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Teslim Folarin,
Senate majority leader, will not forget his experience last week in a
hurry. What started like a mere routine at the Oyo State police command
headquarters, Ibadan, on Monday is reverberating across the country,
promising a major bang on the ever- volatile politics of Oyo state.

Oblivious of the
fate that awaited him in the week, Mr Folarin went to the command
headquarters to honour the police invitation requesting him to tell his
side of the story on the murder of Lateef Salako (aka Eleweomo),
factional leader of the National Union of Road Transport Workers
(NURTW) in Oyo State.

The deceased met
his untimely death penultimate Thursday shortly after the local
government congress of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of the
Ona-Ara local government area of the state.

Following the
sustained battle within the PDP fold in the state, the National Working
Committee (NWC) of the party called for fresh congresses to elect its
officers in the wards, local governments and the state. But rather than
douse the tension, the congresses stirred fresh conflagration, among
which was the death of Mr Salako, an ally of the Oyo State governor,
Adebayo Alao -Akala.

Mr Folarin, who was said to be at the scene of the incident, was invited by the police, but has not returned home ever since.

He passed a night
at the state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) office, before
being ordered to be remanded in prison. After his arraignment alongside
three other people, by an Oyo State Chief Magistrate, Shakirat
Badrudeen.

Together with
Ramoni Jayeoba Bankole Olaide Raji and Raimi Ismaila, the senate leader
was, on Tuesday, docked on a two-count charge of felony (conspiracy to
murder) and murder of Eleweomo.

Though, a team of
lawyers, headed by Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, former President of the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has been raised to defend him, and
possibly argue for and secure his bail this week, his incarceration is
generating furore, particularly as the Oyo State politics is concerned.

Battle for governor’s office

The root of the
crisis in Oyo State politics is said to be the battle for the
governorship seat for the 2011 elections. More than any other forum,
the battle has become fiercer in the PDP as the party is divided into
two, with one side favouring the return of Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala,
while other want him out at all cost.

The dissolved state
executive council of the party has ceded the slot to the governor, even
before the primaries but another group led by Lekan Balogun, former
Senator and Ibadan high chief, is insisting that the governor must not
return. Mr Balogun also felt the governor and the state police
leadership have, for too long, pampered Mr Salako and some political thugs who surrounded him.

“The death of
Eleweomo is one death among several others before it and if the CP had
been alive to his responsibilities as earlier said, it could have been
averted and what is more, unless he changes his style, it is as if all
of us are not safe in the state. When a government decides to be
lawless, the CP is not expected to collaborate with such government,”
Mr Balogun added.

Apart from many
other verbal and violent efforts to discredit one another over the
battle, not a few consider the arrest and detention of the senate
leader as a direct effect of the PDP internal crisis.

Interestingly, the
battle for the soul of the state is crossing the boundary of party
politics to other interest areas. For instance, the Ibadan elite, who
have taken on Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala on several issues ranging
from politics to tradition, are looking at the unfolding situation from
another angle. The Olubadan-In-Council and the Central Council of
Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) hurriedly summoned separate emergency meetings
last week to discuss the travail of Mr Folarin.

They reportedly
view the prosecution of the senate leader as a direct assault on the
people of Ibadan, where he hails from. The belief among those who
display bias for this argument is that Governor Alao-Akala is putting
the senate leader in trouble to take his pound of flesh on the Ibadan
people, who were generally seen to be against his second term ambition.

As much as the
state’s commissioner of police, Baba Adisa Bolanta, struggled to show
the public the command’s fair intent, by stressing on the criminal
implication of the matter, only few got to reason with him.

Mr Balogun was particularly irritated by the CP’s argument that he promised to lead a rally for his redeployment from the state.

He accused Mr
Bolanta of corruption, adding that he had turned himself to a tool in
the hand of the state government by allowing pecuniary consideration to
becloud his professional callings.

Bickering children of Adedibu

In truth, before
Eleweomo’s death, Mr Balogun and some other politicians have cried out
over alleged attempt on their lives, citing the deceased and his gang
as the main suspects.

But, the police
have not really done any open investigation to prove its fairness in
those allegations. That alone raised a lot of questions of its
‘efficiency’ when the drivers’ union leader was killed.

It has also been
argued that the crisis was escalating because of the death of Lamidi
Adedibu, acclaimed strongman of Oyo State politics.

Most of the
dramatis personae in the battle were direct political children of the
politicians, who came to office through his manipulations in 2007.

Many eminent
Nigerians who visited Mr Folarin said he was in high spirit. But, that
represents an exact opposite of the situation with the state’s politics.

Already, the
killing and other forms of desperation exhibited by politicians in the
state is instilling fears on the people over the next elections.

The experience of
the 2007 polls, where open rigging, through the use of thugs, was the
order of the day, still remains fresh in the people’s memory.

However, other parties are working on how to benefit politically in the ongoing crisis within the PDP in the state.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), for instance, is said to be
considering a process that will bring a candidate that will give a
tough challenge to the PDP even through undemocratic means. Other
parties are also looking at how they could gain from the crisis.