Ayedatiwa’s years of the locusts

Until last week’s bloody clash, governance in the Sunshine State of Ondo was the proverbial upholstery (furniture) which shielded a generation of filth (egbin) from the glimpse of the world. The ward congress of the State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, which left two people dead and several others injured, brought out all the muck. The bloodbath was attributed by many stakeholders to the State governor, Lucky Ayedatiwa’s now well-known ambition to stay put, in the lingo of Pidgin English speakers, for a third term.

Daring ones among the people of the state even claim that the disruption of a stakeholders meeting presided over by the state chairman, Ade Adetimehin, by political thugs was part of the ploy to reincarnate the narrative on General Sani Abacha’s self-perpetuation in office. Raphaël, Adetimehin’s brother, was brutally attacked in the suspected political thugs at his ward in Idanre. He was said to have been shot and stabbed, in an operation in which the party chairman was thought to have been the one targeted. Ade Adetimehin’s senior ward was said to be the target.

Since Ayedatiwa came into the saddle two years ago, having replaced the late Rotimi Akeredolu, his boss, it has been sorrowful tale of retarded and arrested development for Ondo State. Recently, inhabitants of the state covered their faces in shame as government rolled out “celebration” of what it said were its achievements in office. An ear-marked commissioning of road projects that Akeredolu had almost completed and ones that even a local government would be less proud to hoist for mention were all Ayedatiwa could boast of in two years. The Igoba, SIB Extension, Afunbiowo Housing Estate, Ayegunle Irowo-Oka, and a couple of other roads were showcased. State-wide condemnation stampeded government into suddenly putting the commissioning under wraps.

Those who accuse previous governments in the state of failure to jump-start the state so as to compete with other states of the Southwest see Ayedatiwa as the limit. Of all of them, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and Olusegun Mimiko are hoisted for their remarkable developmental strides. The situation in the state, that apart from tokenism, the state is so backward and cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with any state in the region.

But is the fault in the people’s star? Why are Ondo people always this unlucky? Yes, Ayedatiwa is an accidental leader. It is why every government must ensure that spare tyres are not prowlers as deputy governorship candidates. As proven now, situations could change and what was thought to be spare becomes the original. Ondo State’s experience in this regard has been distressing. There is absolutely no new development that can be pointed to despite the billions of Naira accruals from IGR and federal allocations.

Indeed, the Ayedatiwa years are appearing as the years of the locusts. The onus is on the people to guard their loins. Anybody angling to lead the state must be known to have resolute inner pedigree of commitment. No longer should voters with talons soaked in blood and greed be ever allowed to mount the saddle of the Alagbaka House. As a writer-warfarer friend of mine often says as signature tune of his Facebook narratives: This, too, is my 10 Kobo advice.