By Adebayo Mutalubi Ojo, SAN
One of my very revered Ibadan top elders, who is an avowed lover of GSM, holed me up in our office yesterday and strenuously pleaded with me to support the “anointed gubernatorial candidate of GSM” in the forthcoming 2027 elections, so that Oyo State can have and enjoy Omititun 3.0 ceaselessly.
That Ibadan elder is a man who is full of wisdom and also a man of great but meaningful parables and loaded idiomatic expressions.
After about 25 minutes of his uninterrupted sermons, appeals and persuasions on why I should support and key into Omititun 3.0, I interjected and asked:
“Uncle, please, who is the GSM-anointed gubernatorial candidate?”
He answered my rhetorical question by saying, “Bimbo Adekanbi, of course — your former colleague, your younger brother, your friend and your kinsman.”
I asked him a further question: “Why is Bimbo Adekanbi not just the APM gubernatorial candidate, but GSM’s anointed candidate?”
My elder statesman sharply responded:
“S.A.N., I can use anything to swear in this world to convince you that Bimbo Adekanbi never wanted to be governor at all, but GSM saw some good qualities and attributes in him which all other persons lack and which are mostly the qualities and attributes that any outstanding and very good governor must possess. Hence, GSM’s insistence and directive that it MUST be Bimbo and nobody else, and that has come to fruition now.”
Further, the sage added:
“Ojo, don’t you know that GSM is unknowingly and indirectly bringing Biola Ajimobi back into the government of Oyo State? Orire ati idunnu eyin Boys Ajimobi lo de yi o. Mo ki yin ku orire lekan si. Can’t you see the ways of God? By the Lord’s doing, the Almighty has, unknown to GSM himself, used GSM’s Pharaoh to raise a victorious Moses in his (GSM’s) palace.
“All of you should, therefore, rally round Bimbo to make way for a return of the Ajumose government in the saddle of power in Oyo State.”
I sought the elder’s consent to speak, and he said:
“Honourable Attorney General and learned silk, you have the floor, please.”
I asked our elder statesman if he wants to have in Oyo State in 2027 an unwilling but imposed and foisted governor, the same way that former President Olusegun Obasanjo did for Nigeria in 2007.
“You have said it all, Sir, that Bimbo never wanted to be governor of Oyo State, but that it was GSM who dragged him, against his wish and against his self-conviction, to throw his hat into the ring by anointing him against all other interested and prepared candidates.
“Sir, do we need a stooge, a lackey or a feeding-bottle governor at the helm of affairs of Oyo State in 2027?
“Sir, my answer to that prayer is an emphatic NO.
“I know Mr Bimbo Adekanbi too well and more than most people who are now packaging and rebranding him as the best invention in the world after Agege bread. Yes, he has youthful energy, but he is neither prepared nor ready and willing to govern Oyo State.
“It is GSM that is tossing him around and trying to make Bimbo’s toddler compete and run in an Olympic-like marathon race, when GSM himself knows too well that such a race is not meant for a crawling baby or a toddler, but for men and women who are not only of age but who have prepared rigorously and strenuously for the competition over the previous years and have trained and sharpened their mental and physical alertness.
“Sir, may we not fall victim to an unprepared and unwilling candidate as our governor in Oyo State in 2027, just because one man and only one person desires it to be so in order to satisfy and fulfil his personal whims and caprices.” Surprisingly, and maybe unconsciously, the elderly man said, “Amen” to my prayers.
And I quickly added another one: “May the good Lord liberate our Oyo State from the present wheelers-dealers, arbitrage seekers, land merchants, profiteering bugs and interest-rate speculators that have held our state and our people hostage by giving us Senator Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli, Ph.D., as the next governor of Oyo State in 2027.”
My elder could not utter “Amen” this time around, but merely said: “May Allah give us the best in Oyo State in 2027.” And I said a big AMEN to that.
With that, the meeting ended.
Chief Ojo, SAN, writes from Ibadan.
