Date Published: 02/16/10

Oyo's uncertain future and 2011 Guber Race

In about a year from now, the people of Oyo state will go for another election to elect a Governor that will steer the affairs of the state for another four years, but the question we should ask ourselves is: "what is next for Oyo State ?" We are in a critical moment in Oyo state. Our dear state is endangered and in peril. The dream that our forebears fought for is mortally being destroyed while the hope of the future is being recklessly dashed.

Our people are working harder for nothing. Only few people know where the next meal is coming from. Mindless politicians are looting the treasury with reckless abandon. Old businesses are folding up, no new ones are coming up.

Jobs are being lost at an alarming rate, and desperation has driven many of our youths to a life of crime. People die daily of ailments that are almost unknown in other lands, due to lack of healthcare facilities.

It is harder to save and retirement has become a luxury because we all live for the present. The future looks so gloomy and too far off that our people do not wish to think about it. And yet, our so-called leaders do not care! This is the trajectory and sad commentary to the often vaunted magic and abundance of mainstream politics. We were promised a better life if we joined mainstream politics as we were assured of improved and massive federal presence.

This has turned out to be a farce. It is now clear that it is not about mainstream politics but rather putting people in the mainstream of politics which is the reason why a government exists. Paradoxically, we are reminded of the proverbial federal presence in the pervasive decadent infrastructure sprawling across our land and connecting us to further stench where their vassals hold sway. Now, we are at the centre, at the highway of stagnation, want, disempowerment, and hopelessness. We witness daily government activities but no government, exemplified by motion without movement. We have occupiers of our government houses but no leaders. Our people thirst for leaders who not only feel their pain and suffering, but with unalloyed and single-minded determination to use the common patrimony to better the lives of the masses. It is only when the people’s votes begin to matter and elections become a mechanism for empowerment as against a mere ritual of selection and a platform of brigandage that we can return to the glorious era of our forbearers when governance was in the service of the people.

This is a challenge for all of us and a struggle that I am dedicated to champion. Let’s make this coming election, an election for change. Let us say no to brigandage in high offices. Let us choose positivity over negativity. Let us extol merit over mediocrity. Let us reject those who look down upon their intellectual superiors when they can only imperil our state and nation. The time is now. Collectively, we must banish political charlatans and opportunists masquerading as leaders from power in our beloved state. It is time to return power that was stolen in 2003 back to the progressives for whom power is the ultimate weapon for transformational governance and institutionalised popular welfarism. The progressives have always made the difference in the lives of the people when we lead them, not by the power of government but by the positive transformation of the lives of the people we lead, not by empty boasts of our sheer size as the largest party in the continent but by the power of our conviction to summon our people to a higher purpose by giving them the best government in the continent.

We have shown over the years that we can make positive change happen because we have the plans, the ideas, the energy, the conviction, the people and the leadership to bring about that change.

Our people deserve good jobs, free and/or affordable health care, food security, improved infrastructure and economic well-being which are the bedrock of the cardinal programmes of our great party, the Action Congress. These challenges cry for new ideas and innovations which will translate those ideals into a practical philosophy of governance.

We have to give voice to our aspirations and dreams and not allow our voices to be drowned by the yell of those who seek to keep us permanently in the back seat.

•Hon Adedeji is a chieftain of Ac in Oyo State