By Tunde Adesanya
Ogun State is a frontline state in Nigeria for a plethora of enviable reasons. When the colonialists introduced Western education into Colonial Nigeria, Ogun indigenes took to it like duck to water. It is not by mistake therefore that the Black Race’s first Nobel Laureate in Literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka, is from Ogun State, to cite just one example of our firsts in the Education/Knowledge Sector.
The Ikenne, Ogun State-born Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo needs no introduction not only among all Yoruba home and abroad but in the whole of Nigeria. Awolowo’s accomplishment in politics and public administration in the South West as well as on the national stage in the regime of Gen. Yakubu Gowon during a most trying period in Nigeria’s history – the Civil War – is the stuff of legend. Indeed, when Chief Awolowo passed on to eternal glory in 1987, the biggest compliment to his genius came from a former adversary, ex-Biafran Leader and the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu who described Chief Awolowo as “the best President Nigeria never had”.
As a state which has produced such illustrious personalities like Prof. Wole Soyinka and Chief Awolowo, one expects Ogun State to continue on this fine path and be the torch-bearer lighting the way for the rest of Nigeria in terms putting forward men and women of sterling characters in all spheres of our national life, especially in politics today.
Alas, no!
As political parties prepare for their primaries the kinds of aspirants jumping out to clinch their tickets in Ogun State gives one a serious cause for concern.
You would have thought we had seen it all on the incursion of yahoo-yahoo boys into Ogun State political arena after Abidemi Rufai (an aide of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State sacked by the governor after his crime became public knowledge) was arrested for wire fraud in the United States last year, sending a loud, clear message that the day of recompense was in the offing for internet fraudsters.
But we’re mistaken!
As preparations for the 2023 general elections are gathering momentum in Ogun State, it is utterly embarrassing that more men of questionable character and fraudulent means are making inroads into the state’s politics and plotting their way to join their comrades-in-corruption in the government.
Politics is concerned with winning and holding control over government, albeit with the ultimate aim of influencing governmental policies and programmes. Ideally, politics is for noble men and altruistic persons driven by commitment to service.
However, the kind of shady personalities falling all over themselves these days to occupy political offices makes one to shudder. Politics has become a big business that is attracting cyber criminals, drug barons and money launderers, especially in a sophisticated state like Ogun. It is quite pathetic!
From Abeokuta to Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu to Ota, yahoo-yahoo politicians are all over the place spending incredible sums from the blues to compromise the voters. Some may argue that there’s no way politicking won’t involve money. Yes, I concede. But the kind of brazen money being thrown around to foul the political space in Ogun state can only be from questionable sources. No politician who genuinely believes that politics is a call to service would spend money the way many aspirants are doing in Ogun State.
For instance, there is this so-called “rave of the moment” in one of the Ijebu communities now. This person who graduated from Olabisi Onabanjo University reportedly lives in Lekki, Lagos. No one knows what he does for a living but the street has it that he is chummy with the biggest set of fraudsters who specialise in hacking local and foreign account to empty them of lodged funds. It is also alleged that he is deeply involved in money launderin.
As a front, this individual reportedly claims he is a real estate businessman. Nothing can be more absurd! We all know real estate is now a smokescreen for fraud syndicates to disguise their crime and clean up their dirty money. To be sure, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, recently confirmed that billions of naira were being laundered in the real estate sector, mostly by internet scammers.
Also, there is this emergency politician in another Ijebu community. A Mexico returnee, prior to jetting out of Nigeria, this individual only had a secondary school certificate holder. But today, the man has “stepped up” having allegedly been involved with Latino drug cartels and syndicates specialising in romance scam. There are claims that this politician is even on the watch list of the International Police Organisation (INTERPOL)!
At an event in Sagamu recently, I saw a young man chauffeured-driven in a convoy of exotic vehicles with armed escorts. When I enquired about who he was, the response I got from those who knew him was simply mind-boggling. Another yahoo boy making waves in the state!
This obnoxious development is not limited to the Ijebu axis of Ogun State. Similar scenarios are occurring in many Egba and Yewa areas in Ogun State. For example, an aspirant for a Federal Constituency seat in the 2023 General Election is alleged to have bought a multimillion naira branded pen for a top politician in Ogun state just to curry his support for his aspiration. You would have thought the stupendously rich recipient would turn down the inducement. Amazingly he did not!
In one of the federal constituencies in our state, a former political office holder who was accused of attempted rape by a teenage girl is now running from pillar to post in a bid for a National Assembly seat. You begin to wonder if this fellow has forgotten this scandal, or more tragically, the people have forgotten this allegation of peadophilia against him!
It is scary that these characters, in their desperate bid to make political office, are currently ‘consulting’ and holding several caucus meetings to arrive at consensus arrangements that would ensure a total capture of Ogun State and fix their criminal selves in elective offices in the state, including representing us at the National Assembly and nominating themselves as ministers, ambassadors, federal board members, etc post-2023
Is it not a shame that a posse of criminals who have never done any productive work in their lives are now dictating the pace in our politics in Ogun State, Chief Awolowo’s state?
Methinks Ogun politics is broken and requires urgent rescue. Sanity must prevail. It’s hard to believe peadophiles, social deviants and morally-bankrupts individuals are currently going about seeking our people’s endorsement to represent them in elective offices. It is unheard of. Alas, it is happening before our very eyes!
Recently, Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, noted that yahoo-yahoo boys and other criminal elements were rushing into politics to avoid being arrested by security operatives. Lamenting the situation, the governor observed that as the noose was being tightened globally on criminal enterprises such as drug trafficking and internet scamming, many of the barons active in these illicit businesses were flocking into politics as the next ground to conquer.
Ogun State should not allow politics to be haven of cyber criminals and politicians with no traceable means of livelihood. Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States of America intercepted Governor Dapo Abiodun’s alleged Man Friday (Abidemi Rufai) suspected in Washington state’s $650 million unemployment benefits fraud, it has become imperative to be extra wary of who is entrusted with public offices in Ogun State.
As the race for 2023 hots up, there must be proper background checks and thorough security screening for all political aspirants to ensure that the wheat is separated from the chaff.
Many individuals whom honest, upright and concerned people of Ogun State suspect to be criminal and crime bosses are jostling for political offices in our state today. Ogun State can no longer bear the shame of having prison-bound hustlers holding appointive and elective positions in our state. We cannot afford to let yahoo boys determine our destiny!
Our dear Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who is currently battling allegation of criminal indictment in the United States, also needs to be very careful. He should not hand party tickets to crooks lest our people and indeed the whole of Nigerians come to the conclusion that he is guilty by association.
Adesanya writes in from Odogbolu via tundesanya@gmail.com.
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