This is a good dimension from Oloye Bola Olalere and I salute his courage for this.
But, I like to say that he should have come closer and be a part of what we are doing to know what we are doing and how we are doing it before he made a conclusion based on assumption.
We all knew what he has said and he should have given us the benefit of doubt that we also have minds to learn, think, reason, imagine, meditate, generate ideas, wise up, understand, plan and envision.
Again, the best thing I would have expected Bola and others like him to do is to come around, if he cannot join us, he should have approached us to offer useful suggestion and advice on what we can do to succeed.
If this publication came from an outsider who is not an indigene of Òkè-ògùn would have understood it. But, coming from someone who should be at the vanguard of the struggle is questionable. Òkehò news, which Oloye Bola has been managing for decades and has been doing great job in community journalism was duly represented. Reading this from the boss is in tandem with the assignment our group gave to those who attended the press conference yesterday.
But, I like to say that, in the car of next time, our door is wide opened to critique, constructive criticism and counsel from anybody who wants us to change the story of our region.
In other words, it is not wise to watch our condition to be deteriorating moving from bad to worse. We cannot fold our hands and be watching without taking step to change our condition and we need all shades of inputs from everyone to make right decision. We have to make decision to change the narrative and it is now we should do it because, like Modecai to Esther, we are where we are at such a time like this to hear what the Spirit is saying and act on it.
My people, indecision is a decision that accepts the status quo. A wrong decision is better than no decision. The riskiest thing is not to take risk. Those who don’t take risk are risks to the society.
Then, we should not be afraid of failure and refuse to take step. Failure is an integral part of success. Anyone who cannot dare failure cannot succeed. Those who are successful today were ex-failure.
Ìbádàn people also struggled in the past with “Ọmọ wa ni ẹ jẹ́ ó ṣe é” mantra before power came to them. And, there are many good people in Ìbádàn who will understand what we are saying and will want things to change.
Lastly, it is good to study the history of every struggle to know that it has always been progressional. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, Elijah Mohammed, Jesse Jackson, Rosa Park and a host of others fought racism with their lives. But, it didn’t happen in their time before their eyes. However, they started something that later produced Barrack Obama – the first black man in a White House.
I think, everyone will remember that Jesse Jackson was weeping the day Obama was declared as the president of America. Tears of joy rolled out of his eyes and, without telling anyone, what must have been going on in his stream of consciousness was: “so this thing is possible”! “So, this struggle will end”. “So, a black man can be such honoured”!
Finally, I want my brother, Bola, to know that this thing will end one day soon. Power will begin to rotate in Òyọ́ State like in Ọsun, Ondo and other States because this is the Pacesetter State.
Thank you and God bless you real good.
Pastor Favour Adewoyin Adewale,
General Secretary , Ègbé Àjosepò Fún Ìtésíwájú Gbogbo
OkeOgun Lokan: “Power is not serve a la carte”// Oloye Bola Olalere
Yesterday, a group from my OkeOgun region of Oyo State, which claimed non partisan held a press conference in Iseyin agitating for a political position of Governor of Oyo state to be zoned to our region in 2027, because we have been so marginalized.
While I commend their efforts and activities, I am just worried that why should we keep doing the same thing every four years and expect different results ?
First, we need to be partisan to have a say in a political matter. I am sure the politicians ( including the ones from OkeOgun ) will be laughing at us with this movement because when any directive comes from their party secretariat in Ibadan , I trust my OkeOgun politicians, they are so fanatical about their party affiliation, they will comply without questioning.
So, why don’t this group be partisan and carry along politicians, who really matter, in this agitation.
Political parties will soon start their congresses and once the party chairmanship position is zoned to OkeOgun…boom ! The end of the agitation.
Perhaps we should call a summit of our active politicians, promise them our goodwill and encourage them not to accept the party chairmanship position when they are having their conclaves and ask them to see to it that an OkeOgun aspirant gets their party ticket by all means possible. However, this requires a high level of politicking, which only politicians can navigate.
Also, and more importantly, where are the aspirants from OkeOgun, who really want to become Governor? Power is not serve a la carte, we need able and ambitious politicians, who want to be Governor and would not stop until he or she becomes the Governor.
Maybe, we should also encourage more of our sons and daughters who have the capacity to be Governor to join partisan politics.
While I do not really believe that our underdevelopment in OkeOgun is due to our inability to produce the Governor of the state, I won’t mind a politician from my region becoming the Governor of the state but we have to do it so realistically and so discreetly because the people we accused of holding on to power knows why they are doing so and we may not need to ask them nicely to relinquish it.
-Oloye Bola Olalere
