By Sunday Afolayan
I was at the junction of the Government Housing Corporation Estate, Otapete, Owo on Wednesday 21/02/2024, when the body of the late Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN, CON, was being conveyed from the capital in a see-through ambulance.
A couple of vehicles, mostly from the pool of the state government followed in a long convoy. The scene, as expected, was solemn. Everyone on the convoy wore sombre and doleful look. A thought flashed across my mind that made me reflect on the other side of life:
so this man called Aketi - the "talk and do Governor", in spite of his audacity and boldness, could no longer talk or do! I felt that if Akeredolu, the fearless fighter like the lightening thunder (omo aja bi arira oke) could lay this lifeless in his casket without being able to talk and do, then those of us still living should draw a lesson that life is, in deed, short and transient.
Only God deserves that attribute. No man can talk and do. No mortal is "alewi lese". Not in the face of death!
From Otapete, through the ancient town of Owo, primary and secondary school students, seemingly forced by their overzealous teachers, lined up the road, looking hungry, tired and fagged out, for having being in the scorching sun for hours, waiting for the arrival of the remains of their former governor to pay their last respect.
Nothing, ordinarily is wrong with honouring the dead. In all climes and tides, the dead are ethically accorded respect, not even when the dead was an important figure.
By all standards, Aketi was a great man, a national and international figure, a loud voice in matters of national interest. He rose to the covetted position of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) before becoming the governor of his state and ruled for seven years. So Mr talk and do deserved to be honoured.
His seven years as governor of Ondo State will remain evergreen in the hearts of men. His great achievements and shortcomings will therefore live after him. It is a universal law: the good or evil that men do will always live after them.
Aketi's can never be an exception, so he will be remembered for many things: good and bad. His achievements, such as the role he played in rye establishment of the security network code named Amorekun in the South West, when the marauding Fulani herdsmen almost turned the zone to an abatiore can not be forgotten easily.
Several kilometres of road network he constructed across the state will also speak in his favour. It becomes imperative for his successors, starting from Hon. Lucky Ayedatiwa, to sustain such legacies. In spite of the opposition from the federal government and other forces, Aketi used his "stuborness" to weather the storm; and today, Amotekun remains a legacy nobody could wish away.
Beyond the rhetorics of good achievements, which is the expected preoccupation of good governance, Aketi made some costly mistakes that should serve as lessons for current and upcoming leaders. The first was his inability to curb the obvious excesses of his immediate family.
Governance, anywhere,is not a tea party where one's wife and children are allowed to meddle in state affairs. Aketi was like a soldier, who fought and conquered at the war front but was consumed by the whims and caprices of his home.
While he left and allowed his wife, Betty, to bite too much by her arrant demonstration of unquenchable greed and obstinacy, he empowered his exuberant and unexperienced son, Babjide, beyond common sense, that the boy even saw himself as a de facto governor with limitless authority.
Aketi himself had penchant for believing that apart from the governor and his family, no other person matters in the state; not even the traditional rullers, religious leaders or any other person, no matter how highly placed. Aketi would dress them down and feel no remorse for it. Nobody does that without sinking in the voyage.
Aketi was destined to be great. There's no doubt about that. And truly,he was great. From his university days at University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, as a union leader, "Emperor", as he was fondly called then, because of his luxurant bears like that of late Emperor Haile Sellasie of Ethiopia, Aketi had either worked hard to attain leadership positions or seen leadership being bestowed upon him.
One thing, however destroys the beauty of the cheroptera bat, (ajawo), his arms are longer than the limbs.
Aketi soon forgot that power is transient. God gives it to whosoever he wishes. When it is your turn, never allow it override your reason.
Tomorrow, that same power will transist to someone else. Bishop David Oyedepo aptly captured this. He said "nothing on earth is permanent except change. Whether by crook or design, power must change hands. Aketi was good, but too hard to bend. No matter whose ox is gored, Aketi will never yield to a contrary opinion.
The last straw that broke the back of his carmel was that he unfortunately found himself in the midst of bad people. Apart from sycophants, bootlickers and hero worshippers, those within his bedroom and parlour also misled him by prompting him to take some decisions that latter rubbished some of his great works.
The first was the total withdrawal of the free shuttle buses Mimiko provided in all major towns in the state during his days as governor to help ameliorate the suffering of school pupils.
This initiative was among the hallmarks of Mimiko's administration, which brought a lot of relief to the pupils and their parents, and so was expected to be sustained by Akeredolu's government.
Aketi, however willfully threw these innocent children of the poor to the street in the rain, in the sun and nobody, including members of his family could counsel him against such anti-people policy.
The governor has spoken, our talk and do boss must be obeyed. Ironically, these same buses that Ondo State indigent children did not deserve to enjoy, were drafted en masse to Imo State to support the botched and disgraceful senatorial ambition of Auntie Betty, who used every opportunity to amass the wealth and prosperity of the state for private advantage.
The same children that were denied a basic privilege of free shuttle buses were forced to line up the road for hours in the hot sun to receive and honour "a man to whom honour is due".
This article is not to belittle the great exploits of this great man, whose greatness will remain a major subject of public discourse within and outside the media sphere for a long time.
Part of his greatest achievements was the harrowing experience he made the staff of the state owned Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo (RUGIPO) to pass through - an institution in his home town for that matter.
For seven years, the workforce was forced to live in conundrum and doldrums. Any serious researcher, whose interest is to assess the impact of poverty, as a result of unpaid salaries, needs a study of RUGIPO.
As at the time our talk and do governor bid us farewell, the state was owing the staff eleven months salary. Within this period of seven years, about one hundred staff members died of avoidable deaths for lack of money to take good care of themselves.
Many staff sold their properties, such as cars, lands and others to maintain their children in school while those who had nothing to sell withdrew their children from school.
During Akeredolu's time, staff were paid ten, fifteen, thirty percent of a month's salary. RUGIPO literally became one of the few institutions in the country where poverty holds its sway. Funny still, there was no single block of classroom erected by the government during his tenure.
Under his watch, governing council and management he appointed to saddle the canoe plundered the polytechnic and left "the Best Polytechnic in the South West" in its shadows.
Even the teaching service got its bitter dose of his administration as no single teacher was employed throughout his tenure, leaving most schools to suffer for lack of teachers. Today in most public primary and secondary schools in Ondo State, pupils are taught partly by PTA teachers whose remuneration is far below subsistence.
Governor Lucky Orimisan Ayedatiwa should learn lessons from this trajectory. He should not be one of those who know history but do not learn from history. Providence has been very fair to him.
In spite of many attempts to destroy or remove him from office as deputy governor by his erstwhile boss and his cronies, the Almighty, who rules in the affairs of men saw him through the jungle of bitter politics. Just like the case of Haman and Mordecai in the narrative in the book of Esther in the Holy Bible, Ayedatiwa triumphed over the persecution and tribulation of a ganged-up political gladiators, supervised by his ailing boss and his wife.
Now that Providence has placed leadership upon his shoulders, he should not forget that the power in his hand today is not permanent. It will go to someone else tomorrow. The way or manner in which he uses the power will determine what history will write about him tomorrow.
For instance, he promised to make RUGIPO staff smile by defraying the outstanding salaries they are being owed and he has started well by paying three out of the eleven months.
He should endeavour to make do with his promises, not only to rescue this polytechnic from imminent collapse but by turning the state around for the prosperity of the people.
While I congrate you Sir, for this uncommon favour to become the executive Governor of our Sunshine State by Providence, I commiserate with the family of our late Governor Akeredolu and the good people of Ondo State over this irreparable loss. May God Almighty grant his gentle soul a peaceful repose in eternity and grant his family the fortitude to bear the loss.
Adeu our amiable Aketi. We loved you as you loved us but God Almighty loves you most.
Sunday Afolayan is the current Chairman, Association of Nigerian Authors, Ondo State Chapter.
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