Loading ...The acquainted words of Martin Luther King Jr, is on its own fulfilling itself like the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, in our age. Our lives are beginning to end since we have refused to take the bull by the horn, becoming taciturn about things that definitely matters, while they threaten our existence and development.
The last State Assembly election in Nigeria as recorded, was full of a number of abnormalities, while bloodshed couldn’t be unconnected from it. An eyely exemplification is the gross murder of a serving Federal honourable in Oyo State and a Senatorial candidate in the just-concluded election, Honourable Olatoye Temitope (acclaimed as Sugar).
Before the poll on the 9th of March, 2019, the people of Ife East Local Government Area are in perpetual demand for a government that will represent their interest at the State House of Assembly as against the current unintelligible representation and unforecasted emergence of a lackluster who brought no dividend of democracy to his constituents despite the aura facing his election at the 2015 elections.
Apart from the political sphere of the then Shagari-led democracy, the people of Modakeke with such a huge population had been suffering a number of setbacks in political cum social affairs.
We must be obliged to heed that Modakeke, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission, is the eight most populous community in Osun State and the 150th in Nigeria. With such prodigious counts, she cannot boast of an independent Local Government apart from the vague Local Council Development Area facilitated by the immediate past Governor of the State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, since her ownership of a local government was knocked-off in the 2000s.
Going down the memory lane, 2011 witnessed another attempt by the people of the community, as a son of the soil who was believed to lack the susceptibility for the task ahead, contested for the seat of the State Assembly, representing Ife East Constituency. 2014 got another morale, as a Governorship candidate emerged from the community, under the Social Demoractic Party’s platform. Again, in 2015, the community had another contestant for the Ife East State Constituency’s seat; but all couldn’t emerge arising from a myriad of factors.
The last State House of Assembly election witnessed a greater boost as every right-thinking Modakekites opted for a “son-of-the-soil” choice, which was witnessed in the candidate of Accord Party being the 1st runner-up ahead of the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party.
The result clearly showed the readiness of the people to get themselves freed from the shackles they have been subjected to since time immemorial. Although, with all these, the adopted candidate couldn’t emerge due to the acts of our oppressors and their agents. The defection of the State Chairman/House of Representatives’ candidate of Accord Party to the All Progressives Congress some hours to the election, the acts of some community leaders to deliver their constituency to their party, among many others, made a mirage of the election.
The most irritating was their usage of a popular proverb of the Yorubas in the Southwestern part of Nigeria, “Tí owó eni kò bá tíì te èékú idà, a kìí béèrè ikú tó pa baba eni” – when a sword-handle has not been placed in one’s hands, one should never ask of the cause of his father’s death. That to me and every right-thinking Nigerians is a fallacy of the highest order. In fact, I never regretted naming it as unintelligible, incinerated and obsolete.
The questions arising are, when will the sword handle be voluntarily placed in our hands, if we aren’t ready to take it with sweat and blood? Will the murderers of our fathers go scot-free if we refuse to ask for the cause of their death? Should the peace widely-preached by His Royal Majesty, the Ooni of Ife not be sustained and maximized for productivity?
Our blind obsequiousness will decisively make a public show of us, if not properly checked. We have to rise across party length and breadth, to work for a common goal – of delivering our people from the bondage they’ve been placed or situated under. Our politician should work towards writing their names on a platter of gold, and not otherwise through protecting our communal interest and development above party-relevance. If we don’t who will?
Oyebanji Faith John is a Students’ Union leader and the former Coordinator, Alliance of Nigerian Students against Neo-liberal Attacks, Ondo Branch. He can be contacted via: oyebanjijohn00@gmail.com
