In Oyo State, the
gods are at work
There is a saying that he whom the gods want to bring down, they first make mad. In Oyo State, the gods may be at work. In the wake of religious clamours way back in 2003, and not long after the inauguration of the
administration of the then governor, Rasheed Ladojo, the Presiding Pastor of the Vinebranch Ministries, Ibadan, Pator Kolade - while delivering his address during the church’s Foundation Day anniversary - warned the new State
government not to get itself involved in religious matters. He had declared prophetically that it is God who raises to power and He is the one who can also remove from power. Incidentally, while speaking to the press recently just before the end of his tenure, former
governor Ladoja, admitted that he was able to return to
office following the impeachment saga because his Maker wanted him to. Had He not, he would have remained frozen out in the cold. How the pastor’s prophetic warning played out in the scenario that saw former Governor Rashidi Ladoja impeached and then returned to office, this writer will not be able to say. But the warning may equally hold true for the
present administration in Oyo State, considering the strange occurrences emanating from there.
That the ordinary folks have their sentiments and views on the way the present governor, Otunba Alao Akala, first sat in as Governor after his former boss was impeached is not in doubt. It is also not in doubt that many have there reservations as regards a governor who has as his godfather a man that many peace-loving citizens would prefer not to see at all in the politics of their State. And, equally, there is no gainsaying what the impoverished in the society may think of the uses to which some billions in the State kitty were said to have been put during the brief period that Otunba spent holding office for Rashidi Ladoja. More recently and in the aftermath of the May, 2007 Local Government elections organized by the then Ladoja outgoing administration, thugs went to the offices of the State’s Broadcasting Corporation (BCOS) and matcheted law-abiding, innocent staff on duty. Reason? To prevent the announcement of the election’s results. It is inconceivable that the same Ladoja administration that organized the elections would turn its BCOS staff out of their offices to ensure that they did not broadcast the results. The present government may go about denying any link with a certain group that carried out the attack; ordinary folks however knew those who trouble them. Official denials do not matter. All these occurrences and many more tell on the kind of view many may already have of Otunba and his administration. It is no wonder that even the Governor admitted in public that his own people treated him like a leper.
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