CLOSING ARGUMENTS ABOUT SECURING A BETTER, CLEARER & FAIRER FUTURE FOR OGUN STATE. By Fela Rotimi

Political defections, political deals, complicated arrangements, political expediencies, ambitious criss-crossings, outrageous dis-loyalty to voters, political gang-ups & top-to-bottom dictations for political re-alignments are all phraseologies of a privileged few. Whilst all these pervade Ogun landscape, there remain thousands of taken-for-granted & forgotten innocent electorate who are neither carried-along, nor have their opinions sampled in negotiations, who are left confused by rumour mills, who are un-able to either make-sense or head-or-tail of suddenness of political movements and who feel un-ashamedly betrayed by it all.

For quite some months in a long while, Labour Party (LP) had made a high-profile show of visiting several constituencies in Ogun State. Confidence in LP continued to consolidate that at-last, peoples' thoughts, feelings and future would now matter with a definite impending change-of-baton in 2015. LP exhibited unity, peaceful co-existence, political bragging-rights, readiness for power & hunger for office. Supporters of political aspirants for various offices displayed preferences for candidates in-harmony & exchanged banters that was enough proof that a tolerant political order was in the offing. LP dwarfed other main parties in ideas, imagination, consolidation, organisation, political oration and camaraderie that stretched expectations. LP was rightly positioned as singing from the same hymn-sheet as Ogun electorate.

Siddon-look attitude transformed to dare-to-dream about bottom-to-top politics, about peoples' agenda for change, about participatory politics, about ward development councils, about accountable governance, about a re-vamped economy, about education that seeks, encourages & nurtures pipelines of excellence, about Health-care-delivery fit for royalty, about an Agricultural sector that is fit-for-purpose, about trade policies that visibly helps our people, about resurrecting our small, medium & large-scale manufacturing industries, about re-engaging our retired citizens who are really not tired – in all sectors, about re-prioritizing the building-blocks of our economy to reflect rapid job-creation initiatives and about waging full-frontal war on un-employment to a standstill, until the climate considerably improves from good-to-better and better-to-best employment record in history of Ogun State. In simple terms, LP did ride the crest of a wave, our profile soared to high-heavens & Oke 'Mosan seemed a walk-over.

All these were realties on ground until Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) that was placed third in credible opinion polls made un-reasonable, un-savoury & un-realistic overtures to take-over LP – that topped the poll. At first, the mooted idea sounded like political collaboration, to shut all loop-holes and ensure Senator Ibikunle Amosun (SIA) was convincingly defeated in 2015. However Labour's world seemed to cave-in when talk about PDP take-over of LP was confirmed. Initially, confusion rent-the-air but when the coast cleared; decision to move to PDP was easier for some but needed the wisdom of King Solomon for others. To those who never really truly believed in tenets of Labour, the decision was as-easy-as A,B & C.

Caught in the middle of this decision-making process are the teeming masses who already warmed-up & looked-forward to the prospect of a caring LP in the saddle. The political choice was cutting temporary comfort-zone deals with PDP & everything would be hunky-dory there-after; which equates to un-equivocal abandonment of the masses. The alternative was to walk-away from the limitless juicy prospects of the PDP backed by bottom-less funding from the Federal might; which interprets to absolute trust in peoples' agenda, absolute belief in un-locking prospects of the electorate, absolute confidence in future of Ogun State, absolute decision to look-away from tortuous path that eventually would lead no-where, absolute commitment to blaze a new trail & partake in laying solid foundations of a New Ogun State and partnering with people-power.

But is the party all-over for LP ? Has the Labour train really hit the buffers ? Could Labour swan-song continue in-spite of the temporary set-back ? Granted that the split could be energy-sapping; but in the circumstance, can LP still salvage & rally the rank and file ? Is the synergy of trust that synchronised so well with the electorate still on-course ? Can LP re-enact the magic ? On the contrary, it is not over yet for LP as the more Ogun electorate are sensitized about the generational advantages in a Labour election choice; the more Labour support is firmed-up & the more the political choice is as different as chalk & cheese.

Without mincing words, Ogun electorate already know what to expect from a PDP Conservative government. Without much a-do, we are living witnesses of what an All Progressives' Congress (APC) government is capable & in-capable of. The Lowest Common Factor of both parties is strict non-compliance with peoples' agenda, whilst the Highest Common Denominator for them leads to a route that ensures poverty remains constant, economy remains comatose, health-care delivery remains in-operable, un-employment figures remain un-attended and our hopes of a turn-around in various sectors remain dashed.

But make no mistakes, the choice is beyond right & wrong, beyond breaking-ranks, beyond forgetting the source, beyond lack of wisdom, beyond on-your-own, beyond loyalty, beyond dis-obedience to family bond, beyond settlement, beyond greener-fields, beyond pragmatism, beyond crony-ism, beyond we-told-you-so, beyond elitism, beyond ambition, beyond ego and beyond to your tents o Israel. This is simply a matter of conscience laid bare by perception; and not only pregnant with meanings, but open to a myriad of interpretations. The in-convenient questions however are – when do we confront our challenges of in-security, of poverty, of all motion but no movement with services that continue to worsen un-abated ? When does Ogun State exit this traction of nearly there ?

The bottom-line in all these is commitment & political will to manouver and secure a better, clearer & fairer future for Ogun State. This is how our generation of leaders would be judged by history, by providence, by succeeding generations & by posterity. This is much more & vitally important than massaging the ego of President Jonathan – who mooted this idea in the first place. At the end of the day, it is Ogun electorate that would have to live with the consequences , confront daily realities, mop-up the hang-over, shoulder the blame & carry the can. I REST MY CASE !

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