Ogun: This PDP/APM power-sharing agreement

Long before the fall of the First Republic of Nigeria, the inimitable poet Christopher Okigbo had lamented the rapacity, chicanery and primitive acquisition prevalent among Nigerian politicians.

In A Man of the People, a novel that turned out to be quite prophetic, Chinua Achebe also pointed to the implications of politicians' massive corruption and betrayal of the people and their quest for independence.

In his famous poem Hooray for the Thunder, the man widely recognized as Nigeria's greatest poet wrote, "Already the hunters speak of pumpkins if they share the meat, let them remember the thunder."

Well, the politicians determined only to "share the meat", the heritage of the people, couldn't be bothered: they continued to plunder the public until they lived criminally ostentatious lives until what the hurricane of the military coup devours them.

Sadly, in Ogun State, decades later, the same sharing practice lamented by Okigbo and Achebe is staring Nigerians in the face, and with reckless audacity.

Nigerians and residents of Ogun State were stunned and utterly dumbfounded last Friday when documents surfaced on social media showing how the candidate for Governor of Ogun State of the Party People's Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu, and his deputy gubernatorial candidate, AbdulKabir Akinlade, intend to share political positions among their cronies.

The document, audacious in its blatant presentation of political commerce and corruption, is titled “Alliance Agreement between Hon. Oladipupo Olatunde Adebutu and Hon. Governor, Deputy Governor, Related Elective Positions and Appointment in Ogun State."

It was dated September 16, 2022 and sworn to in the Ogun State High Court, Abeokuta, with state PDP Chairman Sikirulai Ogundele and a Sunday Solarin as witnesses. It proposes that if the two political leaders win the 2023 gubernatorial election in the state, the party deputy governorship, Ogun West's Senate ticket and two State House of Assembly tickets in Ogun Central, would be conceded to the Akinlade Group, a group populated by loyalists of former state governor Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

Upon Adebutu's emergence as the winner of the gubernatorial ballot, according to the unethical deal, seven substantial commissionerships; 15 Special Advisor positions; 20 Main Special Assistant slots; 20 Special Assistant slots; five Statutory Board Chairman positions and five Local Government Executive Chairman positions would be granted to members of the Allied People's Movement (APM) and APC factions.

And Akinlade, in addition to his constitutional role as Deputy Governor, "will be appointed Trade and Investment Commissioner in a ministry that will be created to stimulate investment, improve revenue growth and the development of the state" . This is, of course, an afterthought intended to give the impression that the parties have an interest in the trade and investment.

The agreement then introduces simple rhetoric, saying that "the Deputy Governor will report directly to the Executive Governor in accordance with applicable laws with respect to his official duties and the functions of his office as Deputy Governor and honorable commissioner for trade and investment, “as if deputy governors are not accountable to governors!

Naturally, as the country's political environment becomes charged and intense, so many strange developments will arise, but even the most daring fraudulent politicians should not assail the public with the shameless cronyism and corruption that the perpetrators of the horrific deal hatched in their desperate attempt to reap where they did not sow and turn the people of Ogun State into their cash cow.

Instructively, the PDP duo does not talk about how to bring development to Ogun State. They are silent on how to build infrastructure. They do not talk about how to improve education, nor do they express how they intend to improve health services. They don't talk about how to change the face of things in the state. Their goal is how to share state positions regardless of merit and skill.

Now, if anyone doubted that very few politicians have altruistic motives, that doubt has been dispelled by the Adebutu/Akinlade agreement.

The truth is that many who aspire to elective office are simply attracted by the resources of the state they intend to govern and the lure of the position. They want to be called His Excellency while doing nothing great for the people, and being, for all intents and purposes, agents of sleaze.

The people of Ogun must be grateful that these people showed their true colors soon enough: they have to dodge a bullet. The people must beware and shun the political merchants. Their agenda is perverse; their goal is...