By Oke Godwin Olaoluwa
I have decided not to raise any comment on the brouhaha ongoing in my constituency, ikorodu constituency II. Reason, this is political season hence there are frayed nerves. As a stakeholder, I am challenged to make a personal opinion on salient issued raised by our revered lawyer, barrister SOK shillings on the above Subject matter.
I respect Barrister SOK shillings alot. I am an avid reader of his articles. Always Insightful, critical in analysis and balanced. I carefully read his article on the above Subject matter but tend to hold some reservations on some point raised
- Barrister SOK tend to support retaining the status- quo on rotational agreement, while also condemning the non- performance of the current occupier of the political office.
- Notably, there is a major consensus among stakeholders in constituency II that hon. Solaja has performed below expectation in public office. This is a position I strongly share. No matter how his handlers tried to paint the picture, this is a statement of fact.
- Unfortunately, thesame rotational agreement which Barrister SOK shillings is clamouring for, brought honourable sholaja into office. The so called “rotational agreement” throws the political position to the lap of every Tom, dick and ally who is an indigene of a particular region. By implication, the position is seen as a birth right, thereby creating room for cronyism and self aggrandizement.
- Ijede had the opportunity of producing a credible candidate through a shadow election conducted by party hierarchy. Among the participants in that elections are a young accountant with cognate experience, a seasoned tax professional, an former assembly member, former local government chairman, the election resulted in the emergence of a young guy that is perceived as the weakest link among all contestants, to the extent that one of the contestant publicly denounce his participation in the election.
- Hon. NS solaja was a head of treasury of different local government councils in lagos, a chartered accountant and a former accounting lecturer. His rich experience in accounting probably earned him the head of the most covetous public account committee. Yet ijede wants to replace him with a youngman whose CV can best pass as a graduated wood trading apprentice who probably hit some millions in the course of his trade (my personal opinion). Let assume, we want the goal post to retain, should we then lower the bar? Haba
The youth constituency is my primary constituent. I am obliged to support any youth seeking any position but such must be backed by requisite competency and capabilities. I hold a strong opinion that our problem in this country is that of good leadership not of tribe, clan or religion. But this primordial sentiments becloud our reasoning at every election cycles. Hence the reason we produce bad leaders across all facet of governance in our society.
For instance, honourable babajimi benson changed the political scene in ikorodu division. His constituent felt the real impact of governance while in office. The chairman of ikorodu West local government Council is someone I have neither met nor spoken to before, but his good performance in office has equally shown that the different between poor leadership and good leadership is the person in power, not his sex or identity with a particular group, tribe or clan.
In conclusion, while i agree with Barrister SOK shillings concluding statement that a discussion should be held with the good people of ijede, if the rotation agreement should be jettisoned. The discussion should centre around the fact that ijede botched this golden opportunity. They shot themselves in the foot.
Oke godwin Olaoluwa, asocial commentator writes from Ikorodu.
