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Top columinist with Punch newspaper Tunde fagbenle meet with Gov Amosun recently and this is what he told him about his issue wuth his deupty
It was a blazing headline on the front page of The PUNCH newspaper of some days ago (29 October): “Deputy gov sends stinker to Amosun.” It must be serious “big news” for a serious national newspaper like The PUNCH (of which this Sunday PUNCH is a sister publication) to carry such banner on its front page amidst other grave national concerns, I thought.
I mean, what can be serious in the deputy of a governor “writing a stinker” to his boss? To the mind of even a child, for going public with it, things must have fallen apart, politically if not morally between the governor and his deputy. But, heck, as Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has just advised there’s no morality in politics! – At least not in Nigerian politics.
Front page of The PUNCH? That got me to read what ordinarily wouldn’t have meant much to me. “Ah,” I thought, “there must be some public laundry of dirty linen of earth-shattering magnitude here. Some big allegations of corruption, of a chunk of the state’s treasury looted.”
But, to my disappointment, it was nothing of the sort. It was a whole catalogue of allegations, by Mr Segun Adesegun, the Deputy Governor , about the perquisites of his office: of lateness in payment of some, denial of some; of not enough “appropriate” cars, of his house not being on the state’s power plant, ad nauseam. The only complaint of pardonable integrity, if you ask me, is that of not being given any portfolio – at least that would suggest a desire to earn his pay and those perquisites of his gripe.
Still, Adesegun has complaint against his principal that he has now thrown into the court of public opinion. And regardless of the importance or not of it, to the extent that they border on fairness and equity, it is only fair to check on those allegations, and,where infringed upon,have his rights defended and protected.
And fair is fair, since the public has heard Adesegun’s side, hearing the other side becomes necessary. That got me to take up a long standing invitation to visit Senator IbikunleAmosun, the governor of Ogun State whom I had never met one on one for no reason other than the fact that my temperament can’t handle the “ordeal” of getting to see, almost without exception, these governors! And I am not complaining – it is partly the pressure on their office and partly the territoriality of their “gatekeepers.”
When I met Amosun and confronted him with the “hot from the newsreel” “scandal” of his deputy’s “stinker” on Amosun’s inappropriate meanness and high-handedness, the governor was torn between giving a response and waiving it off for us to get to other “more important” issues.
“Egbon,” he said choosing his words, “it’s not something I want to dignify with any response. This is not a divided government and being dragged into joining issues will not be right. He remains the Number Two Man in the government and it is important to respect both the office and the person occupying it. That much I’ve told everybody. But out of respect to you and the trouble you have taken to come over, I’ll give you access to the relevant officials and their records for each and every allegation worthy of your interest. Thereafter you can make your own judgment.”
Evidence was provided to show that Mr. Adesegun has to date been allocated 12 vehicles, nine of which were given to him as brand new – never been used. These included four jeeps, a Toyota Landcruiser, three Prado Sport Utility Vehicles, one Hiace bus and five Hilux vans. The last of the Prado SUVs was supplied in July this year (2014). The guy in charge of supplying diesel and petrol came up and showed evidence of regular weekly or fortnightly supplies signed for at the Deputy Governor’s residence along with those of several other officers. It was also evidenced that no office in government had collected “running costs” beyond that of July 2014, meaning at the time of complaint it was only one month’s allowances that were outstanding, not just for the DG alone but for all. The emphasis of government, the finance person said, is on regular payment of salaries. On ‘portfolio’, I was informed that the DG has been “saddled” with a lot of responsibility: he is the chairman of the State Boundary Committee; in charge of various special projects; not infrequently represents the governor at meetings of the National Economic Council, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and Council of State, more than any other DG in the country, I’m told.
Where then lie the truth and the false? Clearly, some of the records brought up could not have been hurriedly concocted, as they were within readily available records. But one cannot rule out equal measure of exaggeration and slanting the facts to give desired impressions – not any different from how much credence to lend Adesegun’s potpourri of allegations in this game of “story-telling.”
Job of the Deputy-Governor is at the behest of the governor. Even the constitution grants none beyond that at the discretion of the governor. Lobatan (Finito)! There cannot be two masters in a boat. A deputy’s loyalty to his boss is imperative for smooth (and good) governance. With it, the perquisite craved flows; without, it is strained. Where a deputy finds a conflict between his loyalty to his boss and that to the constitution (his state), the needful is to quit and do all the “pissing in” from without!
I spoke earlier about my self-distancing from the corridors of our governors and of not having met Governor Amosun before now. I must also say the politics and political temperature in Ogun State are also limiting and distressing factors. The ruling All Progressives Congress party is fractured and factionalised in what has sadly turned into irreconcilable estrangement between the governor and a former governor and “godfather” of the party in the state, Chief Segun Osoba, a political machismo and veteran of many battles. Osoba is my egbon and someone whose background as a newspaper guru commands the loyalty of many in the terrain. From my understanding, Adesegun is on Osoba’s side of the divide, which may account for the ease with which his banal story became banner. So, it is with care one in my shoes has to tread here!
But of Amosun one has heard and seen impressive, nay, superlative performance. Abeokuta has suddenly been transformed from a sedate,rough-hewn,enclave of the ancient – boasting little else than its touristic rocks and an early experience of transgressing missionaries that raised forerunner churches and educated elites – into a thriving city of expanded road networks and modern flyovers. And what goes for Abeokuta goes for most of the state’s urban centres like Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu, Ota, etc. Indeed it is not possible for anyone who has been away in the last three years to recognise the hitherto dreaded Ota anymore. That ancient town of fabled witches and impassable, potholed, narrow roads now boast dual carriageways and flyovers that literally catapult one over freely unto the way of one’s destination.
So, it will be easy to see my angst with anything that could be distracting of the present pace of development; and not only in Ogun but all over the West. What I see is cheerful. It does not preclude opposition and the offer of challenge for even more spectacular progress. Yes, let’s have them. They are necessary in stoking the fire of development. But there must be no room for idle gossips, cavalier hamstringing, and sheer negativity.
Of Amosun’s battle with my egbon, Chief Osoba, I can play no role and can take no sides. Its complexity – of wits, intrigues, deception, struggle-for-power and money, etc – is beyond my ‘apolitical’ mind. Let the elders, who still can, intervene; but in the end let the people’s choice prevail.
And that’s saying it the way it is!
