A Prophet saw Jeroboam somewhere and prophesied he would become king and rule lsrael even though he was not of the royal lineage. As God said, Jeroboam truly became king of lsrael. (1 Kings 12 :20). But not too long after, he became puffed up and suddenly turned himself into an idol worshipper, and began to fight God and his Prophets. And shortly, he lost his grace; God yanked the throne from him and gave it back to the lineage of David (1 Kings 13:34).
Oshiomhole was widely loved and admired but now the grapes have gone sour. How do we explain a situation where Oshiomhole is fighting godfatherism and corruption with one hand and then he’s using the other hand to support the same evil in Edo State.
It is disturbing to note that just as the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari is waging a war on godfatherism and corruption, the seeds of this great evil and cankerworm are being sown in the vibrant state of Edo by those who claim to be allies of the President.
I am referring to the politics of godfatherism being played out before our very own eyes in Edo State. As l write this, a source confirmed that Oshiomhole had insisted he must produce the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Majority Leader for a sitting Governor. It is unfortunate and regrettable that this high form of corruption is taking place even when there is a huge outcry against that corrupted system of the past. This is an indictment on Oshiomhole that his battle against the godfathers in the state was all done to gain control of the state’s political machinery for his own aggrandizement. This evil must stop. Edo residents must vote for Gov. Obaseki to put an end to godfathers in the State, the practice that has been going on in Lagos State over a decade after Bola Tinubu left office.
If leaders voted into power is a change agent desiring a break from the bad past, then all well meaning Nigerians must rise and call all the so- called godfathers to order so we can have the dividends of democracy. If they are not called to order, whatever good they may have done in office so far stands to be forgotten. After all public office is just an assignment and what does it pay any leader to be a Jeroboam or a Putin of this age?
It’s obvious that political sanity is being brought back to Edo following Obaseki’s triumph over Oshiomhole and his decadent and stone-age philosophy of godfatherism.
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Ikhaghe is a Lagos based public analyst
