HISTORY MUST REPEAT ITSELF 'WHY OMISORE CAN NOT BECOME OSUN GOVERNOR

Herodotus, the Greek credited by many as the initiator of the discipline we refer to today as HISTORY had cause to observe that: “A person who does not know anything about the events which took place before he or she was born will remain forever a child.” We are in full agreement with the observation of the sage.

The people of Osun State in particular, and the Yorubas generally must ponder about the degeneration in quality that has resulted in a once proud people fielding their seventh or eight eleven. To continue with the soccer metaphor, it is like sending a primary school team to face the Spain team It wouldn’t make sense and it doesn’t!

Osun State at one point valiantly led the way. It produced Nigeria’s first lawyer in Christopher Alexandra Sapara Williams who hailed from Ilesa. The path breaking lawyer and nationalist was also the senior brother of Dr. Oguntolu Sapara who became Nigeria’s first medical doctor in the Western sense. Sapara Williams was called to the English bar in 1886, so we can see that Osun State has far long been a trail blazer.

The list of Osun State citizens who have achieved success and international renown across the professions and all the areas of human endeavour is far too long to be stated here. It will take up all the space reserved for this editorial. It is therefore really amazing, that we are now scrapping the bottom of the barrel in our search for human capital. It is not just amazing, it is absurd. The state has never lacked in human capacity. However in recent times, the military interregnum and the Obasanjo imposition have turned back the wheel of progress and orderly change.

From this perspective it cannot be surprising that the otherwise ludicurous Iyiola Omisore is considered as a possible future governor of Osun State. That he himself considers it possible at all is a reminder of the depth of turpitude we have sunk into. Omisore is the exact opposite of the great achievers Osun State has produced. Indeed it is a gratuitous insult to mention their names in the same breath as his. They do not deserve such an insult.

In his notorierity, Omisore ordinarily should be a figure of ridicule. He lacks presence, he is totally devoid of scruples and is by comportment, gait and track record the direct opposite of what the Yorubas will call omoluabi. The fellow is frankly an oddity, more to be pitied than envied. He represents a direct indictment of what Obasanjo and his attack dogs have wrought on the Yorubas.

Omisore does not have the intellectual preparation required to fix a broken down Osun State. He lacks the aptitude and the focus to contribute anything to make matters even worse, his emotional comportment is at the level of an adolescent. Although we hasten to add that this in no way should be interpreted as an attack on adolescence. In the deplorable state that Osun State finds itself it is obvious that Omiusore is the direct opposite of what is needed.

Osun State as of today is in total disarray. The physical, fiscal and social infrastructure has been destroyed. Seven years of total abandonment means that the next governor has to rebuild from scratch. To do this the state needs a pivotal figure. What is needed is an accomplished performer. A solid personality who has been battle tested. A figure who has the preparation capacity. Such a person must have the emotional comportment to pay meticulous attention to details. He must have the comportment and the clarity of thinking to put in the sort of sustained back breaking hard work and sacrifice needed to resuscitate a state which for all intents is at the moment on life support.

Even his most ardent admirer cannot claim that Omisore has any of the attributes listed above. Iyiola Omisore has been schooled in the arena of banditry of do or die politics. This is not what is needed to resuscitate Osun State. Apart from his complete lack of intellectual preparation, the fellow simply does not have a track record of successfully doing anything successfully. Where? We need to ask has his managerial accomplishment in the public or private sphere. His present chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee has once again shown him up. The fellow has been totally lost at sea as the country stumbles from one fiscal mishap to another. This should not come as a surprise. For it is only in a failed state that a man who cannot interpret a balance sheet will chair an appropriations committee.

In this nightmare scenario, there is a silver lining, a saving grace. Osun State has a clear, appetizing alternative. In Engineer Rauf Aregbesola we can recreate the best of a glorious past. Aregbesola is very well prepared intellectually. As the Lagos State Infrastructure czar, he showed an admirable administrative acumen and demonstrated excellent, innovative managerial sagacity. The people of Osun State will have in him, a safe pair of lands to guide the ship of the state.

In contradistinction, Omisore is a disaster well foretold. It must NEVER happen! The people of Osun have suffered too long and cannot endure another calamity.

So God help Osun state!