Ajimobi: A True Democrat's Way of Defeating a Defeat By Isiaka Kehinde

"When you see a leader, you can see an organization" - Charles Galloway

An hero may suffer a momentary defeat, he never feels deflated. He sits up afterwards, never suck up a moment. This is what psychologist called "accepting defeat gracefully". Only a man with a large heart like Governor Abiola Ajimobi can treat the two extremes of both success and defeat with such equanimity that keeps lesser beings drooling. He has really proven right the inventors of the old maxim which says "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional".

Before the much awaited final result was let open some people with doom-laden thoughts were already gathering in twos and threes talking in hush tones on how  Governor Ajimobi would never accept defeat in the just concluded Oyo South Senatorial election. Going with the pockets of "grievious infractions and patent electoral malpractices that accompanied the election as claimed by Governor Ajimobi himself, to an unbiased mind, it  wouldn't have been a moral misjudgement if he had flagrantly refused to accept the outcome. But he did accept and proved the cynics wrong.  The question was flying in the air all over the town that how could the "constituted authority" have  allowed the cup to pass without even a little fight? What a flawed personality judgement!

A sage says you can't prevent defeat but  you can control your reaction, if only you are stronger than the defeat. A strong and reliable leader that he is, Governor Ajimobi beated every inclination towards deafeatism with matured mind. He didn't allow himself to be enfeebled by the defeat, rather, as he said 'decided to let go in the interest of peace" . Not every man in his shoes will let go his ego and calmly accepted the situation. He has really proven that leadership is not about ego trip - it's a sacrifice. The defeat might have come with serious pains, but he applied peace as a soothing balm which he considers greater than the electoral drawbacks.

Kudos to the Koseleri governor for not accepting the non-accepting emotions to overrun him.  He loves his state so much that he didn't want his beloved state to be on fire, thus, he carefully avoided what the philosopher KR Popper called "unwanted consequences of our actions". His action bespoke not hypocritical humility but a sincere one. He believes that no difficulty must be too strong to be overcome. He honoured the good people of Oyo state by keeping untainted the honorific status that his exalted office confers. He chose public interest above personal interest in a free exchange that is not by any means a fair exchange. He deserves our applauses.

That Ajimobi has defeated his defeat with positive thinking deserves our collective praise. He conceded defeats to strengthen his party towards the realisation of his Next Level project. He knows full well that a party survives only when it is strong. He said 'if I loose the ticket and the party was able to gain, then there is nothing to feel sad about". And the after-polls  results  evidently corroborated this: nine House of Representatives members, two senators all in one grab is by no means a negligible feat.

When you loose with grace, you are winning another race. Behind the cloud of one defeat is another silver line lurking. As they say, when you overcome the earth, the stars will be all yours. Governor Ajimobi has just paid his own ticket as a ransom for the state to flourish.

Governor Ajimobi gave kudos to the good people of Oyo state for "appreciating the development stride of APC in the state". This, he said, they have demonstrated by coming out in large number to vote for the APC candidates in the Saturday  Presidential and NASS elections. He also called on the people of Oyo state to replicate same gesture by voting in the APC governorship candidate a quiescent exemplar, Adebayo Adelabu Penkelemesi and the State Assembly candidates fielded by the party. For a man who has sacrificed hugely for the state with his own Senatorial bid, me thinks, he has not demanded too much a recompense. Let's join hands to move Oyo state to the next developmental level. That's Governor Ajimobi's dream. We must make it happen.