EVEN when all is currently calm in Oyo State’s political atmosphere, various stakeholders in the state’s polity seem not to be taking anything to chance over trending talks about the opposition’s plan to take over power “from the back door.”
As a fallout of the ruling of the Court of Appeal on the governorship election petition case handed down last month, the media space has been awash with reported boasts by members of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) that the ground was being provided for the mandate given to Governor Seyi Makinde would be taken by the Supreme Court and handed over to his main contender in the March 9 governorship election, Chief Bayo Adelabu of the APC.
On the level of party politics, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on which ticket Makinde secured the peoples mandate, has severally vowed that no such development will occur, citing ample reasons a mandate with no blemish before, during and after the poll could not be upstaged.
But beyond the party, the people, with whom state power presumably resides, have also been speaking out about the issue. Under different aegis, stakeholders in the Oyo State project are also coming out to protect their interest with regard to the polity. Of note is the recent public outrage expressed by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the unions of teaching and non-teaching staff Oyo State-owned tertiary institutions over the post-election litigation debacle, vowing to use all legal means to tackle what they called “any form of incursion that could threaten peace and smooth running of governance in the state.”
Among the unions are the Academic Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SANIP) and Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education, Nigeria (SSUCOEN) in The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo; Oyo State College of Education and Technology, Igboora; The Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa; The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki; and College of Education, Lanlate.
The unions, in a statement signed by their president, Oyewumi Olusegun, fumed that “it is our avowed declaration that we are fully in support of the policies, personality and leadership of His Excellency, Engineer Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde and that we are prepared to do all that is legally allowed to fight against the incursion of any unscrupulous people or group of people in the state, going by the need to protect the peace and dividends of democracy that we are now enjoying in our state.”
If one may ask; what dividend of democracy are the unions fighting to protect? As expected, these unions belong to the educational sector, a sector that has witnessed dismal attention until the advent of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government under Governor Makinde. In very many years in the history of annual budgeting in the state, no government has voted as much as the new governor voted for the education sector in his first ever annual budget, with a promise to maintain the standard and improve on it in subsequent years.
Indeed, from the very start, Makinde did not mince words in letting the people of the state know that education would be one of his priority areas in governance; he announced the abolition of fees in public primary and secondary schools immediately upon assumption of office, with various other incentives aimed at increasing enrolment and pupils’ and students’ success in examinations. He capped these with the surprise jumbo vote for the education sector in his maiden budget.
Obviously, this is the plank upon which the unions based their vituperations, as they commended the governor’s commitment to education as evident in his allocation of 22.37 per cent to the sector and release of capital grants to tertiary institutions in their said statement.
They had said; “we read with great delight the 2020 Appropriation Bill as presented to the Oyo State House of Assembly very recently. Of particular interest is the percentage allocated to education in the budget presented for consideration of the honourable members of the Oyo State House of Assembly.
“In particular, there is the unprecedented more than 20 per cent budgetary allocation to education, which is almost in tandem with the United Nations Education and Scientific Council (UNESCO) standard. It is worthy of commendation.”
Thus, the unions are calling attention to the fact that people naturally protect that which protects their interest. If the interest of the stakeholders in the education sector is any action geared towards the development of the all-important sector, then, it would be safe to say their interest is in tandem with that of the common people of the state. A government that has taken the interest of the led as paramount will, certainly, command the interest of the people to its side.
Just as the tertiary education unions are warning political merchants not to seek to deny them their victory through the backdoor, other stakeholders have been advising the opposition in Oyo State to wait till 2023 to try their luck again at the poll against Governor Makinde or whoever the PDP will decide to give its governorship ticket to.
Interestingly, looking at the Nigerian polity historically, Oyo State is radically different from other states. When the people follow any politician, they follow him or her with their all. Any attempt to twist the people’s arms has always ended tragic, not only for the actors or the state, but also the entire nation. A word is enough for the wise.
- Adeogun, a public affairs analyst, writes from Ibadan, Oyo State.
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