If the likes of Awolowo, Bola Ige, Lam Adesina and other notable Progressives who dedicated their lives and times to good governance through progressive ideas and ideals were to be alive today, they must have distanced themselves from and condemned, in very strong terms, the selfish and wicked principles of president Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Even in their graves, this great men who sacrificed their convenience, freedom and in many instances, happiness to build and sustain what we see and refer to as Democratic principles must be shifting, rolling and shuddering in their graves any time they look back and see what someone who claimed to be their protege is doing to their legacies.
Progressives, right from the time of Awolowo do not compromise on supremacy of the Party and fairness in their reward system.
Though, president Bola Ahmed Tinubu claims to be a Progressive, a student of the Awolowo school of Progressive Politics, the question is, does his actions as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria reflect the principles of Awolowo and the Progressives?
The answer is a capital NO.
Progressives are not selfish. They do not trade away their fellow Party men for their own selfish ambitions. They are not totalitarian and autocratic.
For original Progressives, the common good dictates the action not the personal and inordinate ambitions.
Under a Progressive setting, even the president is answerable to the Party not the other way round.
A true Progressive will never, for whatever reason, empower the opposition while shooting down his own party men.
Unfortunately, president Bola Ahmed Tinubu has completely jettisoned every known principles of the Progressives on whose platform he became the president of Nigeria.
His recent appointment of Chief Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe, a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for Oyo South Senatorial District is yet another confirmation of president Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s condemnable act of empowering the opposition to the detriment of his own party men.
Olasunkanmi Tegbe’s appointment is certainly facilitated by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state, no doubts.
There is no denying the facts that president Tinubu entered into an unholy alliance with Governor Seyi Makinde and the G-5 before the 2023 general election.
The most painful part of the ugly scenario is the fact that the selfish agreement led to the unjustified failures of the APC in Oyo state in the gubernatorial and House of Assembly election of 2023.
It was a clear case of president Tinubu, as president elect, robbing the APC’s Peter to pay Makinde and the PDP’s Paul.
One of the sad trajectories of the whole episode is that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Team had given the Oyo APC gubernatorial candidate a mandate they thought was unsurmountable before the Presidential and National Assembly election of 2023.
For Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Team, except Folarin delivered in the presidential election and returned the three Senators for the APC, there would be no show for the APC in Oyo.
To make the task more impossible, they subjected Oyo APC and Its gubernatorial candidate to a most disgraceful, annoying and unfortunate treatment when Tinubu came to Ibadan for the Oyo state presidential campaign.
The gubernatorial candidate, Party Leaders and hapless Party men were left in the sun while Tinubu and his entourage moved to the office of Governor Seyi Makinde in Ibadan, giving tacit approval to the opposition gubernatorial candidate with their Body languages.
I have never seen, read about or heard of such an unfortunate treatment in my life.
That action in itself was enough to seal the fates of not only the president but also that of the National Assembly candidates of the APC in Oyo.
To add salt to injuries, Tinubu came to the Campaign grounds at Mapo and refused to raise the hand of the APC gubernatorial candidate as courtesy demanded.
It was indeed a most horrifying and heart rendering situation for the Party faithfuls who had waited for hours in the sun without food or water to receive the presidential candidate of their party that day.
As if that was not enough, Oyo APC was underfunded for the presidential and National Assembly election of 2023.
I still marvel at how the gubernatorial candidate and the Leaders found the courage to raise funds and forge ahead to mount a comprehensive campaign for the president throughout the 33 Local Governments and while they were sweating in the sun, hungry and weakened, Governor Makinde, knowing fully well that the APC were wasting their times, kept enjoying himself, traveling all over the globe alongside his fellow gang of G-5 combatants.
In fact, they had the luxury of watching a live football game between Real Madrid and another opponent I am not sure of at the time.
For the records, the Leader of the G-5 and then Governor of Rivers state is said to be a Real Madrid fan.
Unfortunately for Tinubu and those who thought they had given Folarin and the APC a mountain too high to climb, the APC in Oyo state not only delivered the three Senatorial seats, they also posted one of the first four best results for the president.
While the president lost his state, Lagos to the Labor Party and his traditional state of Osun to the PDP, Oyo APC delivered comprehensively winning the three Senatorial seats, 9 out of the fourteen House of Representatives seats and giving the president one of the widest margin of victory in the presidential election.
I used to laugh when I see people who doesn’t have information about the impendiments deliberately put in the way of the Oyo APC to ensure that the party failed to meet the secret target given to It, say that Makinde made the election of the president possible in Oyo.
For the records, it was never the wish and prayers of Tinubu and Makinde that the Oyo APC delivered in the presidential and the National Assembly election of 2023.
That particular election was a trap set for the gubernatorial candidate and the Leadership of the APC in Oyo.
When they thought that the battle was over, the APC in Oyo faced a totally different scenario after the presidential election.
It was a total lockout.
The gubernatorial candidate and the Party as a whole became an orphan.
I will tell you for free that president Tinubu adopted Makinde for the gubernatorial election, made calls and mobilized the candidate of the PDP against the candidate of his own party!
I mustn’t forget this, the president elect not only mobilized Makinde, he also mobilized the PDP House of Assembly candidates and completely jettisoned the gubernatorial and House of Assembly candidates of the APC.
The rest as they say is History.
Recently, Governor Seyi Makinde went on rampage, calling the president names and criticizing his policies.
While this was on, the APC in Oyo were the ones rising up against Governor Makinde by defending the president.
Unfortunately, Tegbe’s appointment is a clear indication that president Tinubu doesn’t see his own party men in Oyo state as an existing entities.
A president that didn’t even consider it expedient to commiserate with the Oyo APC when the Party lost Its Chairman!
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has not limited his inhuman treatment for Party men to Oyo state.
It’s happening almost everywhere.
Where is Amosun, where is El Rufai, where are Fayemi, Fashola, Soji Akanbi, Rotimi Amaechi and a host of others?
It is now evident that the only way to get president Tinubu’s positive attention is to be involved in anti-party activities and negative criticisms against his policies.
If you don’t show the president that you possess the abilities and the strength to pull him down, nothing for you.
This is definitely not the way of the Progressives.
Surely, Awolowo and our dead heroes of our Democracy must be weeping for what is becoming of their legacies!
Eng. Oluwasina Adeyemi.
