Oyo Politics: Idan Trumps Jagba

“When these prodigies

Do so conjointly meet, let not men say

‘These are their reasons; they are natural’”

- ‘Julius Caesar’ by Williams Shakespeare

The excerpt above was culled from the evergreen Play (Julius Caesar), written by the ‘Bard of Avon’ himself, Williams Shakespeare and published in the First Folio of 1623 from a transcript of a promptbook. Here in Act 1, Scene 3, Casca is disturbed by the earth’s shaking and the fire dropping from the heavens. He speculates that it’s either civil war among the gods, or else humans have provoked the gods to destroy them. He also saw a slave’s hand burn unharmed, a lion strolling down the street, and an owl hooting at noon. Casca concludes that this collection of omens can be no natural coincidence. Cicero agrees that it’s all quite strange, but that people are prone to misconstrue signs.

Political campaigns rented the air across the country as we were ushered into the year 2023. The atmosphere in the ancient capital city of Ibadan was no different, an unusual potpourri of tension and expectations all mixed in an obvious pensive mood, pervaded the land. The question dotting the minds of the average Oyo State politician remained…”Will ‘Jagba’ turn the tide and claim the day or are we just about witnessing another masterstroke from the original ‘Idan’ himself?”

The results of the February 25, 2023 Presidential and Federal Legislative elections gave a meteoric hope to the ‘Jagba’ team and they ensured that they milked the success handed them in the battle they appeared to have won. Shouting at the top of their voices on every available media platform to everyone and anyone who cared to listen, they boasted of their ability to definitely also win the war.

Well, on March 18, 2023, ‘Idan’ said, “not today!”

The ‘Idan’ himself, His Excellency Governor ‘Seyi Makinde FNSE, DSc, GSSRS of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a historic landslide win, cleared 31 Local Government areas with a total of 563,756 votes to defeat the ‘Jagba’ crooner and distant rival, Senator Teslim Folarin of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who narrowly won two Local Government areas, scoring 256,685 votes. Suffice to say that the newly inaugurated Minister of Power and then Governorship candidate of the Accord Party, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, came a distant third in the race with a total of 38,357 votes.

The emergence of Chief Adebayo Adelabu as the Ministerial nominee from Oyo State was yet another Shakespearean ‘Prodigie’ which got even the chieftains and staunch members of the ruling APC (at the national level), wondering and this is not unconnected with the fact that contrary to the usual grundnorm, Governor Seyi Makinde (PDP) has arguably had audience at the Presidential Villa with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR (APC), more times than the combined leadership of the opposition All Progressives Congress in Oyo State.

Worthy of note is the fact that Governor Seyi Makinde (GSM) emerged Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum on May 23, 2023, deputizing his Governor colleague from Kwara State, His Excellency Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. No doubt, this new position came with bigger responsibilities at the national level for GSM and necessitating regular visits to the Villa coupled with a plethora of meetings with Nigeria’s numero uno citizen at various fora.

Recently, the newly sworn in FCT Minister and immediate past Governor of Rivers State; His Excellency Barr Nyesom Wike, revealed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu actually sought the opinion and endorsement of all State Governors in the selection of Minister designates. This was quite a revelation for all as it is common knowledge that not all States are currently led by an APC government. It however further reveals that ‘Idan’ yet trumps ‘Jagba’ even on his own turf!

With his cabinet in place and a firm focus on delivering the goodies of Omituntun 2.0 to all and sundry in Oyo State, one can only advocate for more support and pray that, may ‘Idan’ His Excellency Governor ‘Seyi Makinde FNSE, DSc, GSSRS, the eighth democratically elected Executive Governor of Oyo State, continually succeed.

God bless Oyo State,

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

*Oladayo Ogunbowale is Special Assistant on Communications to the Governor of Oyo State.