Ogun: Shameless Lot

Comfort Obi

If the happenings in Ogun State were not this shameful, I would have had a good laugh at the crop of people the state is cursed with. They are without shame, and with absolutely no credibility. These are visionless people, whose main agenda is to line their pockets, and ridicule the state and its people. They are on an ego trip, and have betrayed the trust reposed in them by the people. Considering the background of some of them, what is happening may not be surprising. What is surprising, however, is: The people have not chased them out of office. How did this state come to be in the hands of juveniles, with questionable pedigree, who have reduced it to a theatre of the absurd.
Briefly, its descent into the abyss began from the day the former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mrs Titi Oseni, was impeached. Chief among the allegations against her was that she was too close to the governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. I have always wondered why anybody would wish for an ugly relationship between the Legislature and the Executive arms of government, especially, when the governor and majority of the members of the House are of the same party? Both Oseni and Daniel have since more than hinted that the problem was not over Oseni’s closeness to Daniel, but over cheap money to share, and, especially, over who becomes the governor in 2011.
The members of the House have split into G15 and G11. The result is stories and spectacles that range from the bizarre to the ridiculous. Ogun thrives on blackmail. Once, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Tunji Egbetokun, alleged that an aide of the governor came visiting him in his house with guns in his car. The question I asked then was if the aide would be so stupid as to go to Egbetokun's house to kill him. For as long as can be remembered, the legislature has done little or no work. Members have not sat one third of the number of times they ought to sit. They cite security. Yet, they don’t plead that when they draw their salaries and allowances. Unfortunately, the crisis has grown to involve many prominent indigenes of the state, including members of the National Assembly, and traditional rulers. Everybody seems entangled in the ridicule that has become Ogun State. Yet, the climax has to be this era of nudity which has been inflicted on us. How did Ogun descend to a state of nudity and idolatory?
A national daily, the Nigerian Compass, which proprietor is allegedly Daniel, kicked it off by treating us to an eye sore. Splashed on its front page, penultimate week, was a nude photograph of Wale Alausa, a member of the House of Assembly. His protruded stomach shone – evidence of his own democracy dividend. He stood looking like a moron being taken to the slaughter. Initially, I was in shock. I had reasoned that a media house, especially, one owned by Daniel would never descend that low. If it was a weapon for blackmail, or humiliation, the most discreet thing to do was to have it published in another newspaper. The paper alleged it was a photograph taken when Alausa, a prostitute of a politician, who had gone from G15 to G11, and back to G15, swore to a blood oath with his other colleagues, before a shrine, to destroy Governor Daniel. More shocking was that Alausa admitted he was the one in the nude. In this age of computer, a smart person would have claimed his head was superimposed on a naked body. Luckily, for him, his manhood was covered by the editors. Otherwise, its size would have since been up for public discourse.
What irks most is that Alausa had no defence. What would make a man, a member of the House of Assembly, descend this low, losing every dignity? Where has shame gone? Who was the cameraman? The governor, or another member of the executive? Alausa tried to justify his shamelessness by alleging that he took the nude photograph alongside Daniel. And much later, claiming, along with his colleagues, that Daniel's nude photographs are available. If they are, Alausa should retaliate by publishing them. It would be interesting to ogle at an executive nakedness. But it is an empty claim – as empty as the threat by Daniel’s people to publish more nude photographs of members of the G15. What has stopped them from continuing with the bizarre act? That publication was cheap. It is an act the governor and/or those who urged him on would be ashamed of in their more sober moments.
Alausa said Daniel took him to the shrine in his (Daniel’s) house where two of them swore to an oath. He swore to always support Daniel? What did Daniel swear to do? To see to his re-election to the House, or make available Ogun State’s treasury to him? If so, Daniel has deceived him, and broken all the rules. Their god is powerless. The G15, especially Speaker Egbetokun, has taken over the fight, revealing that they also swore to an oath with Daniel. The only difference: They were not in the nude as Alausa. But what is the difference between 12 and a dozen?
The truth is: Ogun State is being ruled by a group of petty minds and idol worshipers.Under their babariga, sokotos, and jackets are devilish charms, prepared for them by babalawos. It is instructive that they are not denying this shameful act. How does one know who is speaking the truth?
The questions to ask are: Who is the Chief Priest? Who owns the shrine? How much was paid? Whose money was it? Was it personal money? Or state money? And whose idea was it? How do these benefit the masses?
The most worrisome is that the legislators admit they swore to an oath of allegiance to Daniel! Why? Why didn’t they swear to an oath of allegiance to the state? The interpretation is that they would feign blindness, even if Daniel does not perform, and/or steals the state blind? And what was in it for them? Let me quickly add that this shameful act is not the exclusive of Ogun State. Several other states are guility too. It is just that Ogun stupidly allowed its own to become public. It is an act of God. We saw it happen in Okija, Anambra State between Dr. Chris Ngige, and Chief Chris Uba. But back to Ogun.
You would have noticed that I neither used the prefix Excellency or Honourable for anybody here. That is my way of saying that none of them deserves it. Ogun people should rise, and sweep these characters off their political landscape. They have polluted the state’s skyline. And it stinks to high heavens.