By Jimoh Ibrahim CFR
God’s kindness in allowing our dear Governor to still be with us indicates that Akety must not miss the realist power of contemporary politics. Doing nothing to the power of change in decision-making is no option!
Yes, from the battle of physical success to spiritual success, Akeredolu, who lost his father early in life, is too big to fail. Yes, there are converging complexities in the journey of life. From a young age to the University of Ife Faculty of Law to legal practice and becoming a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and the President of the famous Nigeria Bar Association. In politics, he was elected as the Governor of Ondo State twice! Once or twice the chairman of the Governors Forum of Southern Nigeria, the chairman of the Governor’s Forum of the South-West, the main Dashboard of the Amatekun defence. It cannot be the case that Akety has not seen crises in those positions, or is not used to it or cannot overcome crises. And moving on is the clear case that Akety is too big to fail, a signature of God. Yes, two things easily influence the Governor in making good or bad decisions: they are if you can gather a lot of prominent men of God to tell Akety something or to do anything, and if he has his loyalty to those men of God Akety will let go and let God. (Less I forget Akety also plays a prominent role in the church). His decision may be traceable to his trajectory of home training for a man who lost his father at a relatively young age and whose responsibility of growing up was left with a lovely, aged mother. His desire to do so is more of a discipline of going to heaven and enjoying heaven since he is thriving on earth. For Akety, there is no metaphysical belief that the planet was an instrument of geological science (Apology to Olusegun Agagun of blessed memory). To Akety, it was an explicit creation according to the Book of Genesis, and there is no wanted empirical evidence beyond chapter one of the Book of Genesis in the Bible, no laboratory experience or clinical trial, no statistics or probability theory all according to the book of Genesis! For Akety, the trying times will come, and it will never disappear.
The lesson of the bible is to support that faith …is the evidence of things not seen but the belief that they are possible, and if the sick shall have faith or trust in perfect health, so shall it be, with or without medical science, we all can see the hands of God in the testimony of man. The challenge is time, for the medical God is the only one who knows the beginning and the end of man’s journey. It is also not the condition of God that a man will be sick before he dies; otherwise, how do you explain the accident? Spiritual and physical medicine focuses more on how the sick become well and not how a man is killed by accident like a plane crash. (Incidentally, I Am writing this article on a plane at a location where I do not know but on my way to a World Bank meeting. Physical doctors are not here if there is a plane crash, God forbid.)
Akety second independent variable that influences him is Betty Akeredolu, so if Betty supports him, then it can be a good decision. On many occasions, I saw Akety referring to his wife as “adorable Betty.” I was a bit reflective of ‘adorable’! I was in Owerri to attend a reception in honour of Betty when her people were generous in honouring her with the big title of Ada-Owerri 1 (A very long journey in Owerri bad roads in History) Akety in full of admirations to his wife from church service to reception it was Betty Akereredolu in the front with an all right, love and beyond appreciations from Akety.
Akety in power is a different story, a story of kindness showing things but harmless he hardly can kill a chicken, a praxis too hard to make a change in cabinet decision and the bad side of this manifest when there is a bad egg in Atkey’s cabinet such may enjoy a long stay in office without any removal notice! A bad habit and less quality of leadership. Akety desire is a collective cabinet thinking everyone is good and can all rise and fall simultaneously. Life is never so, and power is never like that. Things will change quickly, and the wicked do not think twice before paying back the good with evil. They will even use your law of kindness against you!
Akety saw all how good or bad his decision may be on many issues, and returning to his seat will offer him an excellent leadership praxis; he must have picked some taxonomies and dropped many. Time is running fast. What can be of superior returns to the good people of Ondo state is when some not-too-good decisions are made good as the heaven will not fall. Even in the last days, it should not be the case that the enemy wins the battle, God forbid. Yes, Akety is not a power currency spender, and that is why the realist thinks otherwise of the liberalism corporations and collaborations of the democratic park in ordering peace. The realist thinks that in a state of statism, power accumulation is the greatest weapon for contemporary understanding. Akety is too big to fail when he engages some attributes of realism or neo-realism. If God wanted Akety, he would have taken him for long. God’s kindness in allowing our dear Governor to still be with us indicates that Akety must not miss the realist power of contemporary politics. Doing nothing to the power of change in decision-making is no option!
