AGAIN, congratulations to Governor Ademola Adeleke. By winning a second term, he has secured a place among the most loved Governors the State has known. Anyone who now attempts to repaint the story of his first term in colours different from those with which the people themselves have painted it is only trying to darken a portrait the people have already illuminated with their affection. The people have spoken, and the warmth with which they have embraced him is now plainly painted across the canvas. Yet, as the old saying goes, to whom much is given, much is expected. A fresh mandate is more than a garland handed to a champion. It is a crown. And where a garland rests lightly for a season, a crown is not set down until the reign itself is spent. Still, there lies Governor Ademola Adeleke’s chance to move from being merely a two-term Governor to becoming a name history remembers on its own terms, long after the term itself has ended. From the vantage point of an ordinary citizen, may I leave these thoughts at His Excellency’s doorstep for the journey ahead.
Do not Let Baba Hafusa have a second face. One of the great dangers that comes with a second term is the temptation to believe that the people have nowhere else to go. God forbid that such a thought should ever find a home in Osun State, a State whose people are among the most educated, sophisticated, well-read and politically discerning in the country. There was a season, not long ago, when a second mandate was given in this same State, and trust was handed over like a rhythm the people had composed together with the government. They led, and the whole room danced. But somewhere within that season, the government began to call the steps alone, paying the band in half its due for a tune the band still had to play in full. The same feet that had danced him into office found themselves waiting to be told when to move, and how. Before long, the people who had once filled the floor with him began to dance apart, for they knew the room no longer felt like theirs. A government that believed it could dance alone soon found the room emptied of music. That must not be the tune this government asks its people to dance to. A room once emptied of trust is slow to fill again. If Governor Adeleke desires a political life that extends beyond the expiration of his second term, and wishes to learn how political capacity can be built beyond the life of an office, he need not look far.
Governor Seyi Makinde, his counterpart in neighbouring Oyo State, offers a worthy study, a governor who has built beyond the mere calculation of acquiring office. Whether one agrees with him or not, Governor Seyi Makinde has become a formidable hand on the political chessboard of Oyo State, and his influence is bound to count when the question of who eventually occupies that seat after him is asked.
The worker is not a footnote. Governor Adeleke must also resist the temptation to listen too much to those who say Osun is not a civil-servant State. On paper, perhaps it is an argument. But it is one that suffocates on contact with the street. Yes, Osun must diversify its economy. I am, in fact, a firm subscriber to that school of thought. A State must aspire to an economy where industry, investment, agriculture and enterprise can give it other legs to stand on, rather than waiting for a monthly allocation before it can take its next breath. But until that transformation fully arrives, thousands of families depend, directly and indirectly, on workers. And it must be said: Governor Adeleke has done well in the area of workers’ welfare. But if there is ever a season to climb higher, this is that season. There are still gratuities that have waited nine years to be paid, a wait he did not begin, but one he can still shorten. There are still pension obligations to be cleared. Today’s worker becomes tomorrow’s pensioner. Whatever shade he currently stands under, he knows his retired colleagues are still waiting, and that one day he will be standing where they now stand. The worker will never be ‘mere.’ He is a parent to a student. A customer to the trader. A client to the mechanic, tailor, and other artisans and craftsmen. When you worry the worker, the ripple travels through the market. And when the market begins to hum a different tune, every government should learn to listen before it becomes a chorus.
Don’t stop on infrastructure! Without doubt, infrastructural development played a significant role in Adeleke’s re-emergence. Many towns in Osun State saw roads that had been abandoned for years suddenly shed their years of neglect. Schools and hospitals were not left wanting either, and it is a record the administration should be proud to build on rather than rest on. Infrastructure is only as good as the ground it is yet to cover. Osun people are enlightened, discerning, politically conscious and well-informed about the affairs of government. Yet they are not the type to ask for the moon. We are not yet so industrialised that the average Osun man wakes up every morning demanding a new economic miracle. Give the people the basics. Good roads. Functional schools. Healthcare that works. Salaries and legitimate entitlements paid as and when due. Agriculture made easier and safer for those who want to farm. Security that allows people to sleep without wondering who may come knocking at the door. More opportunities for young people to work and earn a living. A government whose presence is felt as relief and not obstruction, one an ordinary man can live under without asking what fresh hardship the government is bringing next.
Governor Adeleke has now been handed a privilege history in Osun has rarely handed anyone: a second seat at the same table. But the just-concluded election is also a reminder of what that privilege actually means, and how quickly it can expire. Political glory is a borrowed garment; it is taken back when the season ends. Several former governors and political heavyweights who brought their influence to bear in the election suffered defeats in places where they once held considerable sway, and even those who held on to their immediate territories watched the larger political tide carry the State elsewhere. This is his chance to decide what his time in office will leave behind. He can leave Government House as another former Governor, one among the many the records will hold. Or he can become a standard the years do not easily erase. More than congratulations, and more than the few words a passerby dares to leave behind, there is also a prayer to offer: may God give His Excellency the wisdom to guide us aright, and may Osun under his watch know a peace that deepens and a progress that does not stall. May the good he does outlive the government that bears his name.
Congratulations once again, Your Excellency. The second term has been won. Now, win the history. May your light outlive the shadows.