IT is becoming clear that Nurudeen Adedamola Adeleke, the man Nigerians have dubbed the Dancing Senator because of his predilection for dancing with joyous abandon on the campaign trail, is no pushover. The man who was elected senator on July 8, 2017 is now governor of Osun State and has instantly rolled out a slew of executive orders, intent on his agenda. And because this is no dancing matter, the opposition are not smiling. Derided by the Establishment even when developments at the polls in 2018 suggested that he was the clear choice of the people until the controversial rerun that ruined his chances, an exercise panned by the Nigerian Bar Association, Adeleke took the 2018 disappointment in his stride but came into the 2022 race determined to crush all obstacles. He told the electorate, quite unabashedly, that if anyone intended to rely on the rustle of currency notes, the vote-buying strategy called dibo-ko-sebe (vote and cook soup) to do him in, he was more than ready to take them on. He defeated those who claimed to be richer than the state.
Really, the 2022 race was almost always going to be a happy one, because the Adelekes have a special relationship with the Osun electorate, being the undisputed grandmasters of populism. His father, Ayoola Adeleke, was a senator during the Second Republic. His elder brother, Isiaka Adeleke, was both a senator and a governor. As a matter of fact, he was the first democratically elected governor of the state whose very name is now in contest: Osun State vs State of Osun. Yet another elder brother of his, Dr. Deji Adeleke, is heavily invested in the Osun State project via the popular Adeleke University. And, what is more, the latter’s son, pop singer David Adeleke (Davido), has a pact with Nigerians, particularly the youth, that goes far beyond music though it is extensively nurtured by it. Davido, like his father and his uncle, has a heavy philanthropic presence on the Nigerian landscape, and is noted for his studied opposition to the present government at the centre. As the Dancing Senator went into the 2022 race, everything seemed to work in his favour, from politics to entertainment.
The contrast between Adeleke and the now outgone governor, Gboyega Oyetola, couldn’t be starker. A man of advancing years, Oyetola tends to be grave, studied and soft-spoken, but Adeleke is a hurricane—free, lively and in no way reserved–and connects with young people in ways that many can only dream of. Adeleke is trendy, jovial, boisterous, charismatic. And with his Imole (Light) sobriquet, he was always going to be more noticeable than his challengers, even with the latter’s state advantage. If he did not have state power, Adeleke had stage power and by adopting Imole as a campaign slogan, he cast his opponents as darkness and himself as illumination. His victory at the poll is in large part indicative of his powerful deployment of semiosis and symbolism. It is populism writ large, and it can be no news that
his loyalists reportedly slaughtered over 100 cows to mark his inauguration ceremony last Sunday, holding carnivals across the various councils and proclaiming the burial of the erstwhile ruling party.
That is not fortuitous: it is celebration time among Adeleke’s supporters, some of whom reportedly stayed back in Osun after the last Eid-il-Fitr festival just to be able to vote in their beloved politician. Like his forebears Adeleke seems to have mastered the art of giving. In 2017, he awarded scholarships to indigent students in Osun West district to the tune of N 250 million. His supporters have not ceased telling anyone who cares to listen that at his instance, transformers and generating sets were installed at various locations across the State of the Living Spring. He is said to have built boreholes in forgotten hamlets, and habitually donated bags of foodstuff far and wide. At Christmas in 2018, he reportedly visited orphanages, physically challenged children’s schools and aged peoples’ homes. He visited and lightened the moods of patients at various hospitals, and was at Ilesa and Ife prisons. Such is the way of populists in this clime, like the Sarakis of Kwara State.
Because he came into office literally castigating the last-minute moves made by his predecessor, including the organisation of a controversial local government election and the appointment of permanent secretaries, Adeleke can expect war for the next few months. He called for a review of questionable appointments but critics reported a sack, and hardly had he issued an executive order reverting the state’s official name to Osun State from State of Osun than the state House of Assembly became official naysayers. Said the lawmakers: “The usage of the state anthem, crest and flag is an enactment of law and as such, its usage is a matter of law and not choice. The enactment ‘State Of Osun Anthem, Crest And Flag Law, 2012’ assented to on the 18th of December, 2012 contained in Schedule I, II, III, IV and V, which carefully details every component of this law is not in ambiguity.”
But the new name has been declared null and illegal by a state High Court, and federal law, which recognises Osun State, is superior to state law. Yet Adeleke, swimming against the high tide of pen wielders sworn to an oath and brooking no dissidence, will need to stay calm and look at the future with some contemplation.
An alumnus of the Atlanta Metropolitan State College in the United States where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in 2021, Adeleke was executive director of Guinness Nigeria Plc from 1992–1999, and group executive director at Pacific Holdings Limited from 2001 to 2016. Prior to joining Pacific Holdings Limited, he was said to have worked with Quicksilver Courier Company in Atlanta, Georgia, and Origin International LLC, a flavours and fragrance manufacturing company as vice president from 1990 to 1994.
Regardless of his work experience, Adeleke has himself to blame for the questions around his academic qualifications. None of his siblings left varsity education till later in life. Yet his courage in going back to school and arming himself with a degree is worthy of applause: there is a Nigerian president who never went back to school.
It is significant that those who question his certificates, casting aside their own baggage of moral torpitude (apologies to the Bard of Isara in The Interpreters), have not accused him of amassing wealth from years of political manipulation, or having been in a conference with drug dealers. In any case, if his early appointments are any indication, he is on solid ground. The few men he has appointed aren’t straw men, and that surely must count for something. His information machine is beyond reproach.
He danced Buga during his inauguration but like he himself has recognised, he will be judged by the impact he makes in the lives of the people, not what he or critics say. He has said that he will dance when he needs to, but will do the work he has been elected to do. That is great. When a born dancer meets a born drummer, what results is pure art. Let Adeleke dance his dance, keeping the Adeleke name aflame through democratic dividends, plugging leakages to distant lords. By that time, many will join him in saying with pride: Imole de! (Here comes light!).
and then