To Mr. Jerry Omodara, we read your response to Part One with disgust as it was feeble, lame and lacking in substance. These notes are issue-based and your response addressed no issue in particular. At best and as expected, your words were nothing beyond the words of a rabble rouser. And just so you would put forward same gibberish as a response yet again, we wait to see how you address these facts and figures brought to bare below:
The first administration of Governor Yahaya Bello saw Mr. Jerry Omodara as State Security Adviser and Kehinde Oloruntoba as Commissioner for Agriculture. Both of these men are of Bunu descent. Observers were keen to note the rocky relationship between Omodara and Toba all to no fault of Kehinde Oloruntoba.
Ostensibly, Toba spent the entire tenure fighting to stay afloat and relevant in the political setting of the era.
All too often, Omodara would cut him off from events and political happenings that should have the regular input of a serving Commissioner.
The duo got embroiled in fisticuffs as Toba fought against Omodara’s intentional marginalization and backstabbing. It doesn’t cost much to become Omodara’s enemy. The only passport you need to earn his bitter envy is a rising political profile in Okun.
Just in case Omodara was quick to tag Kehinde Oloruntoba as a bad human with questionable character, would he also provide the same justification for his persistent antagonism against Wemi Jones who was appointed Commissioner for Education at the beginning of the second tenure of Governor Yahaya Bello
Similar to Kehinde Oloruntoba’s towering performance in the Ministry of Agriculture, Wemi Jones’ performance in the Education Ministry has been described as legendary. Many of his achievements have fixed Kogi on national map and news, an obvious feat that had endeared him to the Governor.
But success comes with a cost. In a political environment where Omodara would never want to see Okun denizens rise and grow, the many achievements of Wemi Jones are the reasons he has quickly earned the toga of Omodara’s arch enemy today.
Like he did to Kehinde Oloruntoba, Omodara seems to have found a new victim in Wemi Jones. This time though, there is a little difference: while Toba and Jones are known to be refined technocrats with solid backgrounds in the financial sector, Jones unlike Toba, had contested an election and he seems to have acclimatized with the political atmosphere enough to weather the storm.
From all indications, the intelligent Commissioner for Education seems to have truly crossed the rubicon and may respond to Omodara’s gimmicks with metallic will.
The story is the same when you pair Omodara with Prince Kolawole. During the ward congresses in Kabba/Bunu, the two had a heated argument when Kolawole stopped Omodara from manipulating the delegate list. It took the maturity and quick intervention of the Commissioner for Education and a few stakeholders to prevent exchange of blows and slaps as Omodara already had his hands balled into solid fists.
Asiwaju Ashiru, Kingsley Fanwo and of course the SSG, Folashade Arike are not spared from Omodara’s toxic venom. As I pen this down, Folashade Arike and Omodara’s relationship is at rock bottom, verifiable facts.
It remains a debilitating question how and why one man could be this toxic, bitter and so antagonistic to successes around him.
Here comes the challenge: so much have been said about Okun Unity for a common front. For Okun to achieve any political milestone in Kogi State, that unity is sacrosanct. Of all the Okun political appointees in the cabinet of Governor Yahaya Bello, Omodara is the oldest. By virtue of his age, it is expected that Omodara would be the rallying point of Unity among Okun political players in the current dispensation. But unfortunately, rather than play a centrifugal role, Omodara remains a virile centripetal force sowing seeds of discord and hating everyone with a tendency to grow in the system. How disappointing will this be to Governor Yahaya Bello who had severally emphasized the need for unity among Okun people.
We are yet to see the end. As the political season unravel, the next few months will give us a clue forward.
– Adeola Ogungbuyi wrote from Bunu land, Kogi state.
