The late Governor of Ondo state,Rotimi Akeredolu was a man of many parts who faced battles on many fronts.
He fought battles on many fronts as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, which he later used when he became the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA National President.
He also later emerged as a state governor who championed the wishes of his Ondo people .
You may not like him but at least he stood for something while many others in his position stood for nothing.
His voice never dimmed but rang loud and clear when he was NBA President, neither was it drowned in the cacophony of voices that greeted the emergence of Amotekun-South West Security Outfit, done together by him and five other South West governors.
He led governors from the six South West states from the front when Fulani terrorists masquerading under the guise of herdsmen visited a reign of terror on peasants and defenceless Yoruba citizens who were gracious enough to accommodate their destructive pastoralism.
While Fulani terrorists continued their rampaging of Yoruba territories,their patron who incidentally belong to same party with Aketi, Muhammadu Buhari, then President of Nigeria looked the other way.
We must give it to Aketi that in spite of whatever shortcomings he had while battling ill health, his attitude to power informed his determination that if he conquered the political terrain he will definitely defeat ill health.
But like all mortals, he succumbed.
It is worth recalling that before his health deteriorated, Akeredolu stood firmly with his people even when the evil terrorists visited their reign of terror on Owo, Aketi’s birthplace place and reigned bullets on defenceless Catholic worshippers.
All because the terrorists and their masters wanted to cow him for spearheading resistance by the peaceful people of South West to defend their territory against state- backed and all conquering land marauders .
Marauders who from history, lack respect for human dignity and their generous hosts but spilled blood on end knowing fully well that their clannish son who got elected in 2015 did so with the support of South West.
Like Shakespeare said ..death is a necessary end,it will come when it will come “.
Aketi might not have enjoyed good health in the last twelve months of his second term as governor of his dear state, yet he never buckled under ill health to let down his guard.
Yes, you may accuse him of holding to office till when he could no longer breathe,who would not.
Ordinarily, nobody would ever have thought it will end so early for the erudite lawyer, but since we are all mortals, holding on to his political leadership of APC in Ondo nay as Chairman of SW, All Progressives Congress,APC Governors Forum, he at least demonstrated that power is good when it is used for the good of the people.
Yes, governance suffered in the last few months of his being indisposed, Aketi’s holding on till the dying minute is also in a way, a function of loyalty of his party men and women and elected assembly men.
They did obviously because they are not at home with what they perceived as the inordinate pursuit of power by Lucky Aiyedatiwa ,the deputy governor who was pushing his luck so early, when his boss traveled out to take care of his health.
The assemblymen may not say it, but prudence dictates that Aiyedatiwa and his five aides sacked upon return of Aketi five months ago, should have borrowed a leaf from former Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo who never succumbed to banana peels of betrayal thrown at him by ambitious elements in APC when Buhari was seriously ill.
Osinbajo waited, endured and kept his own Omoluabi bargain and remained on the side of Buhari like the late Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle Fajuyi,did for Aguiyi Ironsi on January 15,1966- face the bullets with him and joined the Heroes club.
Yes, Fajuyi’s immediate family suffered but the nation and those who violently took power paid the price for shedding innocent blood as it led to a 30-month civil war that reshaped the destiny of Nigeria.
Though, he died seven months into the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-the latter owed his emergence to the tenacity of purpose displayed by Aketi who rallied Southern governors together as their leader to insist on power shift to the South.
And power indeed shifted to the South with Tinubu’s emergence as President but Aketi never savoured the shift as ill-health prevented him from extracting same loyalty from Tinubu, the man he vigorously campaigned for.
Today, Aiyedatiwa who only emerged as deputy governor during Akeredolu’s second term lived up to fate and destiny calling by being Ondo governor. But he must go beyond that.
Aiyedatiwa must as he claimed Tinubu told him, rally both his lovers and opponents in the assembly and in the party,executive council together to move Ondo state forward.
Having emerged under unexpected circumstances, Aiyedatiwa must be magnanimous in ‘victory’ against those opposed to him stepping -in while Aketi was ill, reunite with friends and foes in government, assembly and party.
He should borrow William Hazlets word-“The problems of victory are more than defeat but are not less pernicious’.
Uniting his state is his first job.
He must not allow his ambition to carry the partys platform next year to extend the division in the state exco to the party and by extension the good people of Ondo state.
As for Akeredolu’s wife, Betty and family, they should be contended that their father came, saw, fought a good fight and played his own part.
They should be content with that Shakespearean saying repeated by former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon after news of his toppling reached him in Kampala,July 29,1975 thus..”the world is a stage,men and women are actors and actresses,they play their part and leave the stage”.
Akeredolu’s death, as Chief Bisi Akande-a former governor of Osun state said, “is a big loss to Yoruba in particular and Nigeria in general”.
They should take solace in the fact that their husband and father served his people to the best of his ability and left when God called him.
Adieu Aketi! Rest in peace.