The philosophy of ‘Jagbaism’ and the appellation, ‘Jagba’, have become synonymous with Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin, but would this be enough to ensure victory for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections in Oyo State.
Senator Teslim Folarin (TKF), for a good measure, is a well-known name in the political circle across the country. He is the governorship candidate of the Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections.
He has remain a constant player among the political elite since he first won his election into the upper chamber of the National Assembly at age 39 in 2003.
Described as a grassroots politician, ever since he got to the Senate, the Ibadan-born politician, popularly known as TKF, has become a recurring issue and a permanent face in the political firmament of Oyo State, nay Nigeria.
Folarin was re-elected into the Senate in 2007 and assumed the influential role of the Senate Leader. He also served on the Senate Committees on Business and Rules; and Marines and Transport.
With an eye on and a very keen interest in governing Oyo State, he abandoned legislative businesses and sought for the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2011.
After a fierce and prolonged political battle, which led to his incarceration at the Agodi Prisons for his alleged complicity in the murder of the then chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Abdulateef Eleweomo, Folarin eventually lost the governorship ticket to the then sitting governor, the late Otunba Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala.
Alao-Akala lost out in the 2011 elections to the Senator Abiola Ajimobi (of the the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN) who also went ahead to win a second term in 2015, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The late Ajimobi thus earned the sobriquet, “Koseleri”, being the first person (and so far) to contest and win the governorship election in the state, back-to-back.
While the PDP and its members were left in the political wilderness for the eight years that the Senator Ajimobi administration lasted, several political observers in the state attributed the loss of the party in the 2011 to Senator Folarin who was reportedly said to have worked to ensure that the party and its candidate lost out in the elections of that year.
As the 2019 elections approached, a very pragmatic Folarin weighed the options before him and made a return to a very familiar terrain, the National Assembly. He contested for and won the senatorial election in 2019 to again represent Oyo Central Senatorial District in the Green Chamber, but this time, on the platform of the APC.
The circumstances of his emergence as the APC candidate in the 2019 senatorial contest earned him the appellation, ‘Jagba’. Against all odds and to the consternation of not quite a few people, Folarin not only secured the APC ticket, but he also went ahead to win the federal legislative election and thereby ‘Jagba’ became synonymous with his name.
Fast forward to 2022, the APC held its primaries across all levels in the country. In Oyo State, and like many other states, the outcome of the governorship primary was mired in controversies, just as it was rancorous. But, at the end, Folarin emerged as the governorship candidate of the party ahead the 2023 elections.
The appellation, ‘Jagba’, also came to the fore in the build-up to the APC governorship primary. It was alleged that Folarin adopted and applied anti-progressive tendencies to emerge as the party’s flag-bearer for the 2023 elections in Oyo State.
Many aggrieved APC leaders and members smelt a rat in the process that threw up Folarin as the party’s governorship standard-bearer. For them, the late Alao-Akala allegedly arm-twisted the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to ensure the emergence of Folarin as the party’s candidate.
Be that as it may, and in spite of several protests by the aggrieved Oyo APC chieftains and members, Folarin, aka ‘Jagba’, was officially recognised by the APC national secretariat as the party’s candidate for the 2023 governorship election.
The development naturally led to discontentment among the rank and file of the former ruling party in the Pacesetter State. Many prominent members of the party, including Chief Adebayo Adelabu and several others, left the APC to pitch their tents with the Accord and the PDP. Some others did not leave but adopted the siddon-look philosophy of the late Cicero of Esa-Oke, Chief Bola Ige, choosing to watch happenings within the party fold from afar.
Folarin’s opponents, both within the Oyo APC and in other political parties have been negatively, derisively and derogatorily using ‘Jagba’ and ‘Jagbaism’ to describe the front-line politician as the 2023 governorship election approaches. To them, Folarin simply fi eru gba ibukun by allegedly reaping where he did not sow.
Those who are opposed to candidacy of the serving three-term senator are of the view that Folarin, with his deft politics of ‘Jagba’, would eventually meet his political waterloo in 2023. Many of them are of the opinion that the PDP and its candidate, Governor Seyi Makinde, will have an easy ride back to the Agodi Government House in the aftermath of the March 2023 governorship contest.
They are also of the view that the electoral defeat of Senator Folarin will start off from within the APC fold in the state. According to some of the siddon-look aggrieved leaders and members, many of the party’s members and followers are just in the party, waiting for the right time to strike.
“What we are having in the Oyo APC fold today is what I can describe as a graveyard peace. Many of our prominent founding leaders and strong supporters of the party are still at a loss at the unjust process that produced Senator Teslim Folarin as the party’s governorship flag-bearer.
“Nobody would have raised an eyebrow if Folarin had emerged through a process that was clearly seen and adjuged to be free and fair. What happened in the course of the Oyo APC governorship primary was a perversion of progressivism which the party is known for.
“Many of them who cannot stomach the injustice meted out to them in a party have since left to pitch their tents with the PDP and Accord. I can authoritatively tell you that most of them can now be found especially in the Accord.
“Several others remaining in the party are just there out of pure love for the APC and not for its governorship candidate. They are waiting for the March 2023 election to extract their own pound of flesh. I can foresee our defeat in the election. Thereafter, we will come back to mend fences and re-arrange our party in our tradition of progressive party politics,” a leading light in the party, who pleaded anonymity, said.
However, several other leaders and members within the APC fold did not see anything wrong in the process that threw up Senator Folarin as the APC candidate for the governorship election. Rather, than seeing ‘Jagba’ and ‘Jagbaism’ in a negative light, this set of people said Folarin should be adulated for his deft and smart political moves which has placed him far and above many of his opponents within the APC and in other political parties in the state.
One of them disclosed last week: “Those who are carpeting Senator Folarin over his emergence as the APC governorship candidate in the 2023 elections are just talking out of ignorance. Politics is not rocket science. To emerge victorious in any electoral contest is by being smart and knowing how well to play your game.
“Senator Folarin is a smart politician who understands the rules and knows how well to play the game. Here is a man who was not given a chance at all in the build-up to the APC governorship primary, but he ended up emerging as the flag-bearer.
“Many of them accused the late former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala as being the mastermind of the emergence of Folarin as the APC candidate. It is unfortunate that the man is no longer around to speak for himself. But two things are very clear from their allegation: ‘How is it possible for an individual to single-handedly decide who will fly the flag of the party?
“Secondly, they should be reminded of the frosty relationship between the late Chief Alao-Akala and Folarin over the build-up to the 2011 and 2015 governorship elections. How is it so easily possible for two sworn political enemies to become friends again? What stops these aggrieved Oyo APC leaders from worming their ways into Alao-Akala’s heart, just like Folarin reportedly did?
“They should just eat the humble pie and acknowledge the political dexterity of Senator Folarin who, with his ‘Jagba’ and ‘Jagbaism’ has made history as the first from the state to be a senator for three terms and still serving and who, by the grace of God, is contesting the 2023 election with the sole intent of becoming the next governor of the state.”
The issues of ‘Jagba’ and ‘Jagbaism’, again, occupied the frontburner when the Oyo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), under the leadership of Comrade Ademola Babalola, honoured Senator Folarin with the “Most Distinguished Personality of the Year” award, on Wednesday.
Speakers after speakers, at the event, attested to the political astuteness, strong networks and links the APC governorship candidate has built over the years. To them, it is in this light that ‘Jagba’ and the philosophy of ‘Jagbaism’ should be seen and celebrated as a worthy political deftness and smartness.
Prince Niran Adeyoju, in his goodwill message at the award event, said, rather than be seen as negativity, ‘Jagba’ and ‘Jagbaism’ epitomised the political correctness of Senator Folarin. For the chairman of SDM, the APC candidate is ready and poised to coast home to victory in the 2023 governorship election.
“What is ‘Jagba’? Why are these people afraid of ‘Jagbaism’? I was part of the PDP team that prepared seriously hard for the 2015 governorship election. We have done and perfected our homework here at Ibadan ahead of the final endorsement of our own candidate, the late Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, by the national leadership of the PDP.
“We were so sure of victory and we hired several buses to take our people and supporters to Abuja in anticipation of an eventual victory. But to our surprise, Senator Folarin played the trump card and he emerged as the PDP candidate for the 2015 elections.
“For me, ‘Jagba’ means preparation. It means deft political smartness. If you are not smart, you cannot play and win the game. I am strongly convinced that our candidate here, Senator Teslim Folarin, is adequately prepared and we are going to take over the Government House in 2023,” Prince Adeyoju said.
When he eventually mounted the rostrum, Senator Folarin did not mince words in explaining the concept of ‘Jagba’ and why it has been working very well for him in his political adventures. He espoused the positiveness of ‘Jagbaism’ as a critical tool in political correctness.
Folarin queried why some people are worried about his successes in politics, noting that he, like every other person, has the right to aspire and adopt means of achieving the aspiration.
“They have been shouting ‘Jagba’, ‘Jagba’, ‘Jagba’. What is ‘Jagba’? What is ‘Jagbaism’? When has it become an offence to have interest? We all have interests. I am interested in a particular elective political office, just like every other person. Everybody is adopting means and ways to achieve their interest and I have the right to seek how to achieve my own interest.
“We are not fighting anybody. We did not beat anybody to get to where we are today. It took us careful planing and good execution of our plans to get the governorship ticket. They are shouting ‘Jagba’. They knew all along that we are going to ‘jagba’. What did they do to stop us from ‘jagbain’? Why are they now shouting ‘Jagba’?
“I have created and built a network of friendships and links and acquired quite a lot of goodwill across the country over these years. These network, links and goodwill are what have been working for me.
“It has now dawned on us all that we need good governance steered by informed minds to re-direct the paths to our nation’s growth and development,” Senator Folarin said.
Continuing, the proponentq of ‘Jagbaism’ stated in a speech: “To me, good governance requires leaders with adequate exposure, outstanding antecedents and experience, deep interactions with the grassroots and, of course, education system that grows and nurtures entrepreneurship from the kindergarten.
“It is obvious today that we have tried leaders and they have failed us. Let not money alone be the major parameter that determines who we push forward to manage our affairs as a people.
“I plead that we take a critical look at factors such as background, love of people, the patriotic tendencies, competence and, of course, who our leaders relate with as companions in their bid to superintend over our affairs.”
Indeed, much has been said about ‘Jagba’ and the philosophy behind ‘Jagbaism’. It is also not a hidden fact Senator Teslim Folarin is battle-ready to go into an electoral contest for the coveted governorship seat of Oyo State.
However, some critical questions are begging for answers at this juncture: Can Folarin, using ‘Jagba’ turn the apple cart in 2023? Will the concept of ‘Jagbaism’ be strong enough to ensure victory for him and the APC in the 2023 governorship election in Oyo State?
How well prepared is the apostle of ‘Jagba’ to deploy his political astuteness and adroitness to his advantage and ensure his and APC’s victory at the 2023 polls? Put differently, how far can the APC governorship candidate go, using the philosophy of ‘Jagbaism’, to facilitate true reconciliation within the party fold?
The above questions are germane in view of the fact that Folarin is going into an electoral battlefield in 2023 to confront formidable opponents in the persons of the incumbent governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde of the PDP; and a former ally in the APC, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who apparently is also not leaving any stone unturned in his quest to become the next occupant of the Agodi Government House.
•Falade is the Publisher/CEO of Newscoven.ng
