Its NOT too late
An anonymous writer
A Dancer As Governor
Just when you thought you have seen all absurdities in governance, something weird and strange pops up its head in the land of Oduduwa.
We had a ‘bole-kaja’ governor in the land of the professors whose ND certificate was in doubt. He muscled his way to power but he never disappointed us with his intellectual shallowness and cerebral vacuity. When he was not tongue lashing his seniors, he was busy degrading and even incarcerating Obas or flogging local government chairmen, yes, local government chairmen.
Now, we have a dancer aspiring to superintend over a state with the largest concentration of tertiary institutions per square kilometre of land in Nigeria.
Yes, we have had and still have jolly fellows in governance but those people make entertainment an icing on their cakes of academic accomplishments. This dancer’s cake and icing is dancing and nothing else. Dancing is his main course, the sweetener and the desert in a 3 course meal.
My age peers would remember the Sowanbe governor in the old western region. He liked his green bottle and enjoyed the guitar fireworks of King Sunny Ade. Everyday like Christmas. (Ojo gbogbo bi odun}.
A tale went viral that when he was having one of his usual balls somewhere around Loyola College, Ibadan, the electricity company cut supply. Promptly, it was alleged, his aids went after the manager, pushed him around a bit and got him restore the light and the igbadun continued.
He was not all about merry making. Our governor had other things to offer. He was a general in Nigerian Army who attended choice military institutions. He was at the War Office Cadet Training in Eaton Hall, Staff College in Camberley (Surrey) and the prestigious Imperial Defence College, all in the United Kingdom. When you remember that the investment on a Major in the Army is more than that of ten university graduates put together, you know what it means to be a general. His frolicking was the icing on his cake. His learning and training is the cake.
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger, is an Austrian-American actor, filmmaker, businessman, investor, author, philanthropist, activist, politician, and former professional bodybuilder and powerlifter. who served two terms as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 to 2011. Those were the icing, his cake were his education and learning all the way. (Wikipedia)
James Stephen Peace, is another American film writer, producer, and Democratic politician. Film making is the icing, and now the cake? He attended Bonita Vista High School, where he played football and basketball and was president of the student body. He attended U.C. Davis and the University of California, San Diego, majoring in political science. (Wikipedia)
At home here, we have examples. Desmond Elliot of Lagos state house of assembly is an accomplished Nollywood thespian with a degree in Economics from Lagos State University. I am reliably informed that most, if not all of Adebayo Salami’s (Oga Bello) children are graduates with one of them serving as a Special Adviser in Kwara State.
Falz, the son of Femi Falana, the legal juggernaut, is a lawyer, so Ekiti people will not have any qualms with him should he decide to drop Piano and Saxophone for governance.
But this dancer has nothing to offer more than dancing. A less charitable fellow says the guy as a governor could get carried away and jump out of the governor’s convoy and start dancing to Sunny Ade’s music belting out of music vendors’ speakers on the streets of Oshogbo.
Where did the Yorubas get it so wrong. How did we get it so bad that the best a party could produce for a governor in the west of Awolowo. the west of SLA Akintola, is a dancer without a WASC.
In Yoruba land, a candidate who has to go to court to defend his O Level has no business with gubernatorial election unless as a party agent. This is sacrilegious in a race where children of peasant farmers and plantain frying wives become medics, lawyers and professors.
And come to think of it, his nephew, an A-list musician holds a degree. If it has to be an Adeleke, they should have given us Davido. He, at least has proven immensely successful in music and holds a degree.
This other fellow in contrast only worked at a third rate courier company as a contractor. All other posts held were at the mercy of his brothers not a consequence of his competence and ability. His photographs and videos on the net are about dancing and women, not even one showing his oratory skill or intellectual prowess.
A lazy drone and a spoilt brat. Were it not so, with such cosy background, why was he still struggling with WASC at 21, (1960-1981) when the children of Akara-Osu sellers make 8 straight Alphas at 16. And all he could muster was an F9 in English. No, we can do better than that.
There is absolutely no reason for this dancer not to have multiple degrees. The only reason he is bereft of academic certificates is laziness, indolence and care freeness. His brother owns a university and he is from such a privileged background (son of former senator) that he could earn a dozen college degrees in the USA if he were to spend fewer hours in front of the mirror perfecting his dancing moves.
His supporters should spare us the argument that you do not need education to succeed in life. You may not need double degrees to succeed but you need the basics and you certainly need education to govern a state. How does a dancer without the basics understand planning? What does he know about budgeting and policy formulation? How will he inspire the governed? How does he address the executive council and the house of assembly and what of confidence? How would the commissioners with chains of degrees feel kow-towing to an illiterate governor? You do not give what you don’t have.
Sometimes, it’s unfair to judge people when you are not privy to all the information. When APC didn’t put this fellow on the senatorial ticket after the demise of his brother, I thought the party committed political hara-kiri. Why would they not learn from Kennedy history in USA and the Ghandi in India I said?
Those political dynasties would win any election with anybody from their clans and so are the Adelekes in Ede and Iwo axis in our contemporary politics. We now know better. And no matter what you say about APC, there are some kinds of people who will not make their tickets no matter the electoral value and this dancer is perhaps one of such people.
To the descendants of Oduduwa, this election should not be about Political party or politics. It should be about the quality of the candidates. It should be about the history and the pride of the Yorubas. It should be about where we were coming from. It should be about the hard work and Omoluabi values of the Yorubas. It should be about excellence. It should be a protest vote against indolence and mediocrity. If this is the best a party has to offer us anywhere in Yorba land, such party does not deserve our votes. In Yoruba land of 2018, anybody without a sound O level result should not aspire to be a councillor let alone a governor.
Should we allow this dancer to govern the state of Oshun, it would be a travesty of common sense and tantamount to rubbishing all what our heroes past laboured for. We will be rewarding slothfulness and sending signals to the young ones that you could get to the top by being idle and unambitious. It will be dragging the Yorubas back by 60 years when you had only one or two graduates in a whole town. Our first republic leaders erased that a long time ago and should not come back.
Comedians and alarinjos with perfunctory and laissez-faire attitude to serious issues like governance should be prevented from dancing on the graves of Awolowo, SLA, Adegbenro, Ajasin and other avatars who fought for free education for the Yorubas more than six decades ago.
It will be tragic indeed, if he is allowed to dance to the throne.