OGUN 2015 - THE ‘FAIRNESS’ FRAUD The next governorship election in Ogun State will be a contest between truth and lies. Don’t think it’s that stark? There is an ongoing debate amongst political pundits in the State about who should occupy the governor’s office come 2015, and in Ogun West Senatorial District the question raised the issue of “fairness.” The analysis by some patriotic brothers and sisters seem to be pointing out that a child born to a family in Ilaro, Sango-Ota, Owode or Ipokia – all in Ogun West, enters the world with far worse prospects than a child born to another couple in Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode or Remo – in Ogun Central and Ogun East. How ridiculous that sounds? What is worse than sectional warfare is phony sectional warfare. Slippery talk about “fairness” is at the heart of this fraud by politicians seeking to be relevant despite their failures to make the development of Ogun West relevant in their political thinking. No one can deny that Ogun West indigene is yet to occupy this important office, however, is: How does allowing greedy and not that credible politicians that squanders money meant for the people in Ogun West and using this money in ways that will improve their own reelection prospects, make anything more “fair” for others? As said many times, political leadership must be built on multiple principles of accountability, responsibility and credibility, and most especially getting the TRUST of the people. Where all these are glaringly absent becomes an aspiration for leadership by ‘fraud’. There is nothing “fair” about increasing activities of our political leaders that are arrogantly doing nothing for Yewa-Awori communities which has high poverty rate in the state, massive unemployment among our youth, sub-standard health clinics and lack of many basic amenities in Ogun West. These are major problems to society and to themselves. What have they done about those things? What we should not be focussing on are the prejudices surrounding the current debate of ‘fairness’ in the leadership race 2015 as it is being touted by some people, but ask these leaders what have they been doing since 1999 election. Do we not have politicians from Ogun West in previous governments at both state and federal levels since that time? I am sure we know them well. A more fundamental problem with the “fairness” issue raised by many in the debate is the slippery vagueness of the word “fair” about the blame of opposite communities or political parties in not selecting someone from Ogun West. To ask whether life is fair.....either here and now, or at any time or place around the world, over the past several thousand years.....is to ask a question whose answer is obvious, especially in Nigerian politics! Life has seldom been within shouting distance of fair, in the sense of even approximately equal prospects of success. Our political leaders in Ogun West have been at the corridor of power for long but brought little or no development to us but instead squander ever large amounts of resources on irrelevant activities that brought little or no benefit to Yewa-Awori land, and only make the world and our communities more unfair! Will concentration of more resources and power in these politicians’ hands lead to results that might be counterproductive at best, and bloodily catastrophic at worst for us in Ogun West? That is a fundamental question for all of us to think about as we are yet to see their policy papers on any issue concerning our communities. More fundamentally, the question whether life is fair is very different from the question whether a given society’s rules are fair. Society’s rules can be fair in the sense of using the same standards of rewards and punishments for everyone. But that barely scratches the surface of making prospects or outcomes the same. While talk about “fairness” may provide a fig leaf to cover politicians’ naked attempts to grab more power, there is no assurance that they will do the job we will be sending them to do in office. What we need now is getting the right person for the job come 2015.....the job of rebuilding the State which recognises the importance of Yewa-Awori as part of Ogun State and ready to be “fair” to us in development programmes, job creation for our younger generation, good education at every level and strategic health development programmes for all. This requires a bi-partisan approach that will go a long way in addressing some if not all our problems. We need to elect leaders that are credible and incorruptible, people who will strengthen our agencies and ministries, and make them truly independent. The cry of “fairness” may allow politicians to win votes with sectional warfare rhetoric, but will they deliver same “fairness” to ordinary men, women, young and old in Yewa-Awori Kingdom? Changing political party or parties may bring temporary relief but not the solution. No party has protected freedom to adopt an Ogun West candidate to govern in Ogun State because they have different pet interests, but in their own ways these parties infringe on freedom of candidates that are less likely to win them votes in an election. And, as we know sincerely in Ogun West, do we have a winnable candidate for government house in the coming 2015 election?
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 10:12:43 +0000
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