STAND DOWN SOLDIER

A few months back, Hausas and Yorubas clashed in Ife and it was very bloody. Although most ife people felt that the arrest which was predominantly Yoruba’s stink of bias so what did we do? The leaders stepped in to dialogue with Governement and the affected people. Eventually Sabo gradually revived in Ile Ife. Lessons and loss of lives and properties from Ife – Modakeke crisis was a gentle reminder that we don’t need any senseless war. I know this for a fact because my father was attacked twice but escaped during his numerous trips to dialogue and advocate for peace but unfortunately his house eventually got burnt to ashes.

Let me remind us that the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état of January 1966, led by Kaduna Nzeogwu and Emmanuel Ifeajuna killed 22 people some of whom were:

• Ahmadu Bello
• Tafewa Balewa
• Ladoke Akintola
• Brig-Gen. Samuel Ademulegun and his wife 
• Brig-Gen. Zakariya Maimalari
• Col. Kur Mohammed
• Col. Shodeinde 
• Lt.-Col. Abogo Largema
• Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh

One way or another that was the birth of all sort of Ethnic bias war that sorta led to the 1967 Biafra war. Of course many lives were lost but more on the Biafra side which was quite unfortunate.

Let me note here that Ojukwu was a Lt Col in the Nigerian Army and Governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria. His father Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu was the founding president of Nigeria Stock Exchange and had a lot of investments in virtually every thriving sector of the economy. So basically after the Aburi Accord fell apart, it was easy for a Military officer and Administrator of the entire Eastern Region with a lot of influence and wealth to take up the noble cause of Leading Biafra to war. 30 months later,  Biafra surrendered under the leadership of Major General Philip Effiong after Ojukwu left for Ivory Coast to seek political asylum.

Today, kanu wants to lead Biafra to war with which army? His argument is that Ibos have been marginalised for too long although I feel it’s a personal hatred and vendetta against Buhari. Apart from the fact that no Ibo has been President for very long time, they had contested for office at all level; they have since the 4th Republic had 5 Senate Presidents from a total of 7:

1. Evan Enwerem
2. Chuba Okadigbo
3. Anyim Pius Anyim
4. Aldolphus Wabara
5. Ken Nnamani

Considering the power that the Senate President wield in Nigeria that could have made a lot of sensible amendments to the constitution that would have benefited Nigeria and solved a lot of problems but instead they just enjoyed the largesse of the office just like their successors did and still doing without any visible or sensible change in law making. 

Let’s go back a bit to 1979 when Shagari was President, his VP was Alex Ekwueme from Anambra and Ebitu Ukiwe from Abia who fought on Biafra side was IBB’s VP for about a year before Augustus Aikhomu from Edo took over after his retirement.  Let me also note that, Clement Iyong Isong from Akwa Ibom was CBN Governor 1967 – 1975 through the Civil War and the Oil Boom and later became Ist Civilian Governor of Cross River State. 

Also, since the 1st Republic we have had a total of 15 Head of State (2 of which were Military and Civillian) out of which:

• South East 2 (Nnamdi Azikwe & Aguyi Ironsi)
• South South 1 (Goodluck Jonathan)
• South West 2 (Olusegun Obasanjo twice as military and civilian, Ernest Shonekan as interim Head of State)
• NC 1 (Yakubu Gowon)
• Core North 7 ( Murtala Mohammed, Muhammadu Buhari twice as Military and Civilian, Shebu Shagari, IBB, Sani Abacha, Abdulsam Abubakar, Musa Yar Adua)

So really if we think about this very well unless it was planned to be perfect I doubt if we could have had a perfect mix and balance from all regions. So when we talk of marginalisation who really do we to blame but ourselves and leaders. 

I do not support the senseless killing of innocent civilians by the army or BSS but Kanu has created an army he knows amount to nothing and the Nigerian Govt has played into his hands but then again if someone claims to have an army in a sovereign state and his army rise to defend him do you now blame the other side with a more sophisticated army who unleash terror when they clash? 

What is the way forward? Obviously a deluded man like Kanu should not be the one to lead the SE agitation. All the regions need solid leadership and dialogue to work out the modalities of restructuring and if the current Government resist this change, then we should sit down and plan a silent revolution that will start with putting sensible people in the National Assembly and gradually make laws that are sensible, hold the executive arm accountable and forge a better future for Nigeria either with the current structure or as a True Federation with maybe 3 or 6 Regions. 

PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES AND FUNDING CHALLENGE

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our public universities need to think out of the box to find creative solutions to their funding crisis
The nation woke up recently to the decision by 38 public universities to jack up their tuition fees. According to the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr. Deji Omole, the hike was necessitated by poor funding from the owners, the federal and state governments. Whatever may be the merit of this decision, we are concerned that it may obstruct the peace of the universities, whose students have already notified the authorities of their intention to oppose the proposal because it would shut out many of them who might not be able to afford the increment.

There is no doubt that the nation’s public universities are facing hard financial times. This is a corollary of government’s meagre attention to education, a fact attested to by its poor annual budgetary allocation to the sector. The United Nations E
ducational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommends that developing nations allocate 26 per cent of their annual budgets to education to enable them close the yawning gap in the sector’s development and to lay a solid foundation for their future growth, which would rely largely on the quality of their human resources.
Government, at all levels in our country, has performed abysmally on this front. In this year’s budget, for instance, the share for education in the federal government N7.3 trillion appropriation is a mere N448.01 billion, a miserly six per cent. But nothing demonstrates the perennial disdain for the sector than the allocation of a miserable N50 billion to capital development while a whopping N398.01 billion is allotted to recurrent expenditure. But reports on education from the 36 states of the federation are no better. The figures for 2016, for instance, showed that 33 of the 36 states allocated N653.53 billion, representing 10.7 per cent of their combined total budget estimates of N6.1 trillion to the sector.
These poor allocations fly in the face of government’s own realization of the dire situation in the Nigerian universities. An enquiry commissioned by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2012 on the needs of these universities led the federal government to earmark N1.3 trillion for special intervention in the Nigerian public universities over the next six years. Only N200billion has been released to date.
With low budgetary allocation to education, it is little wonder why tertiary institutions, particularly universities are broke with the attendant degeneration of their infrastructural facilities as well as lowering of standards of teaching and learning. The situation has led to perennial shut down and instability in the public institutions. Their global ranking has sunk so low that none of them is ranked among the top 800 in the world or among the top 10 in Africa.
Meanwhile, in spite of government’s stated commitment to education, widespread agitations for increased budgetary allocation to the sector has not persuaded it to take more substantive steps in that direction, notwithstanding its complimentary funding of tertiary education through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).
While we support the clamor for increased funding, we nonetheless think that given the dwindling resources of government, the tertiary institutions need to think out of the box and find more creative solutions to the problem. Elsewhere, universities have explored several ways of raising money to fund their operations. In this regard, ours need not reinvent the wheel. The common avenues include donations, endowments, professional chairs, gifts, grants and consultancy services. We note that many of our universities have embarked on these but their performance needs to be stepped up.
The total earning of Nigeria’s 89 universities was N340.6 billion in 2016. Clearly much more work has to be done to shore up internally generated revenue in order to wean the universities of their virtual total dependence on government funding. More importantly, our universities’ administrators also need to manage their resources prudently and transparently as part of the challenge in several cases has been misappropriation of funds kept in their care.
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Elsewhere, universities have explored several ways of raising money to fund their operations. In this regard, ours need not reinvent the wheel. The common avenues include donations, endowments, professional chairs, gifts, grants and consultancy services. We note that many of our universities have embarked on these but their performance needs to be stepped up

Memoirs of a Dying Father

One of the things we grew up to learn about our history is that in the days of old, the strong ruled the weak and the wise grew strong (my favourite line in a certain song). Warriors became kings and willed the crown.  From this lineage of warriors a child was born. Fathered from a royal bloodline and born to a mother from a family popularly known for playing the traditional talking drums.

As the warrior implies, this young boy grew up to be a strong man fierce in battle and may have cheated death too many times to comprehend. At a point, he was caught up in the middle of the Ife-Modakeke crisis right across the line of fire. He was also brave enough to occasionally step out putting his life in line to protect others, facing armed robbers in a fire exchange a few times. But yet a peacemaker and a fun loving fine gentleman I grew up to call Father.

Our family like any other had the highs and the lows as every regular family. But one special thing kept us bound together. This was his love for having the whole family around him at all times (nuclear and extended). He practiced the rule of a ‘family that eats together stays together.’ Though father never followed anyone to school to gain admissions, he usually ended up always being the PTA chairman at all the schools we attended (I don’t know how). I remember at a particular point he called my siblings and I together and said, “I may not be doing everything right, just know that I never really had a father to teach me how to be one.” That was meant to justify learning on the job. I saw that as his manly way of apologising for all the mistakes he has made and yet to make which I think was just fine and acceptable.

I'm not sure I will end this note in brief if I decide to describe the almost 20 year experience I had being a son. What I do know is that the time was fulfilling and everyone that knew Prince Adedotun Adegboyega Layade can testify there was never a dull moment around him. I've heard people say "certain people show signs of their last days when the time is near". Now that I'm thinking about it, it seems pretty obvious but no one payed attention to it. But you never really know these things and how they work.

Thinking back to about a month before Father passed on, we had to take a trip to Abuja for a family event, only to my surprise he decided we were going to hire a minivan. It was understandable to go by road since he never felt comfortable enough with local flights and was always on the road. What I couldn’t place my thoughts to understand was the reason to pay heavily to hire a vehicle having two drivers and a series of long distance worthy vehicles. Strangely on our way back around Ekiti, the hired minivan from a very popular transport company in the country broke down. Yet again very unlike father we chartered a taxi station wagon (505) just at that spot straight to Ibadan. No refund was claimed and no report made to the company.

For those that understand my dad’s religious doctrine, he decided to worship at the family Anglican Church in Ile-Ife the Sunday before his demise. This was yet another shocking unexplainable occurrence. It was a regular Sunday service. I won’t really say I know or understand what transpired between that Sunday and Tuesday July 01, 2008 the sad incident occurred. But what I can say I noticed was a sober reflection. We worked together all through Monday preparing a contract tender documents he was due to submit in Benin, Edo state on Tuesday. This kept us both working till about 10pm Monday night. Tuesday morning, he prepared for his trip as always noting he will make a stopover at Ife. When he was ready to leave I was assigned a few tasks for the office while he’ll be away. He handed me a thousand naira saying “ recharge your phone with this so you don’t have any excuse not to call to check up on me though I know you’ll be fine,” make sure you call because you never do, and he shook my hand to say goodbye.

Sadly, that was the last and final goodbye we shared on the first day of July year two thousand and eight.

Some mysteries can never be uncovered, and some questions are better left unasked. Till this very day seven years after, I still have questions never asked, and mysteries yet to be uncovered. I choose to make peace and move on knowing he lived a fulfilled life though I will give almost anything to say the words I never said and a final goodbye. For all the loved ones that have passed on, their memories live on in our hearts and in our minds. Live long dear dad.

Deji Layade

"To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done"

Ethnicity is usually used to define a group of persons sharing a common cultural heritage. It is made by common history, environment, territory, language, customs, habits, believes, in short, by a common way of life. Tribe is simply an ethnic sub-set within which all or most human activities are organized on the basis of kinship. Religion has so many definition but I will used an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a God or a group of gods.

Nigeria as we have it today is a result of the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Nigeria by the British.  According to Dr. Ochonu (Professor of African History at Vanderbilt University)  “The amalgamation was an act of colonial convenience. It occurred mainly because British colonizers desired a contiguous colonial territory stretching from the arid Sahel to the Atlantic Coast, and because Northern Nigeria, one of the merging units, was not paying its way while Southern Nigeria, the other British colony, generated revenue in excess of its administrative expenses. It made practical administrative sense to have one coherent British colony rather than two. It also made sense to merge a revenue-challenged colonial territory with a prosperous colonial neighbor, so the latter can subsidize the former.”

Northern Nigeria

Divided into 3geopolitical blocks (NW, NE &NC) are mostly Muslim. It includes States from the Sokoto Caliphate, Kano Emirate and Bornu Empire. The ethical diversity is very minimal especially because of the strong influence of Islam as a way of life.

Southern Nigeria

Divided into 3geopolitical blocks (SW, SE & SS) are mostly Christians. It includes the Lagos Colony, Oyo Empire, Kingdom of Benin, Oil Rivers Protectorate (Niger Coast Protectorate) & parts of the Royal Niger Company. The social political influence is mostly western and traditional African.

Religious and Ethnic crisis is not new to Nigeria. Before the amalgamation, the different states and ethnic groups that make up Nigeria have had various tribal wars and in some cases inter-ethnic wars like when Sokoto Caliphate went to war against Yoruba.  The most recent example of tribal war was the Ife-Modakeke war in 2000 which was the 7^th and most brutal since 1835. From my findings, the tribal wars are dated far back in history and if any still occur it’s just a fragment of what used to be a full scale war in the 18^th -19^th century. Some of the tribal wars that took place in Nigeria are:

•  Aro-Ibibio wars which occurred in South East Nigeria which led to the establishment of the Arochukwu Kingdom.  
• The battle was between the Aro people and Ibibio.
• The Fulani/Hausa war that led to the establishment of Sokoto Caliphate and Kano Emirate by Usman Dan Fodio (1804-1808).
• Kiriji war fought by the Yoruba’s for 16years is the longest civil war by any ethnic group (1870 -1886).

1960 -1966

Series of events show that the inter-ethnic conflict in Nigeria was very prominent during this period.

The political parties where from across ethnic lines:

• Northern People’s Congress (NPC) the party was formed by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Sir Ahmadu Bello in 1949.
• National Council of Nigeria and Cameroun (NCNC) the party was formed by Nnamdi Azikwe and Herbert Marcaulay in 1944. Although the party is said to be Nationalistic, the leadership was dominated by Igbo’s and a few yoruba’s
• Action Group (AG) the party was formed by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1951.

One thing to note here is that at some point, the NCNC formed an Alliance with the northern dominated party NPC to set up a conservative coalition. The AG ended up becoming the 1^st opposition party since independence.  Later on, Ladoke Akintola formed a pro-government party called Nigeria National Democratic Party (NNDP) in 1964 after he broke away from Awolowo’s AG because of his refusal to form an alliance with NPC. Abubakar Tafabalwa was the first Nigerian Prime Minister while Nnamdi Azikwe was the ceremonial president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

1966 – 1967

Nigeria saw its 1st coup which was carried out by the rebel Southern Nigeria soldiers led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu with the support of Major Don Okafor, Major Humphrey Chukwuka, Major Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Major Timoty Onwuatuegwu, Major Chris Anufor & Major Adewale Ademoyega. This coup led to the assassination of Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, Ladoke Akintola, Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun, Col Ralph Sodehinde, Lt Col James Pam, Lt Col Abogo Largema, Col Kur Mohammed, Festus Okotie Eboh, Brig. Zakariya Maimalari  and the only Igbo Lt Col Arthur Unegbe who was killed because of his closeness to Brig Mailari  and to prevent him from raising alarm. In summary this was a predominantly an Igbo led coup that wiped out the top politicians in the Northern and Western Nigeria.

The next phase which led to the 2^nd coup was trigger by the fact that none of the high profile casualties from the 1^st coup were Igbo and also because the main beneficiaries of the coup were Igbo. This led to the death of Aguyi Ironsi and Adekunle Fajuyi by a coup led by Theophilus Danjuma in Ibadan. This counter coup led to the installation of Lt Col Yakubu Gown as Head of State because of his good reputation in the army, a Christian and he is from a seemingly neutral minority Northern tribe.

Biafra War (1967 -1970)

After various disagreements over the Aburi meeting in Ghana, civil war broke out on 6^th July 1967 after Ojukwu declared Biafran secession on May 30, 1967. On July 1st 1967, Gowon, revoked the appointment of Ojukwu as Military Governor of the East Central State. Five days later the war broke out after Ojukwu was dismissed from the army. The war was between the then Eastern Region of Nigeria and the rest of the country.  The Eastern Region declared itself an independent state which was regarded as an act of secession by the Federal Military Government of Nigeria.  The war was fought to reunify the country. In order to understand what led to the civil war, it is necessary to give a brief background history of Nigeria.  

  "The world knows how hard we strove to avoid the civil war. Our objectives in fighting the war to crush Ojukwu’s rebellion were always clear. We desired to preserve the territorial integrity and unity of Nigeria. For as one country we would be able to maintain lasting peace amongst our various communities; achieve rapid economic development to improve the lot of our people; guarantee a dignified future and respect in the world for our prosperity and contribute to African unity and modernization. On the other hand, the small successor states in a disintegrated Nigeria would be victims of perpetual war and misery and neo-colonialism. Our duty was clear. And we are, today, vindicated.” - Yakubu Gowon

“On our side, we fought the war with great caution, not in anger or hatred, but always in the hope that common sense would prevail. Many times we sought a negotiated settlement, not out of weakness, but in order to minimize the problems of reintegration, reconciliation, and reconstruction. We knew that however the war ended, in the battlefield, or in the conference room, our brothers fighting under other colours must rejoin us and that we must together rebuild the nation anew.” - Yakubu Gowon

“I have learned a word from the British, which is “sorry”! That’s how I want to respond to your question. I did not want this war but I want to win this war. Therefore I have to kill the Igbos. Sorry! The End” - Brig Benjamin Adekunle (The Black Scorpion) 

“I regret the disabilities of the war. It was a choice: it was either to become a slave of the Hausas in that time, or to do what we did. And up till tomorrow, whenever I’m given the opportunity to choose, I’ll reject slavery.” – Odumegwu Ojukwu

“It is only those who have not been involved in a war that will always push war as the first solution to any problem. War does not solve, it cowers but the problem remains.” - Odumegwu Ojukwu

FACTS:

A) If you  are born in say New York, when asked where you are from you say the US. Meanwhile, you are born in Ado Ekiti but your dad is from Abakaliki, when asked where you are from you quickly say Abakaliki.

B) You find it easy to celebrate Nigerians in diaspora contesting for office but you won’t let a fulani man run for reps in Onitsha or Ijebu man run for LG in Kano.

C) Why do Nigerians in diaspora especially the migrants refer to Nigerians as "you people"? I find it very very annoying sha.

D) We all love Suya, Nkwobi, Isi ewu, Ponded Yam & Egusi, efo riro …foods that come from various tribes.

E) When we decide to dwell on the physical we love the curves of the Calabar woman, the beauty of the Fulani woman and the finesse of the Yoruba babe.

F) You hardly find a NE/NW getting married to a SS/SE
G) Our music cuts across ethnic barriers. Thats why we can have Phyno, Ice Prince & Olamide on the same stage. 

The truth is no ethnic group is superior to the rest. We need to learn to co-exist in peace and put the past behind us. Every ethnic group has experienced their own share of oppression by another ethnic group. The real history of the Native Americans and Australians compared to their level of development now is an example that we can put all these ethnic beef behind us to build our Nation.  

Nigeria Decides (My view from the sideline and basic principles you should understand)

I am indeed not a politician neither registered to any political party and yet still undecided on who to vote for at the upcoming 2015 general elections.

I must also say this period gives me the opportunity to explore my discipline.

We cry for change which I am in total agreement with. You ask why?

You can’t always do the same thing over and over and expect to get a different outcome. So there is a need for a paradigm shift, but the question that pops to mind is; what kind of change do we really need?

I will leave you to ponder about this on your own.

Ultimately, looking back through the years as they say; “knowledge of the history gives a better understanding of the future”.

Our great nation has suffered so many losses in in terms of resources with huge human resource included starting from the civil war down to this current day.  I’m sure we all have a wide knowledge of this as it will not be the centre of this short essay of mine.

Focusing on what led me to putting pen on paper. A look into the standard practice of Political parties, you will agree with me political parties are institution built on the rock of ideologies.  An ideology in the English dictionary has been defined as “a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy”. These are set of standards and fundamental philosophy that guide activities, aims and focus.

Brief case study:  The Republican Party (U.S) holds the belief that all material things are earned, not owed. This is seen most often in the party's push for lower taxes.  They believe the economy should be open and all to earn what they get. They strongly believe in the private sector in terms of development and empower this means. Citizens are treated equally despite income, race, gender, or religion with an opportunity to fend for self. They also see taxes as a drag on the economy, and believe private spending is usually more efficient than public spending. This ideology is broken down into Social conservatism, economic liberalism, Fiscal conservatism encouraging conservatism in the U.S.

On the other hand: The Democratic Party (U.S) generally supports government involvement in terms of funding those in poverty and those facing social injustice. They believe government initiatives and regulations can develop the economy and reduce business practices they state affect average American negatively. The Democratic Party has been known to support stronger taxation system, progressive social cause and government responsibility in addressing issues such as poverty and access to education and health care. This is broken down into Social liberalism; Progressivism.

First of all it is clear the foundation of our political system is none existent as we see no ideology to hold on to. This explains spontaneous cross carpeting within the political sector. I need not say any further on this.

This leads me to another important political term called Campaign:  Campaign is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as a planned group of especially political, business, or military activities that are intended to achieve a particular aim. In this context I will say a campaign is an organized effort or system adopted to canvas for votes. This I believe as against all the jamboree activities should strongly carry along the train a Manifesto.

Manifesto: This is a written statement of goals and opinions of a person or a group. The word is derived from the Latin word “manisfestum” which in its literal sense means “clear”.

A campaign without clear stated goals (manifesto) is like a Vision without a Mission to drive it. The phrase “clear stated goals” is highlighted and for this purpose refers majorly to issues and a “how”. This simply explains beyond what I need not write.

It is clear that Nigerians know and understand where the shoe hurts without been told over and over again. However, we cannot say because we are hungry for change we will forget our purpose as citizens. There is a need to keep both ears and all eyes on the offers that are being made to us (If any concrete offer has been laid down so far).

I am patiently waiting on that day we will reach the level where:

1)     Political parties are known for their ideologies with candidates aligned to the same ideology.

2)    Campaigns that will address key issues than lay on the corridors of sentimental appeal.

3)     Manifestos that state not just needed solutions, but how they can be achieved rather than narrating the problems we have long lived with.

Till all these are achieved I take a space on the sideline and watch the movie roll.

Remember, the power to effect the change you desire has placed on your palms, be it change of leader or a changed leader. This however can be brought to life only when we Nigerians decide. 

by Deji Layade

OYO O NI DARU O

Oyo State was formed in 1976 when Western Nigeria was divided into Ogun, Ondo and Oyo. It later became the new Oyo after Osun State was carved out in 1991. Bola Ige was the 1^st executive governor of Oyo State (1979 – 1983 UPN) but failed to be re-elected despite his remarkable effort as governor. He was followed by Dr Victor Olunloyo (Oct 1983 – Dec 1983 NPN). Chief Kolapo Ishola was later elected as 3^rd governor of Oyo State (Jan 1992 – Nov 1993 SDP).

The 4^th republic kicked off with Lam Adesina emerging as governor under Alliance for Democracy between 1999-2003. He was succeeded by Senator Adewolu Ladoja in 2003 as a PDP candidate and his deputy then was Adebayo Alao Akala. The power tussle between the late Adedibu and Ladoja let to the laters impeachment which automatically made Akala the governor for about 11 months till it was overturned in dec 2006 bu by May 2007 Alao Akala managed to emerged as the PDP candidate and became governor of Oyo State. These events were marred with a lot of violence and resulted in slowing down the development of Oyo State.

In 2011, Ajimobi defeated Alao Akala to become the 7^th governor of Oyo State as an ACN candidate. Although he had already contested in 2007 as an ANPP candidate, the PDP was alleged to have manipulated the polls to ensure Alao Akala became governor. 

Currently Oyo State have 5 strong contenders running for governor, two of which have been governor before and one is currently the incumbent governor. Although there is a myth that ‘Oyo o kin sin enikan ni e meji” (Oyo does not serve the same master twice), these 3 happen to be among the top contenders.  Meanwhile, other states like Ekiti and State of Osun have broken the myth of re-electing a governor twice already so who says Oyo can’t do the same.

Brief profile of the candidates:

Candidate	DOB	Origin	Party	Academic Qualification	Political Experience
Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi	Dec 1949	Ibadan	APC	Bsc Biz Admin and Finance & MBA	Senator (2003-2007), Governor (2011 - til date)
Adebayo Alao Akala	Jun 1950	Ogbomosho	LP	Dip in Biz Admin	LG Chair (1999-2002), Deputy Gov (2003 - 2006 & Gov (Jan - dec (2006), 2007 - 2011)
Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja	Sep 1944	Ibadan	Accord	Bsc Engineering	Senator (1993) & Governor (2003 - 2006)
Seyi Makinde	Dec 1967	Ibadan	SDP	Bsc Engineering	NA
Teslim Kolawole Folarin	Oct 1963	Ibadan	PDP	Bsc Political Science	Senator (2003-2011)

Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi

Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi

An accomplished professional and a former senator, Ajimobi has been governor for over 3years in Oyo State. He came in just after Akala and at a point where the state witnessed a lot of violence and unrest. Till date a lot of shops shut down by 8pm as a result of their experience with armed robbery, violence and thuggery that was associated with Akala’s government.  Since he became governor, the state has been relatively safer, cleaner and beautiful.  Oyo has witnessed major road expansion and construction in the same time-frame.  Introduction of YESO, the transformation of BCOS and  the new Agodi gardens are just a few of what Ajimobi has done so far.  This is not to say he is perfect or outstanding but from where the state is coming from he has done well. 

One thing a lot of people who have interacted with him hold against him is the claim that he is very arrogant and also his wife has so much power that she gets involved in major decision making. After the fall out of an alliance with Ladoja and Accord party which was used to stabilised the house of Assembly, Ladoja accused him of inflating contracts and displacing a lot of traders and artisans in the name of beautification.
Ajimobi has an advantage as an incumbent and also various resources at his disposal including funds to contest. Will people focus on his performance and overlook his shortcomings? Will his opponent not use the alleged influence of his wife in governance against him during campaign? Will the allegations of contract inflation be backed by facts and figures to discredit him by Ladoja? Will the educated and aware judge him by his performance and for that singular reason or will they allow irrelevant sentiment cloud their judgement?

Adebayo Alao Akala

Adebayo Alao Akala

The former police man turned politician was governor altogether for about 4yrs 11months. This is the longest anyone has been governor in Oyo State. His tenure witnessed a lot of thuggery and violence in the state but the people claim that despite all of that they enjoyed free flow of cash in the economy and although the environment was dirty, and relatively unsafe they enjoyed some sort of boom in their business. This cant really be explained in theoretical terms but according to the people of Oyo State that was the situation. Akala also did continue some major road projects that were believed to have been initiated by Ladoja. These projects would have been fantastic project but the quality of work done can’t stand the test of time. Akala is said to be good man at heart but was believed to have surrounded himself with a bunch of clueless and greedy political appointees, contractors and friends.

This makes one question his administrative skills but people close to him say he is better, wiser and means well for Oyo State.

Alao Akala was also picked up in 2012 by the EFCC and charged to court over a N11.5bn fraud case. He made a couple of appearance in court with Hosea Agboola and Femi Babalola (Jogor) but EFCC and the court have been silent about the case for a while now since the case has been adjourned indefinitely since November 2013.

Akala seems to have a lot of loyal grassroot supporters; this is probably because he is what they call ‘buje bu da nu’ (spends lavishly). The question is are these supporters true to him and believe in him or are they just with him for his money? What really has he got to offer and how will he convince people he will be a better governor this time around? Will he benefit from the Stomach infrastructure phenomenon like Fayose did?

Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja

Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja

An accomplished entrepreneur had his administration cut short after he was impeached. Although he came back briefly, the State was in a terrible shape that governance was almost impossible.  It is believed that the few years he spent in government; he was developing a master plan for Oyo State development. Ladoja took good care of civil servant and teachers by promptly paying their salaries but then the trade-off was to hold back on any major projects till much later. The later never happened as he was impeached. 

As at February 2014, the court of appeal in Lagos disallowed an appeal by Ladoja to quash the criminal charges against him by EFCC. But since this report contract-fraud-court-frees-bankole-orders-ladojas-trial no new development about the case has been publish or in public domain.

Ladoja enjoyed a lot of sympathy votes from civil servants especially teachers in 2011 but that wasn't enough, infact his running for the election was a spoiler and worked to his other opponent’s advantage. Will he still get sympathy civil servants vote? Will he be able to run a very good campaign considering the fact that alot of his loyalist left him just a few days ago in anger? What will be his selling point since the current governor haven't done so back in term of development?

Seyi Makinde

Seyi Makinde

He is the youngest of all the 5 candidates and has never held any political office. He is according to the bio on his page Seyi Makinde. An accomplished business man in the oil and gas sector. He is a force to reckon with simply because he has in the last year ran a very intense campaign. He has basically carved a niche for himself as a young and fresh alternative through his constant presence in the media. He has also gone round the State to meet with people to register his presence and intention even before the political tussle got heated up . 

The only mistake he made was that he did all of this under a party that could not conduct free and fair elections in the state and also a party that is associated with violence and thuggery. He eventually lost at the primaries to Teslim folarin. Although both Akala and Seyi claim that no primaries was conducted and that the candidate that emerged was imposed by the Oga at the top,  Seyi has since then moved to SDP. 
People seem to know about Seyi Makinde but his ordeal with PDP and his move to SDP may change the perception of people about him. With a strong political party backing he would have been a preferred choice considering the fact he is young, he has ran a good campaign selling his candidacy and ideas and his little effort in empowering people.

Teslim Kolawole Folarin

Teslim Kolawole Folarin

He was the senate leader 2007- 2011 as a 2^nd term senator. He emerged as the flag bearer from what his former party mate described as mockery of justice. According to Seyi Makinde  “How can this same party (PDP) have a candidate who claims to have been elected with 167 votes which is just about 10 per cent of the total number of delegates after the majority or 1,053 delegates were disenfranchised? I believe in the rule of law, decency and discipline. Justice delayed is justice denied.’’. 

Teslim’s 8 years as a senator including 4years as a majority leader has not reflected positively in his district especially for someone with an ambition to be governor. With such a position, it would have been nice to stay prominent in the society getting involved in developmental projects and programs aswell as showing concern for lives, people and property. Teslim basically stays mute when he should be most vocal on issues an example is when Ibadan was hit with flood and so many people were displaced. Law makers don’t have votes but they do have constituency allowance and one of their major role is to make laws, facilitate development of their constituency and state using their influence and access to the governor and the president. The question in the lips of people in Ibadan is that how much of their interest did Teslim Folarin look out for and will he if elected be concerned about the wellbeing of people, infrastructural development and economic growth?

Teslim was arrested and charged for murder of Eleweomo (a former

vice chair of Oyo NURTW) December 2010, he was released few days later in controversial circumstances liked to the Presidency getting involved to participate at the PDP primaries in Abuja. The case has since then been swept under the rug as usual.
Out of all the candidates, Teslim is the least popular. As a matter of fact alot of people did not know he was the Senate Leader till the incident with Eleweomo happened. Will he be able to convince people that he has what it takes to lead the State? Can he actually deliver or will he continue to remain the figure head type leader most people think he is?

Who Will Become the Next Oyo State Governor?

This election will definitely be a close one especially with the number of strong candidates contesting. The candidates have their strength and weakness as highlighted above but as it stands one can’t really say for sure who will emerge or who most people in the State will vote for.

The intensity of the campaign, messaging and the ability of the candidates to sell themselves to the people of Oyo State will be the determining factor of who wins Feb 2015. Their performance, failures, court cases, allegations and CV’s will only matter to a few and especially the elite voters. The other voters who form majority will judge them by what happens in the next couple of weeks, some communities like Sabo, Akinyele, Shasha, Oyo town, Saki etc with strong influence from their leaders will naturally go the way their leaders dictate so it’s up to the candidates that can woo them the most.

Another factor to consider is how the ‘Ibadan’ factor will play out considering that 4 out of the 5 major candidates are from Ibadan. Although, Ibadan has a huge population of settlers from other parts of Oyo state and even outside Oyo, it will be interesting if they come out to vote this time around and to see who they vote for.