Home Truth with Goke Butika

In the city of the blind, a one-eyed man will surely get the crown.

Some weeks ago, one impostor who paraded himself for two years as the Chairman, Olorunda Local Government Council Area of Osun State, Gani Ola-Oluwa by name, commissioned a 16-room lock-up shops he constructed in front of the council secretariat and close to a million naira was parceled to Musuliu Haruna Ishola to drum up traditional apala lyrics into the dancing steps of praise singers, sycophants and party apologists!

The stark illiterate commercial-driver-turned-politician celebrated to the high heaven, because he knew that given his zero pedigree and academic qualifications, he was a write-off until he managed himself to the position of the council boss and at the same time ‘out-performed’ his comrades-in-crime, who paraded themselves as council chairs as well. He gathered supporters and his sympathizers and some idle hands in the corridors of power in the state to come and see the ‘feat’ he had performed.

Frankly speaking, Ola-Oluwa outshone his colleagues in terms of performance in the prism of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), because to an average politician in the PDP, governance is leisure, achievement to him, is buying some refrigerators, grinding machines, television sets, constructing some substandard classrooms only to commission them with the same amount expended on the project. So, if this was the barometer used by Ola-Oluwa to measure his performance in office, then, in a state that is in short supply of men of honour like Osun, he is a performer.

Naturally, I would have just turned a deaf ear and pretended as if nothing happened, but because some people who are parading themselves as human rights activists were at the occasion to lend their ‘puritanical’ voice to the bandwagon in a style, I have no option than to explain the true position of things to the gullible people, who might have thought that the mere fact that the praise-singers praised the politician, he should be seen and accepted as a champion.

If you are in love with knowledge, let us visit Plato, whose message was echoed by Socrates, maybe, we could draw some lessons that would guide us individually and collectively. Plato said that people are prisoners with their hands cuffed to their back and made to face shadow on the wall.

These prisoners would not know that they are facing shadow because the fire at their back would be glowing the substance at the other side of the wall to them, illuminating it as substance and the trend continues until one of the prisoners gets out of the custody and feels the reality.

At first, Plato argued that the free man would not easily accept the reality, because his thinking faculty has been confined into the shadow, which he has taken as a substance until he is made to see that the object shown to his co-prisoners is a shadow. Then, he will now settle for the reality and, as a matter of fact, he would be afraid of going back to the deceit where a shadow was taken for a substance.

Plato then advised that the free man should go back to the prison and preach the gospel of reality to his former inmates. He made us to realize that it would be very difficult at first instance to believe him (free man), but with fact and figures on the table, the prisoners would see the reality and the chain in their hands would break away and they would become free like him.

Plato submitted that a man is not free, until he sees the freedom of others. In that wise, I would consider myself in bondage if I do not explain some points to the people about the madness called the celebration of these politicians in public office.

In the first premise, the impostor called Olaoluwa was addressed as a council boss and he expended collective resources to construct the celebrated lock-up shops that attracted the Apala musician and praises of some so-called ‘human rights crusaders’. So, what is so special that people must be forced to dance?

What has Olaoluwa done that one former Osogbo Local Government Council Area chairman called Liadi Gbadamosi had not done while he superintended the office? As matter of fact, Olaoluwa constructed 16 rooms, while Adesola constructed something bigger at the heart of the city and I did not remember he invited any local musician to drum to the erotic dance of his supporters let alone apala dance.

It was brought to my notice that Olaoluwa constructed some access roads in his council area and he succeeded in bringing sanity to the traffic situation of Olorunda council area. Of all the aforementioned programmes credited to the man, only the traffic situation he managed should draw commendation and I salute his courage for that, because all his predecessors lacked courage to do it, despite the fact that they had more credibility to their election, but my argument is that if Olaoluwa could not spend the federal allocations on the aforementioned projects, would he take the funds to his private accounts like others?

Some gullible people would be saying that if he did not construct roads and build lock-up shops, like others, nothing would happen and heavens would not fall. Of course, heavens will not fall now, certainly, nobody would query him now. But it should be noted that one day monkey would go to the market and it will not come back. A proverbial Pharaoh will emerge and he may not recognize their proverbial Joseph.

I learnt that the impostor in Osogbo Local Government Council Area, called Teslim Igbalaye is a catastrophic failure, who only built a multi-million naira edifice for himself, instead of taking care of the collective responsibility. I think that was one example that people like Olaoluwa would be silently citing as a benchmark he surpassed, but to any reasonable person, Igbalaye is a bad version of what a politician should be.

Let us check it, if Olaoluwa could be inviting Musiliu Haruna to the commissioning of lock-up shops and people like Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola and his co-travellers could be dancing to apala music, who would former Governor Bisi Akande have invited as a musician? Michael Jackson? Let us face it, all impostors in the councils in Osun State had failed themselves, because nobody elected them into office in the first place and I doubt whether there is any right-thinking person out there who would dispute the fact, because I would just ask the fellow to read the Appeal Court’s pronouncement on the farce election that took place on 15 December, 2007.

Let someone tell me about the achievements of the embattled Governor Oyinlola in the last six years? Let someone convince me about a single programme that has positive trickle-down effect on the people? Then, why are we dancing to the gallery? So, Gani Olaoluwa is just a shadow-glowing to the people by the colourless PDP in this part of the state and nothing could be done to make him a substance, unless if a house on a rough foundation could stand the test of time.

If you do not understand me deep down, let us check the file of the former Governor of the Central Bank, Chukwuma Soludo. This guy, on assuming office, came up with consolidation theory that forced some weak banks to start merging to form a strong base and the PDP government made us to realize that it was the best thing to happen to us in this great nation and Soludo was gallivanting around as a banking wizkid. Five years later, we have found out that the same Soludo is the most corrupt Central Bank governor we have ever had, courtesy of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

I beseech you to please, free yourself from the manacle of deceit of the PDP. Stop toeing the path of the unscrupulous politicians that would do everything in the book to hoodwink us into believing that they are performing. If there is one state that is functioning in this country, it is Lagos. Have you seen or heard that Fashola, the Lagos governor ever invited any musician to the commissioning of any project? That is an instructive example of an achiever.

Let it be known that I have nothing against the person of Olaoluwa and I doubt whether I know this character from Adams, but I refuse to be drawn into the shadow and my effort to free the gullible people is not negotiable.

NOTE: Next week, God’s willing, I intend to treat some issues arising from the election petition retrial tribunal in Osun State. So, prepare your mind for daring copy. Please, if you intend to react to my piece, do so with text message (s) I can assure you that your response will be published.

I rest my case.

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