The late Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu is a man of many parts who faces battles on many fronts.
He fought battles on many fronts, both as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, which he later used when he the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) as National President.
He also later emerged as a state governor who championed the wishes of his Ondo people at the detriment of himself and his office.
You may not like him, but at least he stood for something, while many others in his position stood for nothing.
His voice never dimmed but rang loud and clear when he was NBA President nor was it drowned in the cacophony of voices that greeted the emergence of Amotekun-South West Security Outfit, clubbed together by him and five other South West governors.
That he led governors from the six South West states from the front when Fulani terrorists masquerading under the guise of herdsmen visited the reign of terror on peasants and defenceless Yoruba citizens who were gracious enough to accommodate their destructive pastoralism.
While Fulani terrorists continued their rampaging of Yoruba territories, their patron who incidentally belongs to a sane party with Aketi, Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria looked the other way.
We must give it to Aketi in spite of whatever shortcomings he has while battling ill health. that his attitude to power informed his determination that if he conquers political terrain, he will definitely defeat ill health.
But like all mortals, he succumbed a few months before the end of his tenure.
It is worth recalling that before his health deteriorated, Akeredolu stood firmly with his people even when the evil terrorists visited their reign of terror on Owo, Aketis birthplace, and rained bullets on defenceless Catholic worshippers.
All because the terrorists and their masters wanted to cow him for spearheading resistance by the peaceful people of the South West to defend their territory against state-backed and all-conquering land marauders.
Mauraders, who, from history, lack respect for human dignity and their generous hosts, spilled blood on end, knowing fully well that their clannish son, who got elected in 2015, did so with the support of the South West.
Like Shakespeare said, “Death is a necessary end; it will come when it will come.”
Aketi might not have enjoyed good health in the last twelve months of his second term as governor of his dear state, yet he never buckled under ill health to let down his guard.
Yes, you may accuse him of holding on to office until he could no longer breathe; who would not?
Ordinarily, nobody would have thought it will end so early for the erudite lawyer, but since we are all mortals, holding on to his political leadership of the APC in Ondo as Chairman of SW, All Progressives Congress, and the APC governors forum, he at least demonstrated that power is good when it is used for the good of the people.
Yes, governance suffered in the last few months of his being indisposed. Aketis holding on till dying minute is also in a way, a function of loyalty of his party men and women and elected assemblymen.
They did, obviously, because they were not at home with what they perceived as the inordinate pursuit of power by Lucky Aiyedatiwa the deputy governor, who was pushing his luck so early when his boss traveled out to take care of his health.
The assemblymen may not say it, but prudence dictates that Aiyedatiwa and his five aides, sacked upon the return of Aketi five months ago, should have borrowed a leave from former Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo who never succumbed to banana peels of betrayal thrown at him by ambitious elements in APC when Buhari was seriously ill.
Osinbajo waited, endured, and kept his own Omoluabi bargain and remained on the side of Buhari, like the late Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle Fajuyi, who did for Aguiyi Ironsi on January 15, 1966. He faced the bullets with him and joined the Heroes Club.
Yes, Fajuyi immediate family suffered, but the nation and those who violently took power paid the price for shedding innocent blood, as it led to a 30-month civil war that reshaped the destiny of Nigeria.
Though he died seven months into the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s, he later owed his emergence to the tenacity of purpose displayed by Aketi who rallied Southern governors together as their leader to insist on a power shift to the South.
And power indeed shifted to the south with Tinubu’s emergence as President but Aketi never savored the shift as ill health prevented him from extracting same loyalty from Tinubu, the man he vigorously campaigned for.
Today, Aiyedatiwa who only emerged as deputy governor during Akeredolu’s second term lived up to fate and destiny by being Ondo governor, but he must go beyond that.
Aiyedatiwa must, as he claimed Tinubu told him, rally both his lovers and opponents in the assembly and in the party executive council together to move Ondo State forward.
Having emerged under unexpected circumstances, Aiyedatiwa must be magnanimous in ‘victory’ against those opposed to him stepping in while Aketi was ill and reunite with friends and foes in government, assembly, and party.
He should borrow William Hazlets word: The problems of victory are more than defeat but are not less pernicious’.
Uniting his state is his first job.
He must not allow his ambition to carry the party’s platform next year to extend the division in the state exco to the party and, by extension, the good people of Ondo State.
As for Akeredolu’s wife, Betty, and family, it should be contended that their father came, saw, fought a good fight, and played his own part.
They should be content with that Shakespearean saying repeated by former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon after news of his toppling reached him in Kampala, July 29, 1975. Thus,the world is a stage; men and women are actors and actresses; they play their part and leave the stage.”.
Akeredolu’s death, as Chief Bisi Akande, a former governor of Osun State, said, “is a big loss to Yoruba in particular and Nigeria in general.”.
They should take solace in the fact that their husband and father served his people to the best of their ability and left when God called them.
Adieu Aketi! Rest in peace.
