“The hunter’s death often sleeps inside his own pouch.
The calabash that fetches honey must beware the nest of bees.
When the goat strays too far into the forest, the leopard does not send an invitation.”
These lines, drawn from the deep well of Yoruba wisdom, are not mere sayings; they are warnings, wrapped in parables, for those who guide the destiny of kingdoms. In Ogun State today, these warnings must guide our steps as we stand at the cusp of a crucial political crossroads.
For over a decade, I have devoted my youth and strength to building young people in Ogun State. I have watched kings rise and fall, leaders gain power and lose the plot, and I have seen mighty bridges collapse for lack of pillars strong enough to hold them up when storms come. I have seen good men build roads, schools, and hospitals, but forget to build a bridge to the future that would outlive them and guarantee a lasting legacy.
Ogun’s story is littered with the ghosts of failed successions. In their silent chambers, our leaders know: what kills the hunter lurks in his apó, his own pouch. In today’s case, the hunter is the Ogun State chapter of the APC, the pouch is our unity, and the death that lurks is a needless and careless succession crisis.
History shows that every governor until now has wrestled with this dilemma. Past administrations have struggled to secure seamless transitions. The consequences have been abrupt halts of laudable projects, abandoned policy blueprints, and the needless resetting of progress every four or eight years. Your Excellency was at the centre of some of the intrigues, sir.
Today, however, providence has given us a chance through you to rewrite this story. For the first time, Ogun has a sitting governor whose leadership has positioned the APC as the undisputed majority party. Under the ISEYA Agenda — Infrastructure, Social Welfare, Education, Youth Empowerment, and Agriculture, your calm, focused, people-driven style has earned broad goodwill across divides. But goodwill alone will not secure the future.
Your Excellency, the talking drums of 2027 have started to beat, softly at first, but now gathering volume in palace courtyards, bars and lounges and under mango trees where elders gather to chew kolanut and weigh the hearts of men. There is an adage that says, “A child who washes his hands will dine with elders”, but another reminds us that when elders fail to speak the truth, the market square becomes a forest.
Today, I speak not only as your appointee but as one who sits in the gathering of tomorrow’s elders. I say this truth, for silence now is not cowardice but suicidal.
Your refusal to bless the obvious path before you will open the forest to the leopard. The ambition of the Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial district, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, known as Yayi, is no longer hidden from all and sundry; the man is not a stranger to Ogun’s political terrain. He has become a rallying point, a unifier across divides, a man with the federal reach and local touch. To pretend otherwise is to hide the hunter’s death in his pouch.
There is huge political mileage for you, sir, in endorsing this aspiration that destiny itself has favoured. Doing so will not only make you the first governor in Ogun’s history to have a successor — a true elder statesman whose words echo in the corridors of power long after you leave office — but will seal your place not only in Ogun but in the heart of President Bola Tinubu, ensuring Ogun remains out of reach of the opposition for at least two more seasons of harvest.
Your Excellency, the collateral damage of your silence and rivalry over the Yayi ambition is real and painful. Many young and aspiring leaders in our state will be left lost in the wilderness; this is what is obtainable each time this kind of crisis erupts. They become vulnerable and abandoned in the cold when they should be mentored, guided, and shown the ropes. Our class of emerging political leaders does not need bickering and needless rivalry; rather, we need to be shown leadership, and this is the time for it.
Ogun State is too blessed to be dragged through a cycle of leadership uncertainty every four or eight years. Knowledge transfer is needed; more of us need to learn, grow, and serve within government. Many say you do not care about your appointees, but here is the time to show the whole state that you do, and that you are determined to protect the future of those who serve the state loyally through your emergence as governor.
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