My Political Diary – Day 47: It is already the day after.
Last night, after a fantastic round of tennis I slept like a baby, feeling refreshed and on top of the world.
So, let no one feel sorry for me because when I arrive Lagos today I shall celebrate the great political miracle that took place in Ogun State which requires some deep thinking to appreciate.
Let me guide all my Diary readers into our Creator’s way so that they can all join me in celebrating rather than mourning what they may wrongly perceive as my ‘failure’ to win the elections and be governor of Ogun State.
My sports background has prepared me well for this. Remember what I had often written about the Olympic mantra of which I am a global advocate and preacher that ‘at the Olympics you do not have to come FIRST to be a WINNER’.
When you have played football or any sport up to my level, you will learn to appreciate and apply that deep philosophy to the rest of life.
Remember my encounter with Dotun, an aide in the current government who told me arrogantly that they had left me to my own political designs because I did NOT pose any threat to their qinn8ng tye elections, and that at the polling booths on election day they know I cannot have the financial capacity to match their 10 to 20 thousand Naira payments to agents, other officials and voters.
I did some arithmetic and realised he was right. Those figures were simply out of this world for a man that has not dipped his hand in blood money, has not looted State or any treasury, is not ready to compromise principles and will not mortgage his soul to the devil.
One thing I was certain about is that there was no way the Creator of all things would discard the tears and cries of the masses that fill the air. There was no way he would turn his back on the prayers that came from all corners of the State in duplication to Him.
I was a witness to the wailing and the prayers of the poor in Ogun State, and I believe I was ‘conscripted’ by the Elements to play a part in the battle against the tin god that has arrogated to himself the power to determine their fate as well as that of an entire race.
To capitulate to such brazen power display is deny the Creator’s omnipotence and eternal presence in our lives, and to allow the souls of the impoverished people to be sold to Marmon, forever.
The kind of money to be deployed at the polling booths is the weapon of the enemy of the poor people to destroy the homogeneity of the Yoruba in Ogun State, separating brothers and promoting permanent ethnic divisions forever.
Money was, thereafter, going to become the ultimate tool of enthroning maximum rulers in the State against the wishes of the people that elected them.
So, the Universe saw their designs and reacted accordingly, again.
It is a fact that the people cannot resist the temptation of money to be offered by the messengers of the prince of materialism on earth at the polling booths. So, the Ogun State dictator had to be matched Naira for Naira and even surpassed. But not by me or the indigent political party I belong to. I could not be that financial vessel at the polls. The battle was not going to be directly, spiritually fought. That would not have been in accordance to the eternal order of things in the Universe. It had to be fought by humans and won by them.
My Creator wanted me to understand this and created a new script to accommodate that plot and ensure my participation in the process.
Two weeks to the Presidential elections I was at the APC HQ in Lagos for discussions that I struggled to understand.
Until my adventure into politics I was a supporter of the APC. I was an active participant during the transition days of the Buhari government and paid my way to Abuja as a party to draw up a blueprint for youth and sports development for the new government.
My mission in Ogun State could not be fulfilled through the APC because of the infighting that could have consumed a small political neophyte like me. My dream would not even have left the tarmac.
So, Papa Obafemi Awolowo led me to a new untainted party that would use as a vehicle to convey me to the finals of the elections.
My mission is grander than the APC vision and that mission had to be delivered to the people of Ogun State to buy into it and start to prepare themselves for a new, grander and better State, one that shall become the epicentre of a new Black consciousness and Civilisation in the World with the State as the launching platform.
In 8 months I have more or less planted the seed of that dream in homes, and in small communities that I visited where I had one on one conversations with the people and nurtured the vision.
I could see excitement in the eyes of the ordinary people, the community leaders, the legion of misguided idle youths waiting to be properly led, the clergy across religious divides, and even traditional rulers across the State up to the remotest parts.
They have all become an army in waiting, sleeping cells waiting for direction and a leader to ignite the fire of the revolution coming soon.
But first, the dictator had to be dealt with. I had to understand how that would happen. That’s how I found myself in the APC HQ in Lagos. I asked Ayodeji what we were doing there and he told me to wait and see.
I was warmly welcomed and we had an incredible conversation that would only be revealed in a book I have promised to.publish soon on this my political journey.
The following morning I was presented with the largest consignment of APC souvenirs, gifts and publicity paraphenelia by the HQ. I was told that no none had been given such quantum for my use in support of the Buhari/Osibajo government at the centre anywhere else. .
I was gladly willing to be a part of that presidential campaign. What was not clear to me and to the APC was what would happen with the guber elections in Ogun State later. No one could make clear sense of the state of affairs in Ogun, but the common thread was that impunity and dictatorship must be halted in order for any meaningful thing to take place in the State post-May 2019.
That’s how my party members pleasantly welcomed the idea of being active participants in the presidential elections. In the absence of a Presidential candidate of ZLP we contributed officials and men to man areas considered volatile and challenging to the APC in Ogun State at the time. It was a monumental political success. Our support was acknowledged but not bought or compensated for because it was absolutely voluntary.
The issue of the guber elections was going to be a bit contentious last week. What was going to happen?
We decided once again to surrender to the elements. Thwy took over.
Now I can see the wisdom in what the Universe decided to do.
Only the might of the federal government could physically confront and destroy the evil walls of enslavement into which Ogun State citizens would have been imprisoned forever had the APC not done whatever it did to match and to defeat the Prince of materialism at the polling booths.
I had written that the Universe would raise an army from stones at the booths to fight on the side ofbthe people at the boiths. The stones were there alright and were raised from the army of poor loyalists whom were willing to work for a vision until hunger and the lure of lucre took over.
Divinely constructed, when temptation came through obscene deployment of money to buy the votes of hungry and poor electorates at the polling booths, there was more than one source to offer them the irresistible carrot. One was of the Elements. The other of the devil.
Now I can see why my party agents that I had so much faith in as loyal volunteers to our cause, that agreed (although some reluctantly) to accept a miserable 500 Naira as allowance for their service on election day, jumped camp when APC came calling to match the shenanigans of APM at the polling booths.
As I sat in Wasimi monitoring the events at the polling booths I could see, unfolding before me, the soldiers of justice rising from pebbles at the polling booths. Even in my own unit my agents and voters switched camp. The votes that should have gone to me, would have hurt APC very badly and reinforced APM. Thankfully, they went to APC.
If I believe, as I have always written in this diary, that this mission belongs to the Creator of all things and that I was surrendering developments to His superior understanding of things, it makes sense for me to embrace and celebrate the actions of the poor and suffering people that had aligned with me, went on later to abandon their post and cast their votes with APC.
The first part of the mission, a very important one without which the more important mission could not be fulfilled, was thus accomplished with twists and turns that made the elections a divine commission and truly dramatic.
The initial benefactor of everything that happened during the elections is Dapo Abiodun. He won the elections.
I know him little.
Yet, I heartily congratulate him for his success.
He has a massive challenge ahead of him as he mounts the seat of governance.
He should remember that the majority of the votes that got him into office were not all directly for him as an individual, but a divine design for people to vote against tyranny and the abuse of power, to vote for the Buhari/ Osibajo government, and to vote for APC.
There is a great mission in the offing and Governor Abiodun is presented the unique opportunity to do right by taking away useful lessons from his experience and be humble and be wise.
I wish him the best of luck. He should be aware heaven is watching him because the revolution must happen now and he can either be a champion of it, or will be devoured by it.
I thank all those that supported my journey in politics. I must admit the very limited number. I shall thank them personally since listing their names could create political or even social challenges for them.
So, I hope readers will understand why I am celebrating this moral victory.
I did not cheat. I did lie to voters. I did not use State or borrowed funds, or any resources I cannot account for in the course of my political mission. I am also NOT answerable for any person’s death oŕ injury, or misdeeds or harm to anyone.
I carry no spiritual burden of using the misery, hunger and poverty in the land to test the poor and make them to compromise their humanity in the extremely difficult battle between Morals and Money.
My intentions were compltely noble and unselfish.
I am, thus, a free man.
Thats why l feel refreshed in body and in mind.
Let no one feel sorry for me for losing an election I was not meant to win anyway all things considered. It was an invaluable course for me in the Rapid Results College of Nigerian politics.
Instead, they should feel sorry for those that have let the people down by not doing anything about the plight of the people when they could. They should feel sorry for the country that has killed morality and integrity through acquiescence to lower values and standards in conduct and character.
A new chapter opens soon in this political odyssey. Watch out.
Segun Odegbami
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