Good Night Adedibu

I received a mail from Nigeria yesterday that the strong man of Ibadan Politics, Chief (thug) Lamidi Ariyibi Akanbi Adedibu has died. I had to make calls to Nigeria to confirm that the news was true. Rumours about the death of Nigerian politicians are quite rife. This same Adedibu was rumoured to have died sometime last year.

Your reaction to Adedibu’s death will depend on what side of the political spectrum you belong to. Adedibu was a self confessed political thug. He has been a thug since he was twenty-four years old with the now defunct Action Group. He once said in an interview that he could not separate Politics from thuggery.

Adedibu had several acronyms, which included, ‘the Alafin of Molete’, ‘Adedibully’, ‘the Ekarun of Olubadan’. Other acronyms included ‘Field Marshall of the Garrison Command of Ibadan Politics. He was perhaps best known as the exponent of ‘Amala politics’.

He was a man who believed a certain portion of the monthly allocation for Oyo state was his divine right. It is said that the former Oyo State governor, Ladoja, was impeached because he failed to pay Adedibu 25% of the Government’s monthly security vote. Although the governor was later re-instated but Adedibu promised him that he would not be voted for a second term in office and that was exactly what happened.

The late exponent of ‘Amala politics’ was the one who determined who held what position in Oyo state and for how long the position was held by that person. Forget about your qualifications or lack of it you held whatever position in Oyo state that Adedibu deemed fit for you - no questions asked.

Adedibu’s thugs destroyed Oyo State controlled broadcasting stations recently. Reason: Baba did not want the governor to use the media to make any announcements to the state.

Ten years from today some of the people who had benefited from his ‘Amala politics’ would stand up and say that Adedibu was a man of peace who contributed immensely to the development of Oyo State and Nigeria in particular.

Anyhoos, I saw this clip on YouTube and I thought you guys would love it. Enjoy and have a nice weekend.