“Senate President with all his paraphernalia. SIXTEEN governors. Head-on with Gov. Adeleke. No near platform. He prevailed.”
That sentence should worry every Nigerian who loves federalism.
Let’s separate two things: The person of the President, and the office of the Presidency.
The President must be exonerated from direct blame until facts prove otherwise. Fair.
But the Presidency is culpable. Because when sirens from Abuja roll into Osun, when 16 governors abandon their states to “campaign” in another man’s state, when the Senate President’s convoy becomes the loudest campaign material, that is not federalism. That is overreach.
Politics is numbers, but democracy is will. On that day, federal might landed fully: Abuja money, Abuja jets, Abuja governors, Abuja messaging. One instruction: fall in line.
On the other side: Gov. Ademola Adeleke. No presidential jet. No federal allocation on display. No block of governors. Just Osun people. Market women. Artisans. Students. WhatsApp groups. The memory of 2022. A platform built by dancing with the masses for 4 years.
They said he had no “near platform.” Correct. He didn’t have Abuja’s platform. He had Osun’s platform. And he prevailed.
Because when paraphernalia meets conviction, conviction wins. When instructions meet PVCs, PVCs win.
To the Presidency: Protect the office. Don’t reduce it to a campaign bus. To Senate President: Respect Section 5 and 153. Lead, don’t invade. To the 16 governors: Go and win your states.
To Gov. Adeleke: This mandate without Abuja means deliver with transparency. Roads, jobs, accountability. To Osun: You guarded the will.
Edo2024 taught us to guard the vote. Osun taught us to guard the will.
+2348039289375
bcradle@ymail.com
