Diary of an Observer: Adeoti, TOP are choking on their bile

In one of the latest infantile antics to fuel his desperate, dead-on-arrival gubernatorial bid, Moshood Adeoti, a prominent member of the laughable Aregbesola-splinter group of the Osun APC, recently, at the party secretariat, shamefacedly uttered that the achievements of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola are only media hype.

In another breath, in the same interview, he contradicted himself by saying that all Oyetola has done in terms of amenities and roads have only been concentrated in his local governments.

Haba?! Shehu, aren’t there things old men should not be caught doing?

These latest lies remind one of the Yoruba adages that instructs that a horse belonging to one’s enemy is never deemed admirable. That is true. It is even likely to be true in a political contest. But these lies by Shehu, are, to say the least inappropriate and unbecoming of a man of his stature as an erstwhile high ranking cabinet member, who served as an SSG? How could he have uttered such lies and not be pricked by his conscience? Or, perhaps, it is a reflection of his detachment from the realities in the state he seeks to govern?

Indecent politics taken too far is what it all looks like.

Well, if Adeoti claims to be too blinded by bile that he cannot see, one should attempt to educate him with a few questions. Is he saying that the over 300 kilometres of roads constructed by the Oyetola administration are only concentrated in Boripe Local Government alone? Did he mean that the primary health centres constructed across all the 332 wards of the State are also non-existent? Is he also saying that the gains now recorded in the mining sector, with the commencement of production of gold in commercial quantity, are also a hype? How about the iconic bridge at Olaiya? And the doctors’ quarters at Asubiaro? The 30,000 vulnerable citizens being fed monthly across the state? Ah, and the glaring fact that Oyetola is doing all that and still paying salaries, minimum wage that some people couldn’t pay while they plunged the state into penury? We could go on… Maybe we should counsel him to seek a tour around the state to be cured of this bile.

For a man who willingly left the party in the run-up to the 2018 election and only returned like a prodigal son few months back, is it not preposterous that he is now alleging that the governor wants him out of the party? If his absence in the party and his jaundiced attempt to contest on another platform did not threaten the election of Oyetola in 2018, how will his presence now be an issue as to warrant a threat to exit the party?

Also, in the said interview, Adeoti had alleged that he had no confidence in the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the party. Pray, what wisdom is there in the first place in picking up a nomination form and showing up for screening, if he knew that the CECPC, despite its affirmed legality by the Supreme Court, did not meet his own laughable standard of impartiality?

Adeoti should be told that this is another joke taken too far.

Those who claim to love Adeoti and are prodding him on this disastrous quest, should also help him by telling him the truth.

That whereas, it is not wrong to aspire for a public office, Adeoti should do so decently, and in a manner that befits him as a responsible adult.

They should encourage him to work harder and not build his quest for relevance on lies. They should also tell him about the futility in alleging irregularity in a race that is even yet to begin. That is the trick of the lazy, which ought not to be an alibi for a seemingly experienced politician like him.

Rather than begin the race by finding an excuse for his impending loss, he should seek a tutorial opportunity from Governor Oyetola, who is already proactively engaging the electorate across the state.

Adeoti should be told that since he and his jobless co-travellers at TOP have chosen to take the plunge, they should desist from worthless propaganda and lies, do the hard work and not be afraid of how deep the river is.

A word, they say, is enough for the wise.