Eight days ago, the Osun State electorate used their votes to address the choice they had among three Deens – Nurudeen, Munirudeen and Najemdeen. And the people spoke loudly and eloquently. Osun State citizens, the true owners of democracy in that land who are also the victims of all that democracy as a concept embowels, were unambiguous in their speech. They might have had a gamut of governorship candidates to choose from, considering the fifteen men that jostled for their votes, but they knew exactly who they wanted. They went to the polls and boldly picked the Deen of their choice. This has got to be this narrow because of the fifteen candidates on the last Osun governorship ballot, only three men could be said to be truly in that contest.
This write-up is not about the personal beliefs of these men. It is also not about their religious leanings, nor is it in any way intended to tug at any of those. Rather, it is about the soft side of their performance in the governorship contest as seen by the musing eyes of a distant but curious observer. So, come along let us hyponymically contemplate a post-mortem of the highly touted election.
The Osun people had the lively and effervescent (if not boisterous) Governor Ademola Nurudeen Jackson Adeleke of Accord. He is their governor and had decided to seek a second term of office. So, my first Deen was both a governor and a candidate and a jolly good fellow. They also had the amiable-looking Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC). My second Deen is a cool guy from most of the optics – of course these cool optics were mostly before the election. Some people in the state were even wary of him because by their shared experiences and optical standard, he looked rather too smooth and urbane for their liking. But who would blame my second Deen? Bola Oyebamiji came from Lagos and therefore, he is a Lagos guy!
Also, before the Osun people as a governorship choice was the wealthy-looking Najemdeen Bamidele Salaam. The political party of my third Deen is the beleaguered African Democratic Congress (ADC). To me, Salaam ran the race from the outer lane, like an outsider. However, he didn’t just post the image of the wealthiest among the governorship options available to the people of Osun State, he proved wealth because he has tribal marks. Yes, I think he is rich. My reason? It is because the Yoruba are of the belief that only the rich can afford tribal marks.
A lot went into that election – emotionally, economically/financially and physically. We have heard Ayodele Fayose and David Adeleke, better known as Davido, dish out figures in Naira specifying the amount Accord and the APC spent, respectively. We all know that elections are capital-intensive, but is it the place of the two men to tell how much was spent by each of the political parties on the election? What is their locus standi? Fayose and Davido, two men with completely contrasting professions, talked in billions… billions of Naira in also contrasting sizes. While they are conflicting in nearly all ways, they, however, spoke like they were both the accountants or treasurers of Accord and APC, respectively. I want to believe that neither of my two Deens and their respective political parties would be licking their varying degrees of pecuniary wounds in the public square, like Fayose and Davido chose to do on their behalf.
One wonders the kind of capital Ayo Fayose and Davido wanted to make of the Osun election by their spending claims. Even one outsider like me called Segun Showumi shot from the hip about the Osun election in relation to the 2027 general election in the country. Voluble Showumi can, however, be excused because he appears to have spoken from the stomach. Otherwise, we should just assume that he is positioning himself for the time President Bola Tinubu will make that expected political capital of the Osun State governorship election. Or, could it be that it is Showumi who wants to make the most of the election, because we knew that wherever the pendulum had swung, Tinubu would still have been the beneficiary.
However, last Saturday’s outing was an accomplished performance by Osun’s preferred Deen, Ademola Nurudeen Jackson Adeleke. If it was a dancing competition, he had no competition at all. In a field of fifteen contestants, a Deen’s score of 511,067 votes out of a total 985,075 valid votes, is significant indeed. It was a massive statement by the supporters of Nurudeen and the Osun electorate. The victory came at a cost, but it is sweet when your victory aligns with your thoughts.
I think the three Deens and all the other candidates, regardless of their political leanings, should give kudos to the people of Osun State. The audacity of Osun people last Saturday was remarkable, and their vigilance pristine. Their determination to stand by their choice made the Osun election a model. They lived John Curran’s admonition that “the condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.” That Irish man’s thought, though usually attributed to Thomas Jefferson, admonishes on vigilance and being intentional. The people stayed aware of all the shenanigans, and were able to sieve the wheat from the chaff; and they spoke up when they ought to – both online and offline. They didn’t just watch like one èko (àgìdi) does while his brother is being eaten. They participated actively by coming out to cast their ballots and thereby overwhelmed those who had intended to buy their votes with cash.
Osun people must have internalised Leo Tolstoy’s position that elections were farcical and were the machinations of tricksters. Tolstoy is of the belief that participating in elections meant engaging in a form of coercion and hypocrisy. But people must decide whose machinations or hypocrisy suits them better, and which they can best live with. In that wise, to be able to get the best deal for themselves, they not only participated, they also activated Joseph Stalin’s post-election theory on ballot handling. The famous Russian politician knew what it meant to be vigilant after ballots had been cast, that’s why he said “those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.” That might explain the nearly four-hour hiatus in the uploading of last week’s election results. It was an apprehensive wait, but the people remained resolute.
Our elections need not be a war among the contrasting political parties and candidates. Our elections also need not be at the whims and desires of a president and commander-in-chief. It need not be decided on the orders of a few men – the outcome of a coven of interested entities. The occasions to choose our political leaders should not be the bitter perennial battles among us. One of the most potent ways to take our country from such ideas is by the citizens being determined to do so.
If Nigerians decide to turn out in large numbers to vote, it will be practically impossible to stop the power of a united, determined people. This has worked over history. It still works. It worked in India, it worked in China and in Vietnam when they stood solidly against the almighty United States Armed Forces and prevailed. When, like the Osun electorate, eligible voters turn out in their millions or in hundreds of thousands, to exercise their civic responsibility of electing the leader of their choice, vote-buying will be impracticable. In Osun, more than one million eligible voters turned up.
It is expected that the infrastructure to make things as elections easier should be in place. But if the system cannot help the country to get better, the people of the country must take the system by the scruff and force a legal change. We can make the system work, as against the machinations of rogue politicians and tainted community leaders.
The triumphant Deen, Nurudeen Adeleke owes the people of Osun State more than he owes any political figure. He was in a position where he could have been suckered by the manipulative, powerful lot. But the people showed why their collective might matters and how the ruinous powerful can be brought to their knees. Nurudeen Adeleke owes the Osun people loads of gratitude.
