The news of the death of the former Governor of Oyo State, Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi, came to many as a shock. Nigeria has lost a great man. Ajimobi was a conciliator and courteous Nigerian.
A few days ago, the fake news of his death was going round in circles, particularly among netizens. They had flooded their timelines with his pictures and scribbled grieving words beneath and atop in mourning him. Some mainstream media also joined the trend.
The earlier misinformation that he had given up the ghost pointed at a particular phenomenon which I would want us to discern. Why didn’t he die the day he was announced dead? It wasn’t his time. We mustn’t call his death untimely because he died when his All Progressives Congress (APC) party needed him the most. Maybe if he was alive and healthy, the imbroglio within his party would’ve been minimal with him as the acting national chairman. Death from time immemorial is timely. This is where destiny comes to play. You can’t leave before your time as you can’t live beyond time. Once death opens its book and sees one as the next, no Oyeku intervention can waive it. Oyekumeans death waiver.
Whether we like it or not, Senator Ajimobi had gone to his Creator. He had gone to his new home, where you and I would go someday.
Who’s going next? It’s a question no man has answered since Adam. Inasmuch as we are not the owner of the next seconds of our life, when, where and how death will squeeze life out of every one of us is reserved for God.
However, this is a reminder for every one of us, particularly our greedy and fighting leaders, that life is ephemeral. None of us owns not the next seconds of his or her life. Let’s retrospect our losses with COVID-19 alone. Did Abba Kyari know he would leave so soon? What about Senator Adebayo Osinowo? Senator Osinowo, who was seen in the legislative house on June 12, educating his colleagues how God didn’t promise anyone the next seconds of his or her life, and on June 15, three days after, he was reportedly dead of COVID-19 complications. Senator Ajimobi would soon bow to death 10 days after Osinowo left.
Do I need to tell our political leaders that they are the major stakeholders of Nigeria’s backwardness? Their greediness and corruption are the reasons why development in this part of the world is epileptic. You stash billions of naira which are budgeted for the growth of the country in your coffers at the expense of the masses. Where is the former dictator, General Sani Abacha?
Lastly, it is not too late for every one of us to recognise the lesson in death, and amend our ways to make Nigeria a better place for all. Whatever we do today would be said after we leave. May God forgive Senator Ajimobi and other Nigerians who gave up the ghost while fighting the novel Coronavirus.
––Aremu Lukman Umor, Lagos.
