Akin Fadeyi
almost deliberate complicit abdication of responsibility! And that is why now, Igboho represents many things part of which is the emboldening of many other community resisters of oppression. This resistance is building and this government does not seem to be aware, or is aware but stranded within its myopic cocoon of ethnic prejudice. There’s a thick dark cloud of calamity around us but we are also being gaslighted into alternative realities. Perhaps we should ask then, that how many of our government leaders can travel to their villages anytime of the day, unescorted and pass nights there? And while they enjoy state protection, what happens to the poor? The poor who cannot even go to farm.
In all of these, where are the South west Leaders? Apart from the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu and now, Sunday Igboho who is fast becoming a phenomenon of circumstance, many South West leaders have always been reactive than proactive. They must go to the drawing board and work out a strategy of containment, not against herdsmen alone but also to ensure Southwest youths are gainfully and meaningfully employed through creative unlocking of technological opportunities. The youths in South West are not immune from criminality. During the ENDSARS protest, a notorious group called One Million Boys terrorized Lagos. Those were not Fulani herdsmen.
What have we done to rein in these ones? Or we are keeping them for the next election? The money we are stockpiling for this election, how much of it are we prepared to invest in the youths who are so resilient, so creative, so docile, that they’ve accommodated leadership failure this much? South West leaders cannot continue to pretend to be protégés of Awolowo but lack his non- perfect integrity. You cannot claim to be an Awolowo Apostle but lack his character and ingenuity. The South west is limping because hijackers of great ideals have become burdensome liabilities of counterfeit morality. South West leaders must recognize that ambition for office must never consume them to such extent they throw this momentum away, because, if on the altar of ambition, they keep mute while their region burns, by 2023, they would have no nation left to govern.
In all of these, where lies genuine and constructive criticism?
As we continue to embrace unity in diversity, candor must never depart the lips of true patriots. There is a distinct line we must never cross out of misguided love for politicians and that includes the President. Certain nations are classified as fragile states with the complexities therein to demand accountability from leadership, or to demand qualitative living, healthcare, infrastructure and especially peace. Amongst fragile sates are Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and South Sudan.
To be continued on opinion page tomorrow.
Akin Fadeyi can be reached via Twitter: @ Appflagit.