The former governor of Oyo state was pronounced dead on June 25th, 2020. Until his death, he was the first and only person to be reelected as Executive Governor of his state. He broke the jinx that “Oyo state does not serve anyone twice”. This earned the governor the tag Koseleri which loosely translates to “This is novel, it has never happened before”. Unlike other observers, I do not believe that Ajimbo’s reelection is solely tied to his performance in his first term as governor because certain factors that played right for him would also have played for another if he was not the actor on stage then.
For example, the first time I stepped inside the University of Ibadan campus alone was early 2015 when I was preparing for my Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination. Before then, I had represented my Secondary School on a couple of competitions on that campus – a notable one I still remember the sketchy details was in honour of Nigeria’s finest storyteller, Late Professor Chinua Achebe. At the end of the competition, we were gifted a copy of Arrow of God, one of Achebe’s notable works- it was my most cherished possession then. I went alone in 2015 to show my O’level results to the department I was seeking admission to, when I got to the HoD’s Office, I was directed to the school’s admissions office (undergraduate) to make further clarifications and seek counsel. When I presented my results which was predominantly Credits and a pass grade, I was told that those grades were enough to be offered admission to my department of choice as long as I passed my UTME and Post-UTME – the former organized by the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the latter by the university. I was offered admission after I passed both exams well. The subsequent session, Nigeria’s Education Minister, Adamu Adamu for reason(s) best known to him and his team scrapped in entirety the Post-UTME exams conducted by schools in the federation. The University offered admission to students who passed exceedingly well in their O’levels and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations, the resultant effect was a mass layoff of first year students that year since they scored below the required CGPA of 1.0 to stay in school. The decision of the Minister is not the crux of this article, the intention therefore is to highlight that to attain some level of success in life, and some natural forces have to be in place. The force that worked for me was TIME.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s OUTLIERS, the author traced that it is not enough to be talented to become a success. This does not however deemphasize talent or performance but to say that talent, without the great opportunity works, is a farce, best believed in movies. Ajimobi’s Koseleri experience may be profound having served as the first executive governor to be reelected since the creation of the state in February 1976 and after six executive governors but it is not anything out of the extraordinary, and one cannot be too certain that it was because of his exploits while in office. The timing of his reelection may have won anyone in that sit the second term. Since 1999 till date, the biggest political family, The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) suffered a crack in their political structure and Oyo state PDP was not left out in 2015. In the case of Oyo state, the major Opposition party was ACCORD led by a former governor of the state Sen. Rasheed Ladoja. However, Ladoja was a PDP faithful and even became a governor on the PDP platform but his romance with the party ended when his godfather demanded 25% of the security votes allocated to the state under his reign. Ladoja was one faction of the PDP. Oluseyi Makinde believed that primaries should be conducted and he would accept whatever the decision of the primary is but the powers that be in Abuja thought otherwise and Makinde left the PDP when he thought a candidate was being forced on them. Ladoja’s successor and deputy, Alao Akala is another bloc in the party. He felt it was derogatory and arrogant that the presidency was deciding for the party who its flag-bearer should be without consulting stakeholders in the state. Akala was also aggrieved and he left. Sen. Teslim Folarin became the party’s flagbearer. The rest is now history as they say and that history is Ajimobi’s reelection.
Just like the Igbo proverb, “when brothers fight, it is a stranger that reaps the harvest”. Ajimobi reaped the harvest of PDP’s misfortune. If truly Ajimobi was elected solely only his performance it would have been easier for him to install a successor. Aside from Teslim Folarin who eventually pitched tent with his cousin Ajimobi in the APC, all other candidates came back home or started a new platform. The victory of Seyi Makinde at the polls in 2019, would have come four years earlier but for a divided house and a timing that worked for the Koseleri, Aare Atunluse of Ibadanland. Ajimobi was however an architect of the modern Oyo state, a doer and a peace advocate. We will remember him for being Mr. Peace. To rephrase a Writer and Editor of Minority Africa, Akinyemi Muhammed, there are no good men or evil men, there are men who have done good things and evil things. May Ajimobi find comfort in the abode of his lord. Just like every other thing, time will vindicate us all.
Yusuf Akinyemi writes from Ibadan. He can be contacted via yusufakinyemi0@gmail.com
