I was in a conversation yesterday where someone tried to gaslight the South for not defending its own, citing the report that some APC elders asked Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to apologise to the Ministers if he truly wanted reconciliation in his party. I am not an APC member, so their internal quarrels are their business. But why must the South defend a Governor simply because he is “our son”? The South is not obligated to defend failure. If anything, we should be the first to tell him the truth because this is our slot. The governorship of Ondo State has never been about rotating the office alone. The understanding has always been that when power rotates, development must rotate with it.
Look at the history. Adefarati took the state university to Akungba-Akoko when Owo already had a State Polytechnic because the South had no comparable tertiary institution. Agagu came, built the Alape Bridge, and commenced OSUSTECH. Mimiko concentrated major legacy projects in the Central, including the medical village in Laje, Ondo. Akeredolu completely transformed Owo. I deliberately leave roads out because every administration built roads across the State. I am talking about projects that leaves developmental footprint.
Now the South has its turn again. We have the coastline, agriculture, cassava, palm produce, cocoa, Olokola and Erunna FTZs and enormous industrial potential. We have abandoned projects and young people desperate for opportunities. This was supposed to be our moment. Yet we are expected to celebrate a 2km concrete walkway in the Governor’s hometown as though Dubai has finally arrived. Perhaps we should bring the Biripo artists, drums and dancers. Two kilometres! The South anguishly waited for development, and this is what we get.
And that explains the silence. It is not because the South does not know how to defend its own. Anybody who has participated in the students’ movement knows we close ranks when one of ours is attacked. But how do you defend a son who has not given you enough to defend? How do you defend performance with ‘ọmọ wa ni’? Give us an industrial revolution, revive abandoned industries, create jobs, build institutions and transform the region, and see whether the South will not defend you. But demanding blind loyalty because you are “our son” is emotional blackmail. A Governor does not become good because he comes from our district, just as failure does not become success because we call him “our son.” When Aiyedatiwa succeeds, the South gets the credit. When he fails, the South carries the embarrassment. That is why this goes beyond APC. The question is what the Southern turn at Alagbaka is producing. If power rotates but development does not, what exactly have we rotated?
Adefarati, Agagu, Mimiko and Akeredolu had legacies in their zones. They did not merely occupy the office. They left evidence. So what evidence will the South inherit from this administration? That is the question. The South does not owe anyone blind defence. It owes itself development and its children a future. Sometimes, the greatest betrayal of your own is not criticising him; it is watching him waste your turn and pretending everything is fine. The South did not ask for a Governor merely to prove that one of its sons could sit in Alagbaka. The South asked for its turn because it believed its turn should matter. Power must rotate with development. Otherwise, all we have rotated is the chair.
