Songs of a Broken House : The Fall of Osun PDP - Omolebi-Sunday Segun

Writers are prophets! Writers often sense the undercurrents before the storm. I, indeed, foresaw the crisis brewing in Osun PDP and sounded the alarm, urging party leaders to unite and avert disaster.

A long time ago, I had been writing and pointing out the bumps ahead. Some selfish individuals derided me, saying I was not loyal to the party. In reality, I truly love the party, and I know that only when one’s party is in power can one aspire!

My outreach, spanning two intensive weeks across the state, revealed more troubling realities about the party’s structure and spirit.

I called on all the leaders within my reach, urging them to seek a clearing house to stem the impending doom. Yet, they seemed helpless.

The feedback from my two weeks of rigorous engagements and overtures across the state showed me things I never knew about the PDP.

First, I discovered that the party has no established or respected leadership structure, at least in the state. Unlike the APC in Lagos, which relies on the Governor’s Advisory Council, or the Agba Osun elders in Osun APC, the Osun PDP is, regrettably, leaderless. The Yoruba have a saying: “Baale Ile Ku, Ile Di Awooro” – with the patriarch gone, chaos reigns. This rings true. The PDP in Osun is plagued by a lack of respected, functional leadership. Meetings with supposed leaders only confirmed their helplessness – paralysed and unable to act, even for their own survival.

Second, the party’s control is concentrated in the hands of a single family, with the country home and the government seat in Abeere acting as the epicentre. Dissent is stifled. Not even influential figures like Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola or Prof. Oladipupo can challenge the status quo. The real architects of the party’s past successes have been sidelined.

No one can challenge the empire – the Empress and Emperors. Even the real builders of the castle have been silenced, nursing their wounds quietly, and are only waiting to take their pound of flesh at the right time.

I urged them: "Talk to Wole Oke now! Speak to him. Call the Governor and let there be peace!" They replied, "Omolebi, keep watching. We are more aggrieved than Wole Oke. How we wish he could be silent and watch more. They will soon leave, and then we will rebuild our party."

Another group I met was seriously troubled by what I saw and the looming effects, as we now see. They told me, "The Adelekes cannot place their shekels on anyone. When they are done with the party, they will throw it away like a used evaporated milk container!"

When I returned to my Local Government and Ward, I saw that the leaders there could not do anything. Those who could raise their fingers are actually the cause of the imbroglio – they are really observing 'table manners', so they cannot afford to cut the licking straw in their mouths.

Let there be peace! I saw and finally agreed that the PDP in Osun is a one-man show at the beck and call of a single family.

Third, I reached out to a couple of youth leaders and opinion moulders in Oriade, urging us to rise up and stem this tide. Those swimming in the river now should not be allowed to make the water murky for our future. I was dazed by their response. They echoed, "When last did they organise a meeting? When was the last time they got back from the state? It serves Wole Oke right! Were they not the same people Wole Oke has been taking care of, along with their children?"

"Let them go and settle their palavers. We don’t depend on the party. We are able-bodied youths; we can farm and face our businesses." They submitted in total abandonment. 

I was sad that I was not doing enough.

I went back to Hon. Oluwole, on my knees, begging him to see through this and endure whatever grievances and hurts he nursed. He looked at me and said, "Omolebi, I can see your pain. I know how you feel, but you are not in my shoes. You don’t see what I see. I know you don’t want us to leave the party, but our people want jobs, good roads, and inclusion. Where can we get these with people who are really enjoying their stand against our people?"

"We wanted to recruit our people in education to teach across our schools that lack teachers, hoping to support the administration like we do at the GTCs across the state. At least, our people would have gotten a year’s living wage under our scheme. Yes, you were the one who oversaw the scheme. Just a day before the recruitment, they stopped us. They warned the high-powered panel of professors and academicians we appointed to stay off and banned our use of the Uniosun Campus facility. Imagine that!"

"See, God has really been kind to me. What do I need? Our followers are my reason for taking this decision. I owe them a duty of leadership to guide them right! They need to be accommodated in the schemes of governance. They deserve rewards in employment and appointments. But, Omolebi, search your mind – did we get anything to show for our contribution toward putting this government in place? We are leaving," he affirmed. I sank into deep thought.

Other things that I found out: there are more merchants than leaders in the PDP, and now that the shops are really getting empty, there will be a reset!

When I wrote "Oyetola: A Must-Read Book for Adeleke", I never knew I was being clairvoyant! Now, the haemorrhage has started, and with what I have learned recently, the mother of all defections is brewing. Something huge has befallen the PDP.

Like the APC slogan goes: "AGBA SIKU." The remaining elders in the PDP appear to be weary and want Ademola to burn his fingers and learn the lesson that money fails too.

Readers are indeed leaders! The book that Adeleke and his handlers refused to read has been their undoing!

Osun PDP is now in intensive care. The haemorrhaging is critical, and the chances of surviving this tsunami are slim!

“Everyone is important in politics. When you sit on the tall horse, feeling you owe no one an explanation, then such a person or people are on their way to perdition.”

Alas, the meeting they could not call, they suddenly started calling. The pepper sellers, the palm-wine tappers, and the real men in politics – even the nocturnal ones.

The Governor called all the Obokun and Oriade Local Governments' Leaders and Exco, scheduling to meet them by 2 p.m. They were left and abandoned in the hall until 4 p.m. And what happened? The Governor came as usual, danced, and addressed them without any substance and could not even wait for questions from the people he had called across the state.

That is the leadership style in Abeere! Why call them if you know you won’t entertain opinions and feedback from their communities?

"Go home and keep your people. We are in the PDP! We are the progressives," he massaged their egos.

As if that was the lid on the bottled anger, no sooner had they returned – despite the five-metre pecuniary offers given to each local government structure – than the gale of defections rent the air.

The Osun PDP is now on political life support. The leadership’s failure to listen or engage meaningfully has left the party vulnerable to a tsunami of defections and internal collapse.

Even as some federal lawmakers reaffirm loyalty to Governor Adeleke and praise his achievements, the exodus of key figures and growing grassroots disillusionment threaten the party’s future. They said, Hon. Wole Oke is inconsequential and can be done away with! Now, it is raining hard – the umbrella can no longer contain the whirlwinds.

Oke’s decision to leave the party is driven by his followers’ need for inclusion and reward, which he feels have been ignored despite their contributions to the party’s rise.

The warning signs were clear but unheeded. The Osun PDP’s current crisis is the result of ignored counsel, leadership voids, and the concentration of power. Unless genuine reconciliation and structural reforms occur, the foretold collapse may soon become irreversible.

In the coming weeks, the jungle will mature, and the only surviving straw for the Governor may be an exit to the APC.

Omolebi-Sunday Segun

Tunde.