There is an interesting story about the Ofa people of Kwara state.
It is about an event that have since become a custom and festivities.
It is about the traditional cutting of a piece of yam that signifies the calling of a truce between rival brothers centuries ago.
During the festival to mark the truce, a piece of yam will be cut into two equal proportions.
This incident symbolizes equity and fairness.
That is why oriki of the Ofa people goes thus, “…ikan o gbodo ju kan..” that is, the piece of yam, when cut, during the festival, must be equal in proportion.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the saying goes, is presently holding the knife and the yam when it comes to compensating those who worked with him to become president.
Unfortunately, unlike the Olofamojos, the president, as far as Oyo state is concerned is not fair and just in the manner he has been cutting the yam.
To whom much is given, much more is expected.
It shouldn’t be out of tune for the APC in Oyo state to expect a Lion share of patronage from the president.
The party in the state, against odds, contributed a Lion share of votes to the president.
A puzzle I am yet to unravel and painfully so, is why the president have kept sidelining Oyo state in his distribution of political offices and when I said Oyo state, I mean the president’s political party, the Oyo APC.
Much more puzzling is that the president have no problems allocating choice and juicy appointments to a state like Osun where as we speak, the structure of the APC is weak.
Just this Thursday, Osun state still has reason to smile courtesy of the magnamity of the president who yet again conceded some appointments to the state.
I have kept wondering about the logic behind the president’s consistent patronage of a state where his party can not boast of a single councilor to the detriment of a state like Oyo that contributed not only one of the widest margin of victory to the president but also contributed three Senators, Nine Reps and four members of the state Assembly!
What makes the situation more painful is the fact that the party in Oyo state lost the gubernatorial election not because Oyo state voters rejected the party but rather because Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as presidential candidate entered into an agreement with the PDP G-5 which ceded Oyo to Seyi Makinde of the PDP.
Now, having taken the Governorship away, one would have expected the president to compensate Oyo APC accordingly but that has not been the case.
The president have continued to act as if he has an axe to grind with the party in the state.
The sole Minister from the state was the gubernatorial candidate of the Accord Party during the last general election.
It is on record that the person in question described the president’s political party, the APC with negative words on live Radio programs.
It is also on record that the presidential candidate of the Accord Party scored almost forty thousand votes in Oyo state, even though he never campaigned in the state.
Yet, the man who is responsible for the forty thousand votes is now a Minister in president Tinubu’s cabinet while the members of his own political party in the state, who were deprived the Governorship of the state, due to an arrangement the president made with opposition political party are yet to be given any appointment till date.
Some people have been trying to find justifications for the actions of the president.
For me, I do not consider any reason credible enough to justify the systematic annihilation of his own party men.
The trauma of the sabotage suffered by Oyo APC is enough on Its own but the alienation from the Government of the president, who is generally seen as the reason for the sabotage is unbearable.
Every appointments made by the president in Oyo state till now have been at his descretion and without recourse for the party.
I have never in my life seen a situation where success is punished and failure is celebrated.
The president is from Lagos state.
With due respect to him, the APC lost the presidential election in Lagos.
Despite the fact that the APC won the Governorship election in Lagos state, the president have continued to allot choice and juicy appointments to the state.
There is no state in the South West that contributed what Oyo APC took to the table, yet, there is no state worse treated like Oyo APC!
It might be true that the party in the state have not pushed hard to demand for Its rights but, does the Oyo APC require to push for a recognition It already earn through the beautiful results it posted during the presidential and National Assembly election?
It is states who failed to deliver who should be fighting and pushing. Not a state like Oyo state that performed brilliantly.
I have seen some people who are of the opinion that perhaps, the president considered the contribution of Seyi Makinde in his victory and that might have taken the shine off the APC in the estimation of the president.
That far from the truth and the president knows.
Oyo APC never asked anyone to negotiate on Its behalf in order for the party to win any election and neither was the party privy to any negotiations.
The party did Its home work perfectly and got the results it deserved during the presidential election.
The table flipped during the gubernatorial and House of Assembly election as a result of an agreement between the president elect as he then was and the PDP Governors.
The president also knows the fact above.
I agree that some disgruntled elements within the Oyo APC, prior to the last general election sowed seeds of discord in the mond of the presidential candidate but he, the presidential candidate was in a position to have called all the sides and unite them in the interest of the party but he did not.
Rather, he exploited the situation to his personal advantage by making a deal with Makinde and co.
It was that deal that led to the loss of the gubernatorial election in Oyo state.
I have said it sometimes.
I see no grandeur in trampling on what you already put to ground.
If the president keeps treating the party in Oyo state the way he has been treating it, his actions are tantamount to trampling on what he successfully put to ground on March 28, 2023.
God has a way of fighting for the downtrodden.
SOLA ABEGUNDE
