by Alaba Abdulrazak
GOVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, by his own admission is one of the best governors in the Southwest, Nigeria. Truly, he is one of the best when it comes to imposing unpopular policies on the people of the State. Even in less than two years in office, Ajimobi has earned a reputation of a sadistic sociopath who must further inflict pain on the downtrodden masses of the State who have benefited nothing from his government since he assumed office as the Governor of the State.
Ajimobi, since he became the Governor has been playing the role of a modern day dictator whose conceited decisions must not bend to anything –even public opinion. That is why today, whatever he says is final. Unfortunately, the State House of Assembly that ought to checkmate the excesses of the Governor has become a rubber stamp. If
this is wrong-why has the House not for once opposed any of the Governor’s anti-people policies? Or, are they telling the good people of Oyo State that all the policies and programmes of the Governor are flawless and people oriented?
One is tempted to believe that the entire members of the house have equally joined the bandwagon of the crowd who see themselves as being intellectually inferior to ‘His Excellency’. I’m aware that most of his cabinet members do not bother themselves advising him because he is so narcissistic that he sees everybody as being inferior to him in anything.
The abrasive Governor according to them is ‘Mr Know It All’. He knows mathematics more than the mathematicians; he even knows history more than the historians. He is a man who will never submit himself to any superior intellectual discourse. That is why he hardly accommodates in his government intellectual and ideological superiors. Whatever you think you know as cabinet member amounts to zero in the world of Ajimobi.
Unfortunately, Ajimobi is one of those egocentric politicians in the country today who will rather be ruined by praise than be saved by criticism. He belongs to the group of borderline personalities who instead proffering solutions to myriad of problems bedeviling the poor people is now the one aggravating it. That is why today his various
policies and programmes are not only propelled by selfish interest but are not people oriented.
Since our pompous Governor assumed office in May 2011, the poor people in the State have become victims of his harsh government policies. He started by his refusal to pay the N18,000 minimum wage for workers in the State before it was partially settled. An unforgiving as he is; he proceeded with mass retrenchment of workers without thinking of the economic effect of the action. As if that was not enough, the Governor bared his fang on the common people especially those in Ibadan metropolis who today have been
deprived means of livelihood. These are people whose various places of
businesses have been demolished all in the name of beautification.
Today, thousands of people who do petty businesses to survive have been deprived their means of livelihood. These are people who are not doing business to become rich or to be able to send their children to United Kingdom like the Governor; but are doing these small businesses to survive in this part of the world. It bleeds my heart as an indigene of Oyo State to see how my people are being treated like animals by Ajimobi’s Operation Burst. I really don’t care about Ajimobi’s justification for this action. I see the action as an act of cruelty coming from a self-conceited Governor who detests the poor people in the State.
A Governor who could not provide jobs for the indigenes of the State is now depriving the few, means of livelihood all in the name of beautification. If the Governor is telling us that beautification of the environment is the only strategy he has up his sleeve to attract investors to the State, then we are in serious trouble. Provision of uninterrupted power, good network of roads and security are few of the things anywhere in the world that would attract investors. It appears that the Governor does not have a blueprint on what he intends to do in the State. Even the borrowed blueprint from Lagos state is not
being adhered to in our own case here. Too bad!
This is a Governor who said during the electioneering that N18, 000 minimum wage for workers was small; yet when they voted him into power he betrayed them. This is a Governor who assured the people of the state during the electioneering that he would not demolish any structure; but today he has reneged on that promise.
One is taken aback by Ajimobi’s trait of deceits and lies. Even when he promised to employ 20,000 youths; those employed were not up to 10,000. Even those employed were under-paid. It is clear that the Governor does not seem to understand what leadership is all about. A leader who cannot put smiles to the lips of majority is not worthy ofbeing called a leader. Even if he as a human being has never tasted poverty, he should try to respect the downtrodden for engaging in something meaningful. These are people with families to take care.
Demolishing their places of businesses without finding alternative for them on time is inhuman and is not acceptable to any right thinking person. The end result of what the overnor is doing now is increase in crime rate especially in Ibadan metropolis. And when this happenswe are all in trouble.
Our Governor needs to be reminded that some have been governors before he became the governor. Either he likes it or not, he can’t be a governor for life. Nemesis of time will definitely catch up with him no matter how smart he is.