Marginalisation of Muslims: A dangerous terrain Akeredolu must watch – AN EDITORIAL

One of three factors that brought Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu to office, for the first time in his life, as elected governor of Ondo State is the religious factor, Muslims’ precisely.  The Muslims represent quite well about 40 percent of the population of the entire Ondo State.  Although he had reportedly been said in the 2012 governorship election that Muslims or no Muslims he would win election as governor, but he did not win as Dr. Olusegun Mimiko sent him back to the place of the defeated despite even the popular support of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at that time.

Ahead of the November 25, 2016 keenly contested governorship election in the state when the atmosphere was fully charged with all manner of factors coming to bear their fangs, Akeredolu, who had insistently shown that he would not bring the Muslims’ worry to his own political consideration, had no choice than to clinch to an eventual agreement that if Ondo State Muslim Community would support him, he must promise them a vantage position in his government in event that he won.  And they asked for Secretary to the Ondo State Government (SSG).  Very steering in Akeredolu’s face were the factors of Akure Agenda with Mr. Eyitayo Jegede capable of depriving him of the huge Akure Division’s votes, the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s factor, which tilted towards Olusola Oke as governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and whose nativeness of Ondo South was capable of costing Akeredolu a huge setback and the issue of intra-party grievances that could have cost the entire structure of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the chance of picking the keys to Alagbaka for real, during the election.

More devastating to any politician at any election could have been to see a particular religion especially as controlling 40 percent of a whole state population pulling out of support.  If anybody wants to try whether a block withdrawal of Muslims is possible, he should experiment it with Ondo State where the loyalty to the Muslim Community is in whole and total.  The Ondo State Muslim Community had at that time threatened that any party that must get his support would be the one having Muslim either as governorship or deputy governorship candidate.

Akeredolu, because of his perceived nonchalance for Muslims all along from his antecedence, had earlier shunned the threat and picked a Christian from the riverine area of South Senatorial District of the state meaning that the APC would go into the all-interested election with Christian-Christian ticket as opposed to even what obtained at the national level.  Eyitayo Jegede however did not also pick Muslim deputy but the Akure Agenda was a serious and more possible factor to push a candidate to a win.  Akure Division has the largest votes in the entire Ondo State.  AD met the condition set by Ondo State Muslim Community with Gani Dauda as deputy governorship candidate to Olusola Oke.

But the Muslims’ group in the state APC wooed their religious constituency to vote for Akeredolu on condition that he had promised them a vital position in government if elected.  That settled in favour of the senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) the challenges of the non-conforming with Christian-Muslim ticket.  But the Akure Agenda had to be personally handled by the Baba Himself, President Muhammadu Buhari, who despite the non-support by the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu boys including South West governors loyal to him, visited Akure to tell the Ondo State people, “If you believe in me, vote for Rotimi Akeredolu because of me.”  And one of the things for which Ondo State people including the Akure Division people voted for Akeredolu was because of trust they have in Buhari and promises he made to them that APC government in Ondo State would be fair to all.

With the already rising apprehension among members of the Ondo State Muslim Community over their perceived marginalisation in his considerations of people into the newly emerged APC-led government of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu appears to be fast setting a bad precedence of a government that won’t keep its promises.  He should not allow that to happen and that is key because the images of President Muhammadu Buhari and the governing party are at stake, knowing the nature of Ondo State politics for what it is about failing the people on certain promises.

And it is key and vital because if you prove uncaring and nonchalant to people on your way to the top, when you are coming down, you will meet them.