He who desires to eat pork will not only wrestle with the pig, he also must win the battle.
It was an afternoon campaign in Osun state organised by APC to ursher
in Governor Aregbesola for the 2nd term. Music and various speeches were
being rendered one after the other. But the major part of the whole
campaign exercise could not commence since the banner of development had
not arrived. Suddenly, there was a noise of a chopper hovering in the
sky. I guess many could have thought it was a normal security routine
patrol until the chopper began to descend.
When it finally
landed. Guess who? It was not the APC Chairman, neither was it the
Jagaban of Burdillion but the symbol of development himself , Governor
Babatunde Raji Fashola.
The people at the arena gave a shout. Even their governor could have been jealous.
As he was alighting from the chopper and walking towards the podium,
Governor Aregbesola took the micro phone and started the praise. That
is the governor of Lagos state, the symbol of excellence, the banner of
the party, the restorer of hope, the role model etc. There was noise
everywhere. And Governor
Aregbesola gave the joker by saying, we will be
using the blueprint of Lagos state to support the on going development
in Osun state.
And everybody screamed again. But the Governor
failed to tell the people that he didn't have the luxury of funds
available in Lagos state to play with. He failed to tell the people that
some shop owners had to loose their shops and selling yards in Oshodi,
Tejuosho, Obalende etc to make the Lagos blue print work. He also failed
to tell the people that those gardens that looked so beautiful in Lagos
state were once people's shops. Few months after the victory, governor
Aregbesola couldn't pay salary again. A true lesson to all public office
holders. There is a point in Governance where propaganda will no longer
be effective. When the people will hold you accountable.
Then
the train moved to Edo state. With all the vocals, aggression and skills
of Governor Adam Oshiomhole, he still needed the presence of the symbol
of development around to gather vote.
I guess the governors could
have done it themselves, but the touch of Fashola seemed to be making
the difference in all these campaign grounds.
Then, it was time
for Governor Fayemi to present same banner of development for the people
of Ekiti state but Governor Ayodele Fayose seemed to be smarter.
Ayodele Fayose who had heard how this symbol was being used to conquer
territories withstood them 48hours before the election along the way by
not allowing them to enter Ekiti. He knew how far the symbol could pull
crowd for Fayemi. And that was the way Fayemi lost out even in his local
government. It was that bad.
With all these movements of
conquering territories for APC, this poor boy was fighting a war within
that he could not speak out to the media. As the end of his tenure was
drawing closer, he knew clearly that his political future was blurred. I
guess if it was a war with Olisa Metuh or Chief Bode George, he would
not have been worried much but it was a war within. Only him could
explain the pressure. He tried to protect his future by presenting
Sasore to succeed him but that war was too strong for him. So Sasore
charisma could not fly at the primary poll. He began to remember
everyone in the likes of Ganiyu Solomon, Muiz Banire, Femi Pedro,
kofoworola Burknor, etc in the past who tried to fight back but had
their political career destroyed.
Solomon Ganiyu demanded from
him a governorship ticket, he asked him to go back to the senate. The
former senator was trying to be stubborn. He told him point clear. Go
and buy your ticket and meet me at the pry poll. I do not think Senator
Solomon Ganiyu could gather up to six votes. He was that powerful.
Immediately Fashola departed Alausa, he quickly ran to Abuja to see if
he could pitch his political tent around President Buhari. At least my
past work in Lagos should speak for me before PMB.
Things seemed
to be promising for him with the newly elected President in the
beginning . He even went to Germany with him. But after that, the battle
within revealed itself again for this poor boy. Yet, he dared not say
it outside. The real war suddenly began. Little by little, file by file
and document by document, his alleged flaws while in office were
systematically being released to the public domain.
Started
from the website allegation, to bore hole, Falomo shopping complex etc.
He tried to fight back by responding starting from the website scandal
but how many would he defend even if he was truly innocent? I guess he
must have been advised to keep quiet. This is what you see when you
perfected and covered the flaws of your predecessor but your successor
failed to cover you.
3 books were launched in honor of this poor
boy for his service in Lagos state, no single leader of APC was present.
Some of the governors he helped to secure victory denied him. Even his
two deputies deserted him. President Buhari could not attend the one
lunched for Rotimi Ameachi a week earlier but his wife represented him.
Here, no president, no wife. Even Prof Osibajo was no where to be found.
In the words of the chairman of the book lunch Mr Fola Adeola as I quote.
According to him, “I believe everybody that came here today considers
Fashola as a friend, brother, cousin, so I greet everyone and welcome
them here. I will also say some people are here just because they are
brave and not afraid. I believe in fullness of time, everything evolves
and dissolves, things come and go. Fashola, SAN and a former Governor is
now the only thing that will remain constant and the people who are
here today are simply telling him that no matter what, they still
remained his friend”.
Hmmmm. What a poor boy.
As I draw the
cotton, In case you dont know, forget what PMB said in the US that the
ministerial list would not be ready until September. The list was
already set immediately after his inauguration but when he went through
the list presented on behalf of south west APC leaders, Fashola's name
was missing and President had to stylishly suspend the announcement.
Quote me anywhere.
So, the recent open war against Fashola had
to be staged play to convince Mr President that Fashola doesn't deserve a
place in his cabinet.
If you followed the Vanguard headline of
Friday, you will read how Fashola was schemed out for the post of SGF as
it was initially rumoured for him. It is part of the war within.
May be he will be considered for another post in Buhari's cabinet as
time goes on. That is left for the president to decide. May be he should
have quit the party or change the game plan early especially at the end
of his first tenure or not. Was Fashola used and dumped by the power
that be in Lagos and APC as a whole? How far can he go in this war? Only
time will tell.
We can only wish him well in his political career.
God bless Nigeria
@tunde_adenuga
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