Rauf comes across as a textbook case of too little, too late, the<\/p>\n
personification of a black male out of touch with fertility and agility.
\nIt took too long to acknowledge the seriousness of conscience death in a
\nman elected to be the conscience of a people, an under-reaction given the
\nexcessive use of force against the unarmed minds. Then he inflamed the
\nsituation by imposing his foolery in public arenas.
\nI have attempted to refrain from public comments on the failure that
\nAregbesola is until yesterday when I had to edit a news script of an
\nactivity of his at Iragbiji the day before. If he was quoted and I didn’t
\nhave to watch and cast what he said, it probably would have passed like
\nmany others.
\nHe did say that the striking doctors in the state should let him be after
\nall they didn’t elect him and that he would give them transport fare and
\neven one month hotel bill to go to other states and find job if it will
\njust take them away from him.
\nWhat a governor (that cant pay wages say such thing?)
\nI don\u2019t envy a governor in this situation. Who even would? But shouldn’t
\ndecorum has prevailed?
\nIf you act too fast, you\u2019re overriding local intelligence and you run the
\nrisk of triggering a counter-response. If you wait too long, things get
\nout of control. That’s where Osun is headed.
\nUnfortunately, Rauf keeps getting it wrong coming and going, letting too
\nmuch time pass before he showed his face if he has any, triggering angry
\nretorts from residents that as a Democrat he only cared about them on
\nElection Day, then super-imposing a curfew, an economic one only to
\nwithdraw it when again he needs some praise singing.
\nIt\u2019s been a mess all around, this I very well know. Nobody has yet
\nfigured out a way of bringing peace and prosperity to the streets of Osun
\nand simultaneously addressing the concerns of people who are showing up in
\npeaceful protest. The opportunistic looting of Rauf is best termed a
\nviolent criminal element and has created dilemmas for the confused
\ncitizenry and put civil activists (most of whom in Osun are come and raid
\nand not comrades) on the defensive, complicating the story line from all
\nsides.
\nStill, it\u2019s hard to escape the conclusion that a more artful and sensitive
\nhandling of this situation at the beginning could have averted a lot of
\nthis aftermath.
\nThat\u2019s where the opposition shoulders some blame for failing to step in
\nearly and effectively. Rauf’s apparent inability to read the agrarians’
\ncommunity in his state is puzzling, as the people are such an important
\npart of the Democratic coalition. He doesn\u2019t seem to have a feel for that
\ncommunity in a way that a lot of other Southern Democratic governors do
\nhave.
\nBefore Rauf was elected governor in 2010, he served terms as Lagos State’s
\ncommissioner for works, winning plaudits for a reform agenda on cleaning
\nup the streets, reinstating campaign contribution limits, making road and
\nbridges, and creating a new Lagos. Since his election as governor of Osun,
\nin 2010, he\u2019s been loudly promoting himself as a \u201c No common-sense
\nmoderate,\u201d elected repeatedly (twice) in a red state as someone who could
\nput Osun in the Democratic column as, say, a true Awoist.
\nThe dream is over. Now, Rauf is just trying to get through the night. From
\nbeing barely visible in the early days of the crisis in 2014, blaming it
\non Jonathan and the PDP, he is now turning up on every talk show that will
\nhave him and say Osun is in a special state as if we got there by an
\naccident except him as the biggest error Osun ever made. It may be too
\nlate, but he seems finally to understand the burden of communication that
\nhe carries, that he owes it to the citizens in Osun, and elsewhere, to be
\nclear about what\u2019s ahead. The wheels of the criminal system move slowly.
\nThe grievances in Osun State are deep and long-standing, and there has to
\nbe a strategy for the short term, reinstating calm, and the longer term,
\nmaking sure the people are served.
\nI can\u2019t claim to remember everything clearly but I can say we never had it
\nso bad haven lived here nearly two scores in years. I remember being at
\none point in a conference room with the governor and he beats his chest
\nto say as if like a god, awa la Ni Osun (we own Osun). That a man can as
\nsuch arrogate himself shows how things were.
\nRauf has simply lost sight of what’s important. The lazer- like focus that
\ncatapulted him to the top has disappeared and he has become distracted by
\nthe trappings of leadership, such as wealth and notoriety.
\nOSUN SHOULD NOT BE MADE WORSE THAN THIS.
\nIRE OOOOOOO<\/p>\n
Ayo Ologun writes from Osogbo. He is a broadcast journalist and a social
\ncommentator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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