We wish to commend a leading governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Engr. Ifeoluwa Oyedele, over his decision to support the incumbent governor, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), in the APC governorship primary on Monday despite being one of the few favourites for the ticket.
Oyedele displayed rare statesmanship attribute, and his decision shows the interest, unity and progress of the party is more paramount to him than his ambition.
What people need to understand is that there arises in the life of a leader, a situation that calls for the decisive demonstration of rare courage and when such a situation arises, the leader either chooses the pleasurable option of playing to the gallery or the painful option of demonstrating decisive courage which is usually in the best interest of the led in the long run.
While the option of playing to the gallery appears to be pleasurable, such pleasure is usually the pyrrhic type as both the leader and the led would discover before long.
While the demonstration of courage instead of playing to the gallery is usually a painful decision to take at a critical stage in the life of a leader or an emerging leader, a good leader properly called requires a good measure of it in order to earn the respect of the led in the long run.
We commend Engineer Oyedele for tolling the path of courage in the interest of the party.
The series of backlashes that have trailed his decision is another pointer to his popularity and the massive support he enjoys among the people who believed he was right on course to clinch the party’s ticket, but again, party supremacy has to be respected.
While in the short run, castigation of such a courageous leader due to initial misconception is not unlikely, the good news is that such castigation is certain to vanish in the face of an in-depth analysis which later facilitates a proper understanding of the entire situation.
This is how a courageous leader earns the respect of his followers and the larger society in the long run.
For Oyedele to have made the tough decision out of his own free volition to step down his political aspiration in the interest of his Political Party, certainly he deserves to be commended even by his followers.
Akintunde Akindare, Coordinator, Ondo Youth Advancement Forum (OYAF), Akure
