Ambition, it is said, is a great man’s madness, but Adebayo Adelabu, the Deputy Governor, CBN, begs to differ. The fun-loving man seeks to affect no madness; he only seeks to serve his people in Oyo State in more appreciable capacity. The story is all over town that that he is set to join the state’s gubernatorial race.
By now, it must have occurred to Adelabu that it would be easier for him to retrieve an object from the Bermuda Triangle than for him to be the next governor of Oyo State. Not because he is incompetent, far from it. But because he would be a victim of the nation’s political system in which merit is sacrificed on the altar of godfatherism, ethnic, political, and religious affiliations.
Trust Nigerian politicians, they do not bother to dissuade him from venturing into the much-troubled and malignant space of Oyo politics. Rather they have promised heaven and earth to deliver the state to him on a platter of silver.
It still remains knotty why many Nigerians hate to covet glorious exit from public life rather than subjecting themselves to ignoble departure. There is no gainsaying the fact that he has been an astute administrator and a seasoned technocrat in his professional calling but he needs to be admonished that politics in Nigeria, particularly as played in his home state goes beyond financial policy formulation and boardroom conventions.
Adebayo, without a doubt, is one of the high-flying dudes calling the shots at the nation’s topmost banking institution but it appears he has overrated his influence by carrying his gospel of becoming the next Oyo State governor too far with his taking a plunge into the murky waters of Nigerian politics in a state highly charged for 2019 and a contest already characterized by infighting and backstabbing in his preferred party, the All Progressives Congress.
Leading to his eventual resignation, the 47-year-old Adebayo has been engaging in some clandestine moves burnishing his credentials as the best thing that would happen to Oyo State after the expiration of the incumbent, Abiola Ajimobi’s tenure. He has also been going about brandishing his ancestral links with the late Adegoke Adelabu, a foremost Ibadan politician (in)famously known for the ‘penkelemesi’ (“peculiar mess”) tales.
Adebayo may have had a brilliant scholastic career earning him accelerated promotions just like his forefather whose meteoric rise in career was equally notable, his critics are of the opinion that he lacks enigmatic trait of grandfather’s ability to forensically analyse issues from sociological, political and historical perspectives.
They believe that Adebayo’s rise to the enviable position of the CBN deputy governor was a result of skewed boardroom politics that favoured him. His stint at the apex bank has not been without its tainted moments. He has had to be interrogated and admitted to administrative bail by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for abuse of office and his role in the alleged siphoning of shareholders’ funds via phoney loans at First Bank Plc, where he previously served as the executive director and chief financial officer.
The anti-graft body also once subjected the first-class chartered accountant to hours ofgrilling, August last year over the role he played in the financial allegations against the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke. Adebayo is said to have amassed a huge war chest in preparation for his governorship ambition under the platform of the ruling APC in 2019. Months ahead would reveal if he can match his reported amassed wealth with the political sagacity to make his dream come true, even though he has been deploying it surreptitiously to ensure some Oyo APC leaders buy into his gubernatorial dream. (Thisday)
