It is said that Politics and Democracy are games of numbers hence the common saying that the majority carries the day. During an election, every vote counts as a single vote can be the tie breaker which tips the scales in a candidate’s favour.
However, in as much as every individual is considered important in the concept of Democracy and Politics, there are times when the chaff will be separated from the wheat. Call it self-cleansing if you like, the fact is that winnowing needs to occur either as a consequence of natural phenomenon or a deliberate process.
The recent decamping of certain “Aggrieved and Politically Inconsequential members” of the People’s Democratic Party to various Parties of their choice, took a long time coming, but was not unexpected. Their departure is a classic example of a winnowing process through a natural phenomenon. Now that the chaffs have been separated from the wheat, the PDP in Oyo state is set to consolidate it’s dominance under the leadership of Engr. Seyi Makinde. It is better to go into a battle with a few committed soldiers, than a mix multitude of egotistic and overrated individuals.
While not downplaying the political abilities of a few in their midst, however most seem to have an hyperbolic impression of themselves and need to be brought back to earth with a resounding thud.
Fact is, most of the so called Aggrieved Members have no relevance politically or electorally. Obviously, that’s why the governor and the party hierarchy at the state and national levels didn’t take them too seriously. What they did, while in PDP, was to draw relevance from attacking the governor. Now that they have removed themselves, we wait to see how mighty they are or will become.
They didn’t just give up their membership of the party, they did so a long time ago. Their rebellion was birthed when they chose to fight with the leader of the PDP in the state.
Though they claimed to be experienced in politics, they failed the simple test of knowing the difference between a Prince and a king. Seyi Makinde the Candidate ( Prince), and Seyi Makinde the Governor ( king), are two different persons.
If they are Politically savvy as they claimed, they would have known that the rules of engagement for a Prince is different from that of a King, It is their inability to discern the difference that has pushed them to the precipice, and they have now taken a political plunge that is bound to end in regrets.
These decampees included people who recently got acquainted with politics and those who have been for a while without any meaningful impact; those who have serially lost every election they took part in. Some even lost elections as recently as 2019, while others became an item because their names got mentioned in the same sentence with Governor Makinde.
The truth is that the political strength of these so called party heavy weights are limited to their single vote. All Motion, no Mass. They have been weighed in the balance and they came up short.
If one were to carefully analyse the quality of those who recently left the PDP on the basis of their political or electoral value, it will be out of magnanimity and excessive generosity that they will be considered as paper weights
It will be recalled that upon the conclusion of the Oyo State PDP Congress and National Convention wherein winners emerged, the purported internal wranglings within the Oyo PDP should have been over with everyone knowing their place in the scheme of things.
His victory notwithstanding, the Governor of Oyo state, His Excellency, Engr Seyi Makinde, in his usual magnanimous and self-effacing manner, did not rub it on the faces of his traducers. Rather, he urged the newly-elected executives of the party in the state to seek reconciliation with the so-called aggrieved members to move the party forward. The governor made reasonable efforts to reconcile with them, yet they spurned his extended hand of fellowship.
Chief amongst them, is a certain self-acclaimed leader, who before now, had not achieved anything politically. Someone who never held an office, either elected or appointed, yet for some queer reasons, thinks he is the Mojo that brought Makinde to the Government House.
Makinde is God’s project, and no one can rule over a people without God saying so. That these set of Party members were part of the process doesn’t make them the beginning and the end. Now that they have left, they will come to the realization that the Almighty only used them as a tool towards achieving an objective. Come 2023, God will do it again in a grandiose way without them. Perhaps then, they will comprehend that there is a God who is interested in the affairs of men and has chosen Seyi Makinde.
Governor Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde, within the space of three years, has written his name in the hearts of the people of Oyo state. He needs no one to market him before them. His good deeds are evident in every sector of the state, and his pact is with the People of Oyo state who he has promised to serve, not with “Belly First” Politicians.
Eagerly, the people are waiting to say thank you to his Excellency with their votes, come 2023.
Seyi Makinde lekan si!!!
Omolere Omoetan is Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Deputy Governor of Oyo state.
