By Abdulwahab Oba
As the country gravitates towards the 2023 elections, the political terrain in my state is getting more and more interesting courtesy of the poor performance of the governor of the state. With failures in basic tenets of good governance and a record-breaking internal and external debt profile of N52b and $46. 54m respectively, the coast is clear and certain for a new choice and a new thinking.
With an unprecedented opportunity to redefine governance on the principles of transparency, efficiency, accountability, rule of law, inclusiveness and ethical conduct, GAA has remained an island and refused to see, hear, listen or communicate to anyone else outside his anointed disciples. Rather than take the state to a new level, he continues to rigmarole in the circle of vengeance and political arrogance, fighting everyone like a bull in the marketplace. This governor enjoys drenching in illegality and executive recklessness.
So, as political parties soon commence the process of selecting candidates for various elective offices, all hands must be on deck to pick the right successor with required emotional intelligence to succeed this governor. It is yet another auspicious time to decide whether we want to domesticate the marginalisation phenomenon or show the world that we are truly our brother’s keepers and not covenant breakers.
All eyes will be on us because we have a situation where two senatorial districts, Kwara Central and Kwara South, have been privileged to be in the saddle for 16 and eight years respectively, while our sister zone, Kwara North, is yet to taste even a day in the saddle since the return of democracy in 1999. And because the political leadership in the central have consistently demonstrated commitment to keeping the unity of the three districts, it is expedient that come 2023 the governor we shall elect shall come from the North.
We should all support moving the ticket to the North, and that does not make us less devoted to promoting the interest of our zones. We should support Kwara North because of the need to protect the integrity of other zones and cement the bond of unity and mutual trust that have existed in the state. We should support a ticket for the North because that is the only way we can demonstrate fairness, equity and justice, three key concepts that drive the wheel of democracy and nation-building.
We cannot be complaining that the current national government is skewed heavily in favour of one ethnic group, and here at home practicing the same thing.
And I am saying this boldly because the central has demonstrated commitment to fairness and equity in this zoning thing when we sided with the immediate past governor, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed even when three of our own were also in the race.
Kwara North should now be the next beneficiary of that commitment. To me, it is one significant way of cementing our unity as a people. It will be wrong to assume that because of the electoral strength of one zone, then it should continue to subjugate others. No, that is not the spirit of our forebears. That is not the teaching of our religion. Agreed, the central has the highest voting population, but should that privilege be abused and used to slap our brothers who have consistently supported our numbers with theirs? Do we realise that if we give our ticket to another candidate from the central and he wins, that will give the central another eight years? Would a wounded North not support the current inept central man who has only four more years to spend and can then recompense them in 2027? Would they not support this man who has divided us and disrespected all established norms and culture and promoted all forms of illegalities? The man who treats the civil servants with such disdain and disrespect. The man who sacked the legally employed civil servants and termed them โsunsetโ, sued the civil servants even without paying the right minimum wage.
What if the North can successfully convince the South to support them and neutralise the votes from the Central? Can the Central do it alone? Has the Central ever done it alone? Can anyone zone do it alone? Have we not been doing it with promises and therefore expectations that the North too shall have their taste of the pudding? Those urging retention of the ticket in the Central should think beyond their interest even though it is interest that drives politics and politicking. Our individual or group interests should be subjected to the overall interest of building a Kwara where men and women from each political zone can be sure that we care for one another and not that one zone uses its strength to silence the others. This is the time for Kwara Central to play the Big Brother role by using its strengths to support its supposedly less advantaged brothers from the north.
We should stand for a ticket to the North based on competence and through proper consultation and consensus-building as has always been done. That consultation and consensus-building mechanisms can further be subjected to due process through which all and sundry will then participate. A transparent and fair primary will produce a winning candidate for us in 2023. The North also has the competence to govern our state.
I am from the central but I stand with my brothers from the North come 2023.
God is the Kingmaker.
*Oba was the immediate past Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State.
