Yesterday, a group from my OkeOgun region of Oyo State, which claimed non partisan held a press conference in Iseyin agitating for a political position of Governor of Oyo state to be zoned to our region in 2027, because we have been so marginalized.
While I commend their efforts and activities, I am just worried that why should we keep doing the same thing every four years and expect different results ?
First, we need to be partisan to have a say in a political matter. I am sure the politicians ( including the ones from OkeOgun ) will be laughing at us with this movement because when any directive comes from their party secretariat in Ibadan , I trust my OkeOgun politicians, they are so fanatical about their party affiliation, they will comply without questioning.
So, why don’t this group be partisan and carry along politicians, who really matter, in this agitation.
Political parties will soon start their congresses and once the party chairmanship position is zoned to OkeOgun…boom ! The end of the agitation.
Perhaps we should call a summit of our active politicians, promise them our goodwill and encourage them not to accept the party chairmanship position when they are having their conclaves and ask them to see to it that an OkeOgun aspirant gets their party ticket by all means possible. However, this requires a high level of politicking, which only politicians can navigate.
Also, and more importantly, where are the aspirants from OkeOgun, who really want to become Governor? Power is not serve a la carte, we need able and ambitious politicians, who want to be Governor and would not stop until he or she becomes the Governor.
Maybe, we should also encourage more of our sons and daughters who have the capacity to be Governor to join partisan politics.
While I do not really believe that our underdevelopment in OkeOgun is due to our inability to produce the Governor of the state, I won’t mind a politician from my region becoming the Governor of the state but we have to do it so realistically and so discreetly because the people we accused of holding on to power knows why they are doing so and we may not need to ask them nicely to relinquish it.
-Oloye Bola Olalere
