Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola the former governor of Osun state and ex- Milad was the first casualty of the much dreaded Oranmiyan political group symbolized by his Excellency Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
Despite the huge resources and the paraphernalia of Presidency at the disposal of Oyinlola, before he could wake up from the illusions he had in himself, the man Aregebesola had taken over office from him.
In the same vein, the struggle for regional integration of Yoruba nation which currently had become the project of Action Congress of Nigeria is making the governor of Osun state to be on his toes as he is leaving no stone unturned especially in ensuring that Ondo state is drafted into the regional agenda. Also, he seems to have become the last man standing for the region with the full support of his godfather Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose efforts in repositioning the southwest to her glorious days during the era of Chief Obafemi Awolowo has brought a wide accolade on him as the foremost leader of Yoruba nation and the leader of opposition in Nigeria politics.
With five out of the six states of the southwest already in the spirit of regional integration, one will ordinarily expect that Dr. Mimiko who was aided by the mafias of the southwest politics will without being told aligned with his erstwhile comrades in prosecuting Yoruba agenda but for the reason best known to him which many believed could have been selfish ignore the clarion of the regional integration.
On the other hand, the mafias of the southwest politics with their doggedness and determination to take over Ondo state seems to have assembled their team and appointed the governor of Osun state to be the executor of the last battle for the soul of southwest politics.
No doubt, taking over Ondo state could be the last acid test for the regional integration project championed by the Action Congress of Nigeria and for the furtherance of the project, someone with confrontational spirit who has a heart of lion among the top echelon of southwest political class who is equally familiar with the terrain of ondo state must be deployed to the state to coordinate the activities of the party.
Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola a man who history has singled out for the job recently wrote it clearly for those who care to read that he has drawn a battle line with ondo state governor Dr. Mimiko like Tinubu did in favor of Aregbesola against Oyinlola then and without wasting time he had made it known hat the battle ground has been shifted to Ondo state where the electorates resides rather than the pages of newspaper or throwing missile from Osogbo his base.
Within a week this year, Aregbesola who was bread and buttered in Arigidi Akoko made two official visits to Ondo state and in the same events, Dr. Mimiko who supposed to be in attendance but because of the intimidation and harassment that he foresee took to his heel.
Contrary to Mimiko that we all know to be easily always carried away by awards even if it is from pepper sellers’ association as said by Segun Ojo, what could have made Mimiko to run away from the award he was to receive alongside with Aregbesola at Achievers’ University Owo could be explained simply by the saying that “the fear of Oranmiyan is the beginning of Wisdom”.
At the event in the Achievers University, from all over the nook and cranny of Ondo state, mammoth crowd were mobilized to honor Aregbesola a situation Mimiko described as inciting the people of the state against him.
Few days later, Aregbesola made another show at Arigidi Akoko and virtually who is who in Ondo North senatorial district were represented and from a reliable source, the mission of Aregbesola in the state was to test- run some machineries that will soon be deployed to prosecute the forthcoming gubernatorial election of the state.
No one needs to be told that the next election of the sunshine state will be a battle ground. Money for money, Juju for Juju, networking for networking and tactics for tactics.
As for money to prosecute the forthcoming election, the total amount of allocation Mimiko had received from federation account is not up to budget proposal for the fiscal year of Lagos state in the year 2012. Lagos state the sole financier of Action Congress of Nigeria has proposed almost five hundred billion naira for this fiscal year (N500B) with these robust budget, Action Congress of Nigeria may advance about ten percent of Lagos state budget to prosecute the election of ondo state while other A CN states could advance ten percent of their budget for the same course.In this process, nothing less than seventy billion naira will generated while other interests is expected to roll in further contributions to sustain the election.
With these synergy of alliances, it will be a miracle of the millennium for a man like Mimiko who is loosing popularity on daily basis to win the forthcoming election but as I know him for sure, he will not agree or concede to defeat until he has unleash his arsenals.
From findings, the man Iroko had piled up funds as part of his arsenals that will be unleashed to prosecute his return to office not minding the cost but with the man Oranmiyan who had vowed to lead the coalition of the southwest opposition against Mimiko, the last is yet to be heard or seen and the speculations continues on who will be next casualty of the much dreaded Oranmiyan as the process of electing the next governor of Ondo state is gathering momentum.
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