OPINION: When Will They Allow Former Governor Ajimobi To Rest in Peace?

By Ikeddy ISIGUZO

Wherever former Governor of Oyo State, Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi is, all the furore about his illness, death, and burial would mean nothing to him. He does not need it, he could – if the dead are so permitted – be amused by the fights within fights over a man who has finished his race. He died at 70 and had access to a good life that more than 99.99 per cent of Nigerians would not have even in their dreams.

Ajimobi provided for his family members in ways that some envy. His family and political associates would miss him. They are not likely to be in material want or hunger. He has secured their future, as is said in these parts. Some of the provisions are subject of litigations with the Oyo State Government. The current altercations may serve as foundations for escalating them in due season.

Impressions of Ajimobi had been that the former Senator was hated for his actions when he was Governor of Oyo State for eight years. His opponents claim that was the reason he would not win a Senate seat on his way out of the Governor’s office. His tangle with students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, who were protesting the shutting down of their schools for months, was remarkable for giving us the term, Constituted Authority – that was what the former Governor told the students he was. The meeting witnessed much shutting from both sides.

Who would forget the Sunday 19 August 2018 early morning demolition of Yinka Ayefele’s Music House in Ibadan. The N800 million facility reportedly violated city planning regulations. Ayefele was in court, but the building went down.

READ ALSO: OPINION: The Politics Of Ajimobi’s Death

Yet in a 2016 broadcast from Fresh FM, one of the businesses in the facility, Ajimobi said, “When we contested and won, a lot (of people) told us to demolish the radio station because your programmes and broadcasts are against my government. Your boss, Yinka Ayefele, was also using songs to insult us.

“I didn’t see any reason why I should demolish the studio. If Ayefele is not for us today, he (will) support us later in future. Ayefele is beside me now and I pray the business will keep flourishing. Without any equivocation, I must confess that this radio station is the best in Oyo State,” the governor said from the studios of Fresh FM.

Ayefele is a wheelchair-bound entertainer whose business employed 150 people at the time of the demolition. “Oyo State Government did at last…my pain, my sweat…. So help me God,” Ayefele commented on his Facebook page with pictures of the ruined building a little after the demolition which he watched on his wheelchair.

Rash, bold, blind to suggestions once he sets on a course, Ajimobi did more. He was Governor and never allowed that to be in dispute in any manner. Ask Olubadan if you are in doubt.

There are hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people, who love Ajimobi. They stand on the position that Ajimobi did not get a befitting burial from the Oyo State Government.

Florence Ajimobi has been leading the charges that the Oyo State Government did not accord the departed honours that were due him. She had her expectations. There would have been visits, messages while her husband was ill, and a condolence message when he died.

She used the condolence visit of some Governors to vent her anger in the presence of the Deputy Governor of Oyo State. The Oyo State Government said it was shut out of the burial though it violated its own laws by granting a permit for Ajimobi to be buried in one of his houses in the GRA.

The widow should be in such mourning and sobriety that she should not be in a position to engage in exchanges, not to talk of altercations. She so admitted when she said, "Although I should not be the one speaking but I just want to clear the air on a lot of misgivings that has been spreading.” She ended up fouling the air a bit more in defence of the image of her husband.

“I think the least anybody can do as a God-fearing person was at least to send me a word of encouragement at that time. And even after he died. Not even you Mr. Deputy Governor called. If you had called me as you claimed and I did not pick, you could have at least sent me a message Sir,” Mrs. Ajimobi told the gathering.

“I don’t have your number, I am the wife of a politician, I don’t pick numbers that I don’t know Sir. You can send a message. Everybody is going to die. My husband is dead and he served this State for eight good years.” The claim to serving the State is raising the controversy of its own. Did he serve the State? Does his being in authority “for eight good years” approximate to serving the State?  The answers would depend on who you ask.

“He was a peace-loving man. So, please let us stop dirty politics," Mrs. Ajimobi said. She should also lead in stopping the politics that is sounding in high decibels that drown wishes that a peace-loving man should rest in peace.

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