THISDAYonline

More and more, Osun State leaps into national prominence. But it does so, most of the time, for the wrong things.

Today, workers are sacked en mass, as part of their "sacrifice" for democracy. Tomorrow, members of the state's house of assembly plot and threaten to impeach the governor for "incompetence" and "constitutional violations" and later back out to the displeasure of irate demonstrators.

The day after, two ministers from the state thrust out their chests for a pointless show of manhood. And everyday, the governor and his deputy aim for each other's jugular.

It is very easy to dismiss all of these as the normal stirrings of politics. Yes, it is true: politicians, especially the colourful politicians of Osun, enjoy politicking. But it is also true that the contest for power in Osun State is far from being healthy. All the major actors are dusting up their battle fatigues. They are promising a do-or-die duel.

And that exactly is where the rub lies. If there is any place that could be turned to a battle-ground (real, not metaphoric battleground) in 2003, if there is a place where all the fear of Armageddon would come tumbling down, if there is a place where politicians would not mind sacrificing people (real people) for a marginal advantage, it is in the place that is curiously called the land of the living spring.

First, a little digression. I have refrained from commenting on the dance macabre playing itself out in Osun State because I am involved. And when you are an interested party, it is difficult to be fair. Though born in Lagos, I hail from Osun State. I grew up there, had my early education there. And one of the principal actors in the fray, Chief Bola Ige, is one my few heroes, as I had unabashedly stated on this page before.

But it is precisely because I am involved that I have decided to make a few comments, with the hope that the drift to anarchy would be averted, that the combatants would suddenly wake up to realise what power should be all about, and that the people would, this time around, refuse to be the canon-fodder for some people's ambition and quest for supremacy.

For now, much of the battle is coalescing around the person of the governor of the state, Chief Bisi Akande. The man with the winning smile has not succeeded in winning most of the indigenes to his side. Nearly everybody denounces him as a non-performer. His apologists can come up with a thousand and one excuses for his poor rating. But the stark truth is that the only thing the man they call Flourish (after the toothpaste that was supposed to give you a dazzling smile) has succeeded in doing is sacking workers.

To date, the governor has relieved about 12, 000 civil servants of their jobs. He has a point when he says the civil service is bloated and that the wage bill leaves a heavy dent on the state's lean resources.

But while people are trying to create jobs in other places, he throws people into the job market with so much arbitrariness. Some teachers lose their jobs for not teaching science subjects. The arbitrariness is so much that some schools in the state that is to all intents and purposes trying to make all students science students don't have teachers for English Language.

And while in other places people could show what they have managed to do with lean resources and use that to illustrate what they could do if they have more, our man in Osogbo has nothing tangible to point at.

As it is today, Osun State could pass for one of the least developed states in the country. The roads are impassable. The schools are decaying. The few companies have closed shop. Grinding poverty is the highest common factor.

It will be unfair to put all the blame by the governor's doorstep. The neglect and poverty took a while to accumulate to this level. But after 20 months in the saddle as the chief executive of the state, Governor Akande has done little to lift the people's burden. Rather, he adds to it.

And with all fairness to the man, Akande doesn't look like a sadist. Neither does he look like a thief. His problem, I think, is that he just doesn't know what to do because he wasn't interested in ruling the state. He has some experience in governance. He was secretary to the government of old Oyo State during the Second Republic. Later he became a deputy governor in the same state. The problem, however, is not lack of experience. It is the absence of a solid plan for running the state.

Ige drafted Governor Akande into the gubernatorial race. The man gladly accepted the draft and everything fell in place. But the age of draft is over. We are now in the age of ideas. You need ideas to make a difference, not just a good endorsement. After the damage done by the military, people are expected to hunger for jobs, food, well being and development. There is nothing to suggest that our man had any master plan for turning the state around. His record so far is very depressing.

No matter how much you love Ige, it is hard to exonerate him from the tragedy in Osun State. You can excuse him for adopting a candidate. All politicians would give the world to play the godfather. But his actions and utterances since the governor's woes started mounting are simply unpardonable.

The Cicero of Esa Oke unabashedly pitches his tent with his faithful, sometimes becoming his spokesman, sometimes playing the saviour. The latest and most depressing is his performance at the Pro-Akande rally held in Osogbo last month where they gathered to sing and dance about "the good works of Chief Akande in Osun State." If Akande is really performing, do they need a rally to demonstrate that? Will a rally then not be superfluous? Is it not said that a good wine needs no bush?

If there is anybody that is expected to be frank with the governor, it is his mentor. But this is not what we have seen from Chief Ige. His principled stand has given way to apologias. This shouldn't be so.

But it is very easy to see how all these lock in well with Ige's new politics. Since the Alliance for Democracy, AD presidential primaries that left him out in the cold, the respected orator has been locked in a vindictive power play with his perceived enemies in AD. Almost all his actions since then have betrayed the urge to score points over the Ijebu Mafia. In this quest, Ige seemingly doesn't mind to reverse himself. Nor does he mind self-diminution.

Viewed you look at it from this lens, you would understand the chief's dilemma. It would be a self-indictment and an impolitic thing for Ige to admit that his stand-in is a failure. It would also erode the turf that he is guarding jealously. That means irreverent Turks like Otunba Iyiola Omisore, Akande's deputy and covetous politicians like Chief SM Afolabi, Ige's deputy in the Second Republic in Old Oyo State and now his minister colleague could make in-roads into a state that Ige sees as his fiefdom.

But I think Ige could have done one of two things. One, he could be a quiet critic of the Osun governor and could help him out in the governance of the state. (Ige's record in Oyo State, I believe is unassailable.) And two, he could focus on his national assignment and allow the man in Osogbo to sort himself out; and instead of becoming unnecessarily partisan, become the father to all.

To be sure, both lines of action could put him at the risk of losing his home base, which is crucial to any politician. But he would come off it all as a man who would rise above pettiness and rather err on the side of principle. Even in the murky waters of politics, there is something to be said for principle, as Ige's profile during the Abacha days clearly illustrates.

More and more, Osun looks like a waiting killing field because of Ige's actions and reactions to him. Chief Afolabi has joined the fray. Omisore is unrelenting. And Akande is not content with just surviving an uneventful tenure, he wants more.

The frightening but possible scenario is not only that there would be rigging in 2003, but there could also be violence. The combatants would give all to assert their supremacy. Their antecedents make an eloquent justification of this thesis. The violence of 1983 in old Oyo State involved same characters and revolved around similar issues.

What distresses the most in all this possible gloom, is that this is just a covetous battle for turf. Ige and Afolabi have outstanding issues dating back to the Second Republic. Ige and the Ijebu Mafia have issues to resolve. Ige, Afolabi and Akande need to justify their relevance. Omisore is itching for his own turn.

Missing in all of this is the people. Nobody has come out with an alternative proposal about how to replace the frown on the faces of people of Osun State with even a weak smile, about how to turn this veritable desert into a real spring. But that is what we need now, for power should be first and foremost in the service of the people. We need a robust contest of ideas.

We don't need embattled warriors flexing aged muscles just to score personal victories that could further stymie the state. We don't need godfathers scaring off people with ancient curses. We don't need induced thugs and aroused people burning down people and houses. We need altruism. We need ideas. We need development. And Ige has the standing and capacity to rise above the fray and be arrowhead of all that.