account of its tragic failure to perform, decided to exploit Nigeria’s religious fault lines in the most cynical manner  to win support,  in the process he continues to divide Nigeria in by  the far most extreme manner in our history.

I have worked with many brethren since 2002 on issues around Islamization in Nigeria, in particular with Revd. Ladi Thompson of the Macedonian Initiative and the Omoluabi network. It is clear that Al Qaeda, ISIS , and more recently Boko Haram and their splinters are committed to an Islamization agenda. Their  symphathisers certainly cut across all boundaries. The Late General Azazi, then NSA, pointedly accused the PDP of being behind the escalation of Boko Haram, I have that statement on DVD. The President, also openly lamented the infiltration of his cabinet by  the Boko Haram.

Recently a Nigerian pastor in a widely circulated CD, speaking on the Jihadist agenda accused General Babangida of funding the Islamization agenda from his days as President. Today President Jonathan’s most influential Northern supporter is General Babangida. His narrative unfortunately gives no credit to Gen Buhari, and his deputy Gen Idiagbon (also a muslim) who refused to join the OIC despite pressures. Or that Gen Buhari remains the one head of State who was able to defeat an extremist insurgency, the Maitatsine.

How can we fail to see that the  incredible corruption, incompetence, poverty of 2/3 of our people after almost seven years of the present government is unsupportable? How is it that   Diezani’s use of  10billion Naira to run her private jet ( the same amount of money for the building of 24 mega schools in Osun!) and the complete silence of the President on this travesty does not lead to calling for him to be voted out in 2015?

So the allegation of the missing or unaccounted for 20.8 billion USD with 110 million desperately poor, should be dismissed as pure propaganda? So it doesn’t make a difference to us that under the PDP Nigeria has fallen behind in every human development indicator?  55,000 women dying yearly of maternal related ailments, only recently Stanford’s Professor Larry Diamond compared the yearly deaths of over  300,000 children  yearly in Nigeria to the killing of 800, 000 mainly Tutsis in Rwanda. The latter was described as genocide, what is the description to give to mass deaths of infants caused by grand corruption?

We discredit our treasured platforms such as this when we mask our political preferences with a religious veil.  The vast majority of our people need to be delivered from  terrible want and deprivation, what is required now are capable, honest men and women of all faiths, who know that this country may not long survive the daily punishment of its own people.

Prof. Yemi Osinbajo SAN

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Emboldened by the performance of their party in the June 21st governorship election in Ekiti State, members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been eager to draw, and even force, parallels between Ekiti and Osun States. The PDP folks, understandably, have since been ecstatic about the possibility of unseating — through the ballot box — another incumbent governor of the All Progressives Congress (APC), about redrawing the political map of the South-west once again, and about changing the permutations for the 2015 election significantly in their party’s favour.
They can smell blood already and, like hyenas, they are feverishly going for the kill. However, their Osun war strategy (yes, that is what it is) is flawed because it pivots around the assumed similarities between Ekiti and Osun States or on using the Ekiti template for Osun. And it is a flawed assumption not just because no two states are exactly alike, but more so because the dynamics in the two states are remarkably different. My considered conclusion is: Osun is not Ekiti.
Before expatiating, I want to dispense with two issues. The first is personal disclosure. I am from Osun State and I am a Muslim from a proudly multi-religious family (my mum, my wife and one of my siblings are practising Christians). I have never met or even discussed on the phone with any of the three leading candidates in the August 9 election, including the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), who is actually from my neck of the wood. I am mightily proud of my regional/religious identities, but they do not define me as I passionately believe that the interests of all will be better served in a prosperous and just Nigeria. I make these disclosures because we live in a desperate and dangerous time when some people’s sole survival strategy is impugning motives for positions that do not square with theirs.
The second issue is that there has been a very disturbing attempt to insert religion into the politics of Osun State as part of the 2015 game. Fore-shadowed two years ago by a tendentious and clearly Islamophobic ‘security report’, a major marker on this low-road was the attempt to hang a religious tag on the policy on re-classifying public schools in Osun State. The high-point of this was the orchestrated drama of students of Baptist High School, Iwo coming to school in hijab, choir gowns and masquerade outfits. (Incidentally I did my A’ Levels in the same school between 1984 and 1986). I am sure there are many serious grounds to savage the school re-classification policy. But that would require a lot of rigour and would not be as sexy as flashing the religious card. And it is not surprising that attempts have been made to turn this into a hot-button issue in this election. But it is not flying.
This lazy but dangerous attempt to politicise religion doesn’t take adequate cognizance of the place of religion in Yorubaland. While it is important to be sensitive, religion is not politically mobilisable in Osun State and among the Yorubas in general. Let me start with Iwo, the site of that high school drama. I am from Iwo, one of the towns with the highest concentrations of Muslims in Yorubaland. Iwo used to have a sharia court, presently has a sharia college, still has a whole compound named after sharia judges (Ile Alkali) and is the birthplace of an ultra-conservative Islamic sect called Islaudeen. But this same town has a huge population of Christians and traditionalists.
In my own immediate family, we have a generous mixture of all. Though my side of the family is mostly Muslim, I went to Sunday school as a kid and did Christian Religious Studies till A’ Levels. My Christian cousins feel comfortable in the mosque the same way I feel in a church. We even had an uncle who was a babalawo, had an imposing shrine of Esu in front of his house, and had his own masquerade. In Iwo, the same way people travel home for Ileya and Christmas is how they troop home for Egungun festival (Odun Eegun). And there is this common knowledge that if you unmask a masquerade, most likely the man behind the mask will be a Suraju or a Sunday. That’s Iwo and most of Yorubaland for you!
By nature, Yorubas are polytheists and any attempt to manufacture religious tension among these religiously liberal people does not show a deep understanding of and enough respect for the people. Pre-Abrahamic religion, a Yoruba man who was a farmer during the day, a hunter at night and a diviner in his spare time would worship Orisa Oko, Ogun, and Orunmila without any conflict, while his wife could be a worshipper of Osun and husband and wife would eagerly support each other during the festivities for their various gods. Centuries after the introduction of Islam and Christianity (in that order) to Yorubaland, not much has changed.
It is very convenient for the religious entrepreneurs to forget, but the immediate past administration in Osun State had Christians as governor and deputy governor in a state that has at least equal number of Muslims and Christians (if not more Muslims), and not once was it an issue. For those desperate for something to mobilise especially for 2015, my free advice: don’t impose your atomized and competitive view of religion on a different context.
Now to the main issue.  I think Osun is different from Ekiti for five reasons. One, PDP is going into the Osun election fractured. Senator Isiaka Adeleke, former governor of the state is now with APC. (This is the man who the Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Jelili Adesiyan, has threatened to beat up when he leaves office.) Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former governor of the state and displaced National-Secretary of PDP, is definitely not actively campaigning for PDP. Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, former secretary to the state government and once a major pillar of PDP in the state, is now the candidate of LP. All these will chip away at the traditional base of PDP, and politics is a game of addition not subtraction.
Two, the APC candidate (as pointed out by Simon Kolawole on this page yesterday) has had enough time to address his vulnerabilities. The Osun government is thrashing about to pay pension and salary arrears and compensations and trying hard to pacify the disaffected. The PDP campaign is legitimately interrogating where the money came from and the possibility of future default. But it is doubtful if the PDP is getting traction on this. More effort seems to be invested on the ill-advised religious tag (which, if anything, will work more in favour of the incumbent). Attempts have also been made to explore the lukewarm relationship between the governor/his god-father and traditional rulers. But while the Yorubas respect their Obas, they don’t generally wait for them to tell them who to vote for.
Three, the demographics favour the incumbent, unlike the situation in Ekiti. Majority of the voters are young people who have benefited from a phalanx of job-creation initiatives of the incumbent. You can argue about the quality of jobs and level of compensation, but for most of this class of voters it will be a question of the bird in hand versus the one in the bush. Apart from the school kids, the major beneficiaries of the O’Meals scheme of the incumbent are women and women are known to be loyal voters.
Four, the major deciding factor in Ekiti was that PDP featured a very popular candidate. Despite having been a deputy governor and a senator and having gained some bounce from the Ekiti effect and from federal support, Senator Iyiola Omisore is yet to command massive following beyond a few of the 30 local government areas of the state. His recent corn stunt and his party’s huge war chest have not transformed him overnight into a man of the people. Then there is the not-so-small matter of the dark shadows that the gruesome murder of Chief Bola Ige casts around him, even when he and his associates have not been found culpable by the courts. In Osun, Ige is still a factor.
Five, and most important, the PDP machine is ranged against a genuinely popular candidate. Definitely cut from a different cloth from our current crop of staid politicians, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola effortlessly combines a bit of the rhetorical flourish of Chief Ladoke Akintola with the street smarts of Alhaji Busari Adelakun and the common touch of Alhaji Adegoke Adelabu (Penkelemesi). Beyond his achievements (Opon Imo, for one, is simply sui generis), he is a real politician: persuasive and tactical, simple and tough, intellectual and populist. This doesn’t necessarily mean the election will be a cakewalk for him. But if PDP, armed with federal muscle and money, thinks it has found another easy target, it needs a serious rethink.
THIS DAY

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Osun Governor Rauf Aregbesola receiving blessings from the State Chapter of Labour Union after endorsement of his Re-election in Osogbo, the State Capital on Wednesday 06-08-2014

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The government of the State of Osun says it is building multi channel roads all over the state, this it believes will stimulate economic prosperity of a state once described as civil service state. In this report, Seun Akioye looks at how the road projects have affected the common Joe.
It was not a political rally, at least not yet. It was a different kind of rally, one that the supporters called ‘the peoples’ rally’. At about 3:pm on the afternoon of Tuesday  April 15 2014,Governor Rauf Aregbesola rode into the city of Ilesa in an open roof white jeep and a  convoy of about six vehicles. He was dressed in a white lace that fitted his frame and a blue cap sat proudly on his head; a dark sunshade protected his eyes from the blinding rays of the sun.  Immediately, a crowd gathered and as the convoy progressed into the heart of the city, thousands of enthusiastic supporters joined in forcing the convoy to move at a snail pace.
The governor waved at the people, sometimes gave the victory sign and danced to the impromptu music of the okada riders and other supporters who ran alongside his motorcade. He bonded with the people who feel they can honestly lay claim to him as one of their own.
In the last one year, Governor Aregbesola’s administration had built 29.71 kilometers of roads round the city of Ilesa.  The new roads were located in 15 streets all over the city. It was like a ring road connecting different sections of the city so that if one began from one end, one can end up at the same spot going round the city. That was what Governor Aregbesola did when he rode into town to commission the roads, he spent over one hour inspecting all 15 roads and ended up at the Ibala road community primary school venue of the ceremony, where several thousands of people were already waiting. Time was 4:30pm.
Governor Aregbesola said his overriding ambition is to regain Osun’s place as the economic hub of the Southwest outside of Lagos and because the state is bordered by five different states of the Southwest and North central, it serves as a veritable alternative to Lagos in trade and investments. So the governor thought of linking the state with the railway and constructing standardised access roads into the state. The road construction too would serve as internal economic stimulus for the state. So almost four years into this plan, how has the state managed to achieve its objectives?
“We just want the roads fixed”
Government agencies said that the construction of 15 roads in Ilesa was unprecedented in the history of the state. Instructively, many of the residents shared this sentiment.  At the ceremony to mark the commissioning of the roads, about 15 traditional rulers both within the state and outside graced the occasion.  Speaking for the royal fathers, the Owa Obokun of Ijeshaland, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran said the administration of governor Aregbesola has made the biggest developmental impacts in the state. He mentioned the constructed roads as being unprecedented and threw in a clincher. “I can even say it was during your administration that I gave birth to twins,” he told the governor.
But it wasn’t only the royal fathers that appreciated the benefits of the new roads in Ilesa, the people do too. Mary Oyeleye, a resident of Omo-Olupe Street,  Bonnke area just opened a new business where she sells food items.  About a year ago, this had been impossible to accomplish and the reasons are not far -fetched.
“We have really suffered in this Olupe Street. Before the road was constructed, this whole area was flood and muds especially the Bonnke area. There was a river there and only okada can pass through this area, when you get to Bonnke, then you have to roll up your dress and wade through the mud and river. There were houses that have been submerged in the river too. This place was a nightmare,” she said.
The bad condition of the road also had its negative economic impact. Being a major link road to several towns including Ijebu ijesa, Osogbo and Akure, the road had been completely deserted by all commercial interests, shops closed down and residents began to move out of the area.
About a year ago, work began on the road and the when the construction was completed the area took on a new image. Apart from the standard construction, Omo-Olupe Street has opened for business. “We built these stores last December because the road is now passable. Also all the commercial buses are now using this road so it makes it busy. We are grateful to the governor for doing this; he has totally changed our lives,” Oyeleye said.
Omo-Olupe is not the only street opened for business, the whole of Ilesa is. From one street to the other, residents spoke of years of decay and neglect but which has been reversed by the construction or rehabilitation of the roads. Omi-Eran road for instance according to some of the engineers from Ratcon Construction company-the company responsible for the construction of the roads- was a terrible specimen of a township road.
At the ceremony to commission the roads, the residents discussed the impacts of the new developments in the city.  They were not the only ones to marvel in wonder, the governor did too. “As we drove round the roads today with the people, I was just wondering about what God can do. I was thinking to myself that to have 29 kilometers of roads round Ilesa, this is the first time in the history of this state. I was just thanking God,” the governor said, his eyes dilating with excitement and his voice rising in a sing-song. The crowd caught the bug of his excitement and somebody raised a song loosely translated to thanking God for a new era.
The excitement about the new roads however transcends Ilesa, in Osogbo, where several township and inter- city road constructions have been done and still ongoing, the physical outlook of the city has changed, probably forever.  In Osogbo, the philosophy behind the road constructions remains the same; that is opening up economic opportunities for many of the residents of the state, from the bottom up approach.
Mercy land area, a large residential and business settlement in Osogbo with thousands of residents now wears a new look. It is one of the several Osogbo township roads constructed over four months ago which linked several neighbourhoods. In Mercy land area- which conveniently sits on a small hill- there are about 10 newly constructed roads, linking one street with another up and down the hill.
Kayode Oyediran has operated his tie and dye business from Omonike crescent for five years now but according to him it was only this year that any meaningful improvement has occurred in the area. “Because the whole of Mercy land area was in a terrible shape, you find that people cannot move as freely as they want. The consequence of that is business concerns were affected. Here, it was only those who had okada that could work here,” he said.
But things have changed for his business.  Because of the newly constructed roads in the neighbourhood he could easily move his raw materials into site and also his finished goods out of his business premises. “I think on the issues of road construction, I will give the governor a pass mark. This is not the only road he has done, if you go across Osogbo, there are so many inner roads like this that have been done. Osogbo has really changed,” Oyediran enthused.
The residents of Oke Arugbo’s 12 zones neighbourhood also believe their newly constructed roads will facilitate business development in the area and boost real estate.
According to Chief Titus Osobu, the chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Atakumasa West in Ilesa but who owns a house in Oke Arugbo zone 2, the development in the area has been unprecedented.  “I came here about 20 years ago but this type of development has been unprecedented. There were times we had given up but today, we thank governor Aregbesola for doing this road for us.”
“ We never expected our road will be fixed in 10 years, this governor has really tried and we really appreciate him for that. Tell him we are grateful recipients of all that he is doing,” Titilayo Adetoun, a resident of zone 3 who followed the profession of tailoring said.
Though the construction of roads in Oke Arugbo still has about four zones to be completed, the revolution was already catching on in all the zones. “Zone 8 where I live is yet to be constructed, but we can drive on good roads up to this point. We are certain the government must complete all the remaining roads to have a complete development,” Mrs. Adebola Adeseye said.
Outside the township roads in Osogbo, there are major inter –city construction being undertaken by the Aregbesola administration. One of the major road constructions embarked upon is the famous Oba Adesoji Aderemi bypass.
The story behind this massive 17.5 kilometer road within Osogbo metropolis is as interesting as the construction itself. According to government officials, the aim of the road is to complete the ring road round Osogbo .
Sabitu Amudah, an engineer and Special Adviser to the governor on works is the man in charge of the various road constructions. The Oba Adesoji bypass is one of the projects that give him some of the most pleasure and when he talks about it, it shows.
“It’s a roundabout that connects Iwo road and the West by-pass. It ended there before, but we now want to complete the loop, we want to finish the ring. It starts from Iwo road roundabout and goes the whole of 17.5 kilometers to link back to the roundabout at Ikirun road, so that you have a complete ring road round Osogbo,” he said.
Going through the length of the on-going construction is instructive about the determination to the government to bring massive development to that part of the city. A Turkish construction company, Slava-Yeditepe had the task of boring through rocks and wading through rivers to construct the new bypass. From Iwo roundabout from Channel 0, work according to government is about 40 percent completed.
When The Nation visited the site, workers were seen engaged in the road work. Between channels 0-4, new bridges were springing up over railways and dual carriage ways took the place of deep forests. At Abere junction, a flyover would pass over it to link the road with Oke-Ijetu/Ilesa garage. According to Edwin, one of the site engineers, the flyover will have four loops and ramps to divert traffic. When completed, it will be the first flyover in Osogbo. The engineer also said the road being constructed is of the highest standards using 30cm stone base. Another source inside Slava- Yeditepe also said the roads are being constructed to last 40 years.
Even though many houses were demolished in many neighbourhoods, the people continue to look ahead to the economic prosperity it will bring. They don’t have to wait for long as the road has been throwing up business and developmental opportunities.
“ I give this road two years and you will see a business district here, you just need to picture the road the whole stretch and you can imagine the endless possibilities for business development,” Edwin said.
Alhaji Moruf Adenekan, who lives around testing ground area, corroborated this view: “Everywhere on this road people are buying up land. I know the land is appreciating now; people are buying up to build shopping malls and other things. If you have the money, it is a good business deal to buy land here even for resale later on.”
The economic benefits are not lost on Oladele Akindele, who owns a business on Oke-Ijetu too. “ Well, there are many houses that were demolished, I don’t know if they had been compensated because mine was not demolished, but this road will bring development to this area, that is for sure,” he said.
Another road generating interesting permutation is the Oshogbo Ikirun road which began from the old garage and terminated at Ila-Odo /Kwara state border. It is being handled by a wholly indigenous construction company, Sammya Constructions. The former single carriage way has been made into a dual carriage way, completed with drainage one meter deep and wide. Construction too is almost at 40 percent completion.  Businesses that were disrupted before have reopened. One of them is Best Oyin Aluminium Company.  “During the construction we had to cope with a lot of things, but now we are very happy because business here has improved,” says Yessuf Dada, one of the workers.
But the progress did not come easy. From the old garage to Aiyetoro many buildings had to give way despite this however,  Moruf Adeyemi, a traffic warden says his job has been made easier with the new road.
One of the greatest beneficiaries is Elder Olalere Isaiah, a steel worker at the Kobo area said: “We have not seen this kind of governor before in Osun, this area was the home of flood, when it rains we experience massive flood. But with the drainage, this place is dry and our business has improved.”
Engineers at Sammya said there were various impediments which necessitated an extension of the time needed to finish the job. “We had to deal with the telecommunications  and power cables. We have written to them to move them and even electricity poles have to be moved, all these take time, that is why we have to request for a little extension to finish,” a source said.
The Gbogan/Akoda/Ede expressway is another massive inter- city road network being constructed by the government. According to Amuda, the thinking behind this road is to facilitate the movement of goods into the state. “We want a situation where coming from Lagos, you can continue with the same dual carriage way into Osogbo. We already have mapped out how this will benefit commercial activities in the state, that is why we are into all these road constructions,” he said.
But the people begged for more. Olaleye from Omo-Olupe Street, Ilesa said the residents still need a speed breaker on the road to prevent future accidents. Dada also wants a speed breaker on the Ikirun road while Isaiah wants the government to complete the inner roads around the Kobo area.
At the Ikirun Thursday market, sellers mingled with buyers even as they watched the tractors move into town and a part of the market disappeared to pave the way for the new road. “It’s our market but the government is trying to bring improvement to the state so we are happy even if a part of the market is going,” a representative of the market leader told The Nation.
THE NATION

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