I am a participant in the process and evolution of the political developments that birthed the Lagos and Western states politics of 1998 to date and therefore can speak with a measure of authority.
I will however limit myself in this article to the Osun aspects of the story. This is necessary in view of the falsehoods, disinformation, misinformation, outright mischiefs and slanders that characterised most of the narratives on the matter.
In order to put the records straight, therefore, I decide to chronicle the facts of the debacle in the progressives’ family in Osun to the best of my knowledge and ability.
The need to recover Osun and the other Western states outside Lagos became sacrosanct immediately the progressives lost those states to the establishment party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in 2003. Lagos, the only surviving Western progressives administered state, assumed the leadership and driver of the process. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his team of argonauts went to works to actualise the objective.
A Board of Treasury meeting for the 2004 Budget in Badagry was the foundation of the struggle. This was the foundation of all that later transpired in the region in different shapes and forms.
The political struggle to reclaim Osun began in 2004. It was an epic struggle in every sense of the word. Lives, limbs, destinies, fortunes and dreams were lost, shattered and reclaimed. Indeed, history was brilliantly made in a way that only a few moments could have rivalled.
As momentous as this era was, a major beneficiary of this epoch was unknown, unseen and mysterious throughout. This person, Alhaji Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola, is a brother (or nephew) of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This mystery is a story on its own for another time.
Gboyega Oyetola came to the consciousness of Osun progressive politicians few weeks after the inauguration of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) government in Osun when Ogbeni Aregbesola announced his appointment as his Chief of Staff among other immediate officers of his administration. The tension generated by bringing this unknown face to a very prominent position in government was allayed because of the excitement of the reclamation of the government, the charisma of the governor and lack of deep understanding of the role of a Chief of Staff in an executive system of government.
Everyone accepted the choice of the COS, rallied round the administration and focussed on making the administration successful. Our mysterious COS went on to become a de facto governor, previewing, preparing and submitting all memoranda, proposals and submissions to the governor and processing all approvals for implementation. He was the Prime Minister in the administration.
Ogbeni instituted several novel but unique programmes and innovations. Among them was the open countdown to the end of his administration. From the first day of his second term in office, he installed electronic countdown clocks at the reception of the Government House, the Executive Chambers and The Governor’s Office. These electronic boards boldly announced daily the days left for the administration in the saddle.
Eighteen months to the end of the administration, the state was buzzed with permutations and speculations on the successor to Ogbeni Aregbesola as the governorship candidate of the Party. One clear fact is that no one in the party averred to Oyetola making the mark. Why? Osun, like most other Western states, has a tradition of rotating the governorship slot among the three senatorial districts – West, Central and East. The incumbent, Ogbeni Aregbesola, was from the East Senatorial District, The two immediate former Governors, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Chief AbdulKareem `Bisi Akande, were from the Central Senatorial District. The three governors altogether had chalked up about 20 years less six months in the office of the Governor.
