No flowers for Obaseki’s afterlife, by John Mayaki

I stumbled upon several posts by a few disgruntled apostles of Godwin Obaseki saying the unpopular ex-governor deserves his “flowers”. Some even said months after leaving office, Obaseki is still governing Edo state. They also declared, “You can never steal Ematon’s glory,” boasting that “Obaseki, Triple A, InfraCorp, and APP, as equity partners, signed the N228bn agreement for the reconstruction of the concessioned Benin-Asaba Federal Highway.”

But is that enough? Eight years, and all you have is an agreement – never executed. So, do you finally see that Obaseki’s famed MoUs are as lifeless as a dodo? Never mind, Governor Monday Okpebholo has decided to construct the road – executive Governor who executes projects.

When people say, “Give Obaseki his flowers because all road construction today is from his administration,” they expose their confusion about governance. When Governor Monday Okpebholo signed the electricity bill into law, they also said, “Oh, it’s Obaseki’s initiative, give Obaseki his flowers”. I never knew “Saint Obaseki” was such a legend – the man who builds roads from afterlife, if not his followers.

His followers are the enlightened disciples of the “Holy Church of Saint Obaseki” who believes every road being constructed today is a miracle from the departed governor – they said he planned the state 30 years ahead and that it was delivered in a PowerPoint presentation and as such, for governor Okpebholo to have been executing the plans, they were Obaseki’s projects. They want his “flowers”.

They said I should forget the fact that Obaseki abandoned the roads for eight years and that even though he placed signposts on them, telling Edo people that they were federal roads, it wasn’t out of place because Edo people deserved to be patient with Obaseki. They said it doesn’t matter if Obaseki stalled projects under his administration but that he saved the money for governor Okpebholo to work with it. And I replied them, is this another type of “fever” yet to be diagnosed or what?

They wouldn’t bulge because Obaseki’s initiatives were either stalled, poorly executed, or deliberately delayed for political reasons. If his disciples had done their job properly, there wouldn’t even be a debate about who is working and who deserves “flowers”. The projects would have spoken for themselves – but, no projects, no “flowers”.

They are the type of disciples who would lay flat on the floor for their shepherd to flog them with the horsewhip believing they would be healed of their ailments thereafter. They say, “give Obaseki his flowers for initiating the projects for the people”. They say, “it doesn’t matter if Obaseki simply drew lines on a map and never completed anything”. Very soon, they would ask us to also give Obaseki a Nobel Prize for merely thinking and sermonizing about development. The one he has no single idea of how to execute them.

But nobody has taken it upon himself to “wake them from their day-dreaming slumber” and sounding it to them that governance is not about wishful thinking but about execution. If it takes Obaseki 8 years to design a road project, that’s his headache, he has no “flowers” anywhere and nobody wants to share in his failure.

And then, here is the funniest part of it all. “Obaseki may be out of government, but he is still working for Edo people”. One of his spokesperson posted this on his Facebook and gave it to his surrogates to share on WhatsApp platforms. Although the number of their social media ranters have reduced drastically in recent times, but even the devil still has his followers. It is understandable, no free money anywhere, anymore.

They dream Government House everyday even when their Obaseki and his candidate, Asue Ighodalo, no longer see hope. They say Obaseki doesn’t need an office to continue to work, and as such, whatever Okpebholo achieves today, the “flowers” goes to Obaseki. Of course, they no longer see “Joy Is Cumming”. It is getting clearer to them and as such, they are demanding for Obaseki’s non-existence “flowers”.

These confused apostles of Obaseki however agree that in reality, Governor Okpebholo is on ground and actually constructing roads, fixing the mess left behind by their “godfather” but they are more concerned about the “flowers”. They now confessed to the reality of Ramat park flyover, which they initially wished away. Gradually, Okpebholo will cure them.

I quite understand that logic does not matter to these disillusional followers. They have decided to write hymns of praise to their departed leader since “Joy Is No Longer Cumming”. They are whining. They want lollipops but they are not getting any. And so, they have increased the tempo of their cries. They are ranting on a daily basis. They want to continue to live in the past. And I would not begrudge them for that, it is their right to live in the past, if they so decide.

But, my only advise for them is this – don’t expect Edo people to join you in this revisionism because we have a new driver. Governance is a relay race – nobody wins by just carrying the baton; they must run their own leg of the race. Besides, governance is indeed a continuum. No responsible administration abandons useful projects simply because they were initiated by an Obaseki who abandoned Adams Oshiomhole’s projects.

And so, no matter how much they pray for the resurrection of Obaseki’s era, it is dead and buried. And sadly too, no “flowers for PowerPoint presentations”.