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By Nurein Adebisi
Ordinarily, one needs not to dignify the CPS to Governor Oyetola, Mr. Ismail Omipidan with any serious response on his opinion concerning the “West Lokan” agitation, but for the sake of the innocent minds that do not have a deeper knowledge of the issue like Omipidan himself, there is need to correct his false assumption in guise of a write-up because when lie is left unchallenged, it eventually becomes the truth.
A popular Yoruba proverb says: ” Eni ti o ba fee je ogunkogun, itankitan ni yo pa”. The statement by Mr. Omipidan, in an attempt to twist the fact and discredit a popular political agitation that nearly cost APC her fortune during the 2018 gubernatorial election, insulted the collective intelligence of the entire people of Osun West through his weakly concocted words.
From the statement, the CPS said: “Historically, the agitation to have someone from Osun West govern Osun State in the build- up to the 2018 governorship election was largely borne out of perceived neglect of the zone in terms of infrastructural development”. Apart from misrepresenting the fact of the matter, it also exposed Mr. Omipidan’s complete ignorance of the whole issue and portrayed him as a political infant but saddled with a big political responsibility.
It is known to any serious politically conscious person that by virtue of certain arrangements and circumstances, Osun West has not been favoured in the governorship slot. The worst of it happened in 2018 against all expectations. The rest is history.
Omipidan needs to re-evaluate his analytical skills in order not to commit such a fatal error next time. He should understand that agitation for the sake of political balancing and to give all players, a sense of belonging in a political arrangement, is not only healthy for a political party or group but also ensures fairness, equity and spirit of togetherness.
It is necessary to let Omipidan understand that the agitation for the South-West to produce the president of Nigeria come 2023 was not because PMB has neglected the South-West in terms of infrastructural development or any other form of marginalisation, but it is known that the South-West is a big factor in the Nigerian presidency project and there’s need to have a renewed feelings of inclusiveness, ability and capability to take a lead role in an arrangement that was birthed through our collective effort. Also, the recent decision of Ekiti-South political stakeholders on 2022 gubernatorial election is another point of good reference that Omipidan should take a tutorial from.
It is known to any brilliant political mind that apart from the constitution, political party affairs are governed by either convention or adopted traditions that will ensure geographical balancing and rotation among the entities are major factors in order to promote fairness and justice.
Therefore, the “West lokan” agitation goes beyond what and how Omipidan has twisted it. It is a necessary step that needs to be taken in order to ensure fairness, equity, balancing and restoration of confidence of the people of the senatorial district in Osun progressive affairs. It is therefore, ridiculous to reduce it to a mere purpose of patronage as Omipidan wants to twist it in order to impress. It is too watery and suggests political naivety on his side.
Next time, Mr.Omipidan should allow himself to be guided by historical facts and not be driven by fallacious sentiments that will subject partners and players in an arrangement to second class feeling.