Oyo State and the Rule of Thugs

Since 2003, the good people of Oyo state have known no peace. Like their kith and kin in Ekiti and Anambra states, they bore the burden of quarrelsome leadership and a morally bankrupt ruling party. The state has been held under the spell of thugs and charlatans for the past five years. Impeachment, counter impeachment, court battles, machete fights and assassination has been the modus operandi of the demons tormenting the state. How did Oyo state get into the mess? How can the good people of this state emancipate themselves?

In Oyo state, Adedibu the die hard political thug and amala political warlord is law. What he does has the sanction and backing of the mafia that have held our nation under a strong spell since 1999. Never in the political history of modern or medieval Nigeria has one man been powerful; some have even compared him to the feared Bashorun Ga of Oyo Empire. His acolytes and scions call him garrison commander…others call him the godfather. He is even oft referred to as god of (Orisha) Molete…what else can a political gladiator ask for? With a combination of military, political and spiritual alter egos that thug called Adedibu has been taking no prisoners. Even the president prostrates and answers to this entity. He was the only man Olusegun Obasanjo in his heydays and he is the root of Oyo state problems and sorrows. While Ekiti and Anambra struggled to free themselves for the manacles of their tormentors, Oyo state remained at the mercies of thugs.

More recently a new dimension and a curious twist have been added to this drama. After commandeering the Agodi Government House for his godson (Alao Akala alias Bobo Yellow), Lamidi Adedibu has now turned his thugs on the civil servants of that state. Common labor dispute is now settled with machete cuts and bloodied civil servants. It has never gotten this base in the contentious political history of that state. Politics in Oyo state is not a walk over –not by anyone’s imagination. Besides the Old Ondo state known for its petition writing citizens hardly could any state match the dynamism of political administration in Oyo. Even military men sent to pacify this state and her restless citizens tried but failed. How can we forget Colonel Usman who sought to shake Oyo people down but was shaken out? The cabinet in Agodi is replete with remains of failed governors and administrators; you guess right- the civil servants were the undertakers.

But as I write, even the much feared Oyo state civil service is now at the mercy of these thugs. All they wanted was to be properly remunerated. All they fought for was a decent pay. Adedibu and his thugs sensing a reduction in their monthly cut of the state allocation will have none of it. They sent their agents of evil to torment the workers. Machete cut of varying degrees were inflicted on participants of a peaceful protest in Ibadan. It was even reported that two women were driven over by hard charging thugs in cars. It was a bloodbath. Call it a set-up; it is the stuff politics is made up of in Oyo state. Ladoja must be having a good laugh now- the local government elections and the salary raise were perfect revenge by his “Unexecellency” on his former masters turned tormentors. Oyo state will have to grapple with this crisis at least for the nearest future until reason prevail and people say enough is enough.

The trouble with Oyo state is the problem of my people: plain naivety. In 2003, everyone near Agodi thought they knew the problem of Oyo state. They thought the right thing to do was to ditch old man Lam Adesina and go with treacherous Lam Adedibu. They may share a common first name, but Adedibu and Adesina sure have different meanings in ijinle Yoruba (ask for translation). The few thoughtful people left in Oyo state before that election warned of the perdition that was about to overtake the land but no one paid attention. Oyo people were carried away by the braggadocio of the military collaborators turned godfathers that oiled the PDP machinery in Oyo state. How can an illiterate thug be expected to deliver what a seasoned school teacher could not bring out of the hat? Leave that answer to the civil service and Ibadan swath that delivered Agodi to their current tormentors in 2003. In some instances, I fail to sympathize with their plight because they brought it on themselves. This is the bitter truth.

It is very hard to get rid of a parasite as versatile as a leach. Adedibu and his thugs are worse than a leach. The people of Oyo State’s only hope of getting rid of Adedibu lies in the Election Petition Tribunal and the hands of the Divine. Only if the judicial process push Akala out and restore the truly elected representatives in the Governor’s lodge and the state legislature will peace be restored. A quicker route will be death, which by all means is a debt we all owe our creator; but don’t bank on it. Every day that Adedibu breathes air, is one a child somewhere in Oyo state dies of preventable disease; it is one day that General Hospital Oluyoro is unable to provide adequate medical care for the pregnant; it is one day extra for the poor student whose civil servant parent cannot afford the private schools in Ogbomosho. It is one deadly day for Oyo state. Salvation is nigh, but when? When will the true warrior men of valor that held the whole of Yorubaland spellbound by their courage stand up from the city of seven hills? When will the wounded pride of Ibadan be restored? When will the mad man that has taken over the village square be dislodged? When?