I had watched strenuously to see how far the Asiwaju would go wielding so much power over his political structure spanning the whole of the South West and creeping towards the centre with no executive powers but mere influence. As a student of politics and a graduate of Political Science I have come to realise clearly that influence remains an aberration in the vicious game that is politics.
It is what people on the street call ‘breeze’. It cannot bite, does not have any legal backing, trading on morality and ‘what is right’ and as such enforcement of decisions especially disciplinary is at best tricky. Today I am sure that Asiwaju would be rueing the day he decided to give himself the spurious title of ‘Party Leader’.
For a strategist of his calibre, this was a fatal blow to his legacy. How on earth did he think he would continue to rule over his ‘minions’ especially with the integration of other soldiers in the enlarged party structure that was built with just influence? You see, the game where he holds whoever is the Lagos State governor can never be used at the centre. You cannot control the President of Nigeria and Commander of the Armed Forces with mere influence that comes with the empty post of Party Leader. This to me is his folly and I am sure in his moments of reflection, he would be shaking his head with regrets.
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Chief Awolowo insisted on being the Premier and when he went for election in the centre and failed he came back to reclaim his executive powers and this led to a fracas that led to wahala in the old Western Region simply because the combatants understood the powers that came with executive positions.
If Asiwaju was party chairman today and with his clout and charisma, even the president would think twice before he moved against him. Let us look at Chief Adisa Akinloye in the Second Republic, he was so powerful that his image loomed large even far and above that of the president. He never got to that point by wielding just influence.
Really sad that such a brilliant tactician could not see this. Really painful.
