On June 3, a former governor of Oyo state, Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, clocked 70. Such an enviable milestone! Congratulations to him.
Expectedly for a man whose presence in the polity reflects flamboyance, newspaper pages and social media platforms were awash with congratulatory messages in honour of the former Oyo helmsman.
The immediate past governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, in his own tribute described Mr. Alao-Akala as a quintessential politician and “pillar” of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State.
“As a former governor of our dear state, you have contributed immensely to the growth of the pacesetter state, and as a politician, your advice and contributions to the party have been invaluable,” Mr. Ajimobi, now the APC deputy national chairman for the South West, wrote.
Anyone who witnessed the “mortal combat” between both men, first, in the run-up to the 2007 general elections and, later, in the 2011 elections, would understand why the spirit of camaraderie being exhibited today makes nonsense of the excesses of fanatic supporters from both sides who lost properties – and their lives – when both men were ‘sworn enemies’.
But like the chairman of APC, Adams Oshimhole once said, all it takes to become “born again” is to join the ruling party. And so, even though the beatification exercise we had wasn’t literal, conferring sainthood on anyone could not have been handled better. On June 3, therefore, there were all sorts of greetings and eulogies in honour of Alao-Akala from the ‘progressives’ in South-West politics. At some point on social media, with narratives woven around Mr. Akala’s famed ‘benevolence’, the eulogies moved away from the hyperbolic to the utterly ridiculous.
In the middle of the chaos, there was a particular viral story that I found most amusing: a story of how Mr. Alao-Akala, as Oyo State governor, reportedly ‘changed’ the life of an old friend he met along Oyo-Ogbomosho Road. For this article, nothing speaks eloquently to the very foundation of Nigeria’s culture of graft, institutionalised anyhow-ness and complete retrogression, like that story and subsequent reactions to it.
The narrator claimed that Alao-Akala, upon seeing the man, an old friend, promptly gave him ‘money’ (whose source remains sketchy, but that’s fine), a Toyota car, and then asked him to come to the Agodi Government House the next Monday with a “good proposal”, ostensibly for contract execution, irrespective of competence and track record. That tale, which may after all be apocryphal, would soon take on a life of its own, mutating into cyber Nigeria’s default resource for bland motivation and moral philosophy. Of course, knowing Alao-Akala for whom he was when he held sway as Oyo’s Oyato Governor (a sobriquet he earned for his flamboyant, sociable lifestyle and spending culture), the story could as well be true.
What I found most interesting is the reaction to the story, and how every Ada and Abeni continued to invoke the Alao-Akala spirit of benevolence, while sharing the story across platforms. It would have been laughable if it was not eerily sad – a reflection of our rather poor conception of ethics and due process in governmental affairs. And what that showed, frankly, is that Nigeria is a huge crime scene where every one of us is merely waiting (and fervently praying!) to have his turn in the looting carnival. Oh yes, protocols, institutions and due process be damned!
To be sure, while the fact remains indisputable that universal moral ethos demands that we should be our friends’ shield in moments of needs, emotionalism should have no place in governmental affairs – if things must be done right. Besides, contexts matter too in every discourse and, beyond emotions, that many Nigerians on social media found nothing nauseatingly annoying in the “good proposal” promise, especially by a man who was alleged to have notoriously flouted basic procurement procedures, speaks volume. It is a sad reflection of how debased our political culture is that a section of the South-West ‘progressives’ now eulogises the man with the very same tales of administrative recklessness with which he was bundled out of office, and rightly so, in 2011. But that’s an aside.
For the records, Alao-Akala; Hosea Agboola, his commissioner for chieftaincy matters, who is now a big ally of the incumbent Seyi Makinde; and an Ibadan-based businessman, Olufemi Babalola, are being prosecuted for alleged conspiracy and misappropriation of N11.5 billion from the State’s treasury. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused the trio of, among other things, “…conspiracy, illegal award of contracts, obtaining money by false pretence and acquiring property with money derived from illegal act as well as concealing the ownership of such property”. Does this not resonate, somewhat, with the “good proposal” promise in that viral tale that was shared and made the reference point of ‘benevolence’ by many Nigerians?
Frankly, if we look inwards and reflect, one may be tempted to conclude that many Nigerians deserve what they get from their ‘dealers’ masquerading as leaders. May God save Nigeria from us – Nigerians!
Oladeinde Olawoyin writes from Ibadan, Oyo state capital.
The article first appeared on Premium Times.
