"E kunle f'agba o; agba nii gba ni" is the new anthem of appeasement in the State where the Governor has become oosa akunlebo.
Ogun State is full of drama: one day, one drama. I remember the time of former Governor Gbenga Daniel and the allegation of oath taking against one of his commissioners. We all shouted yaaa yuuu, and nothing happened till date.
The administration of Senator Ibikunle Amosun did not make any exception of the usual drama. Quite funny...It was during his administration that a sitting governor was campaigning against his own party.
More so, a party he was even contesting on its platform as a senator. The high point of the shenanigans was when Amosun's supporters were stoning their national party leaders. God saved Aregbesola on that fateful day; he would have been lynched. Former President Buhari and Asiwaju were almost stoned.
Now, it's the turn of Governor Eleyi to showcase his mastery in drama. Agbalagba of Ogun State. The one-and-only deity of Ijebuland and The Emperor of Gateway State! The Eleyi of Eyi State did not disappoint. He acted true to expectations.
The Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government wrote a petition to the EFCC against the Govenor on his crass disregard for law and order as regards his misappropriation of local government allocations. The Chairman did not do it for himself alone. He did it for the benefit of the people of Ogun.
Disappointingly, other gbewudani local government chairmen, instead of supporting this patriotic move of the Ijebu East Local Government Chairman, they did otherwise. What did they do? Let me tell you.
All the twenty local government chairmen in Ogun State on Tuesday night besieged the office of Governor Dapo Abiodun to seek his forgiveness on behalf of one of them, the Chairman, Ijebu East Local Government, Wale Adedayo, who dare challenge the Governor on withholding local government allocations, which runs to billions of naira.
I was laughing when these oppressed local government chairmen were prostrating before the almighty oppressor, the Eleyi of Eyi State. What kind of people are we? What is our problem as politicians? Why do we like praising and hailing our oppressors? This is why I always say it that I can never be an ideal Nigerian politician. I don't know how to pamper nonsense.
Truth be told: local government administration in Nigeria is gradually dying. All the blames should be heaped on the governors. They are the ones stifling the existence of local government administration, through embezzlement of their statutory allocations, in Nigeria. They will always put their stooges there. Those who will never challenge their authority.
We may keep deceiving ourselves. However, the fact of the matter is that local government administration can never perform optimally except they are liberated from the shackles of oppression of state governors. This plague is not synonymous to Ogun alone. Other state governors (Oyo State in particular) are committing the same criminal act. They are all gulity of this criminal allegation.
My appeal to President Tinubu is that Section 162, Subsection 6 of the 1999 Constitution must be either reviewed or repealed. State Joint Local Government Account should be abolished. This section is the real problem. Local governments should be directly credited from the Federation Account.
Until this is done, local government chairmen will always go cap-in-hand to their emperor governors like babianla, and the masses will suffer it the most. Let us all speak out. God bless President Tinubu. God bless Ogun State. God bless Nigeria.
By Adejare Ibrahim
Post a Comment