There is a man called Segun Oni. This man governed a state which, minus one other state, was receiving the lowest allocation in the country, yet he built different universities and opened up many areas of the state for development. He paid for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), and sponsored MA and Ph.d students home and abroad. He invented the idea of one laptop per student. He was so prudent that till today, many of his friends are said to be angry with him for not allowing them to 'chop'' while he was in office. Under Oni, Ekiti was rated as having the highest life expectancy in the country. The man did not believe in commissioning projects; he said he did not need to commission Ilemesho road before the people would know there was a road there.Further, while the Appeal Court cancelled votes in all the areas where the engineer won elections because it said the results were written in red biro (and he was not the one that used the red biro), the same court held that red biro was not of material essence in the Agbaje versus Fashola case. If we all keep quiet because Oni is in the PDP, one day the story will change. It is the ACN that controls the South-West media, and great governors have been presented as villains, election riggers, egotists, bejewelled illiterates, idiots, etc. The ACN itself is a liability company owned by Mr Bola Tinubu, former Lagos governor, but naturally it does not see its hollowness. Of course the ACN is a party which eats, drinks, bathes with, defecates 'democracy for justice.''I return to Oni, because I feel very bad about the harsh things I once wrote on the man (see 'Oni and the rerun in Ekiti'') at a time when I thought that there could be nothing good about the PDP, having flirted with Marxism, pure foolishness, for a long time. I have no doubt that this self-effacing gentleman has been robbed. The Appeal Court has told us that one party rigs election and the other does not and, in court, during the Osun judgment, I could not but marvel at how law and its interpreters can be so funny. Tell me, people of Africa, how can one party be a saint and another merely a villain in a society such as Nigeria' That kind of binary dichotomy is detested by quality minds. If members of the ACN get soup, won't they eat eko' If you are one of those people who still believe that all the PDP senators/ governors are mere reactionaries, etc, it could be because you are still in media bondage, and have not applied a bit of native wisdom. Indeed, it can be so disturbing when writers prove so simplistic: months back, I picked up a Lagos-based magazine which said that while Fashola was busy giving the dividends of democracy to people, Alao-Akala was busy enjoying himself. This was during the time that the man was building the monumental Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital. And let me say that you may be involved in a motor accident one day, and it may be one of these ''reactionaries/election riggers/illiterates'' that will be your Good Samaritan. That would be a progressive action, would it not' Don't tell me that you will be looking for progressives when you have had an accident. We have to speak like this because we are dealing with people who are so incredibly shallow.Then look at Segun Mimiko, a man that Asiwaju has promised to hack down. Indeed, who will fight for these non-ACN governors, seeing that they are always rubbished by criminals who lay claim to unqualified sainthood' The man is doing extremely well. I cannot help but marvel at the great work that Mimiko has done with such a little allocation (both are better than Raji Fashola by any standards) and IGR. Look at the idea of change agents; look at the governor's idea of going to communities and asking them what their needs are, instead of just assuming that he knows what those needs are. I say that this is authentic progressivism. In Mimiko's Ondo, unlike Fashola's Lagos, the poor are not locked up in Green Marias; they do their business without hindrance. (I know that Mr Fashola might feel that I have been rather too harsh on him, but I respect him.)Mimiko's Caring Heart programme reminds one of Oni's Blue Clinics, ideas that make governance such a beautiful thing. I do not know what Mimiko's background was like, but this man, like Oni, definitely loves the poor. I have not been to Isikan market in Akure, but I have heard of the wonders there.Then look at Mimiko's commitment to Yoruba unity, his insistence on economic grouping and development in the South-West, his demystification of governance. Politically, Mimiko is facing vicious propaganda from the very immoral ACN, which has promised to rout him. The party is not noted for democratic credentials, but it lectures everyone on democracy and justice. It is, without doubt, the most retrogressive, backward-looking, oppressive and parochial party since 1999. The party which does not believe in primaries has been portraying Mimiko as an ingrate, but its members bamboozle the populace with Awolowo's name while treating members of his family with utter contempt, proclaiming their sainthood. Not Mimiko.Mimiko has refused to accept the progressive-reactionary dichotomy, and has refused to jettison the platform which brought him to power and band together with scoundrels.Awolaja is on the staff of the Nigerian Tribune
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