The dynamics of Ogun politics

Another season of politics is here again in Nigeria with all its excitements. As usual, gladiators of all hues are already up in arms, jostling for elective positions. In Ogun State, the public discourse is on the outcome of the trouble-shooting efforts of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Reconciliation Committee headed by a former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

For those who are still gloating over the prolonged crisis bedeviling the party in the state in the belief that it would stop Governor Dapo Abiodun from actualising his re-election for a second term, the time is now for them to perish the thought. By now, they must realise that dissipating energies on such an idle talk will do no good, because the schism orchestrated by those who wanted to be in control of the levers of power perpetually has finally run its complete circle.

The inauguration of Yemi Sanusi as the chairman of the APC in the state, has done the magic. Happily enough, the internal schism within the party is gradually fading out with a new sense of direction being provided by the executive in the state.

Of course, there is no denying the fact that there had been arguments and disagreements over certain issues in the recent past. That was part of the dynamics of politics, change, and continuity. It is a process of strengthening genuine democratic ethos. Indeed, to conceive a situation where there would be absolute peace and tranquility in a party as large as APC is like nursing an utopian dream. There would always be disagreement and agreement as a normal process of interaction between the thesis and anti-thesis leading to the ultimate result of synthesis.

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As the tempo of political activities increases, preparatory to the primaries of the various political parties, it is gratifying to note that a new dynamic process of leadership selection is already underway. Thanks to the National Assembly for the insertion of a reformed consensus arrangement in the Electoral Amendment Bill which seeks to curtail the overbearing of godfathers and the impunity of candidates’ imposition which brought the state chapter of the ruling APC to where it is today. Though some cynics have suspected the lawmakers of ulterior motive for the inclusion of the clause in the amendment Bill, regardless, it will limit the frequency of undue frictions and ultimately create a new vista of opportunity for people to have a say in the choice of who governs them. By so doing, it would forestall the kind of harrowing experience the APC had had to go through in the past.

To be sure, no one has said that expression of preference for a particular aspirant in an electoral contest is a crime or abnormality. No one has said that grooming for succession is anti-democratic. Contrarily, it is a standard practice in all democracies for leaders to show interest in who takes over from them for the sake of continuity and unhindered progress. For instance, when the leadership of the Labour party in the United Kingdom (UK) showed a preference for Tony Blair over Gordon Brown, they did so without threatening the overall cohesion and coherence of the party.

On Thursday, February 3, 2022, the Governor Bala Mai Buni-led APC Caretaker Committee had inaugurated, Chief Yemi Sanusi, as the authentic state chairman of the party, alongside others, a development which has put paid to the almost four years of dirty tricks and other shenanigans in a subtle contrivance bid to make the Abiodun-led administration ungovernable.

Now, another opportunity has come again for concerned stakeholders to take a deep introspection into the past and forge a new way forward. For anyone to rebuff the effort of the APC reconciliation committee at this time would be tantamount to political suicide because the change being championed by Governor Abiodun has reached a flood tide and anything that stands its way can only come down before its overwhelming powers. And history, in all its alienating necessities will not treat such recalcitrant individuals kindly.

Peter Salako, Ogun State.