WHEN I first heard the news that Senator Buruji Kashamu had been hospitalised at the First Cardiology Consultants Hospital, in Lagos, I was very uncomfortable, even when some of his close associates said he was responding to treatment.
My fear was predicated on the fact that the big names that had gone in there since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, had mostly crossed to the other side without the opportunity of saying a final goodbye to loved ones. My fears were sadly confirmed on Saturday.
I did not know Buruji Kashamu that closely. But I would definitely be a fake indigene of Ogun State not to know him so well nonetheless.
For about a decade, the PDP has been enmeshed in a grossly destructive leadership crisis that had kept the party away from the Oke Mosan government house, after the administration of former Governor Gbenga Daniel. Though the ‘fertile’ seeds of discord were sowed towards the end of Daniel’s government, a political toddler in Ogun State knew that the recurring decimal that must either be pacified or dealt with if the PDP must return to its days of glory was Kashamu.
The National Working Committee of the party did not help matters. Their legal advisers probably underrated Kashamu’s uncommon mastery of the intricacies of political law, played with him in that terrain and lost out repeatedly at the expense of the party’s fortune in Ogun State. In doing so, key leaders of the party forgot to look for the longest spoon to dine with an ‘angel’ as witty and as daring as Buruji Kashamu.
About 10 days ago, when The Point’s correspondent sent in a story that a factional PDP Chairman, Sikirulai Ogundele, had emerged, saying that all aggrieved members of the PDP were now under one umbrella, with no factions, I laughed. It had to be the joke of the year! The only person that could say that, and I would believe, would be Buruji Kashamu. And I would only believe him if Ladi Adebutu, the leader of the NWC-backed faction, briefed the press together with him.
True to type, the ink of that report had hardly dried when the Kashamu faction released a statement, describing the Adebutu-led congress as a “criminal affront to the rule of law”.
The factional Chairman, Samson Bamgbose, said, “In the suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/208/2020, they sought the permission of the court to conduct these same illegal congresses.
“The Federal High Court in Abuja, in its judgment, delivered on the 21st of July 2020, denied them the permission and pointed out that such an exercise would be illegal in view of the previous judgment of the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/636/2016.”
That, as expected, set a bitter tone for another impending woeful 2023 outing for the main opposition party in Ogun State, with many of the frontliners reaching out to the African Democratic Congress for what they described as political sanity.
Now, who would have thought that the main figure in the unending PDP electoral logjam would bow out, without notice, barely 12 days after the ignition of a fresh tussle, not out of a failed political strength, but in submission to the rule of existence? Indeed, everyone must exit the stage once his script ends, but this one loss is a huge one for Ogun East, the entire Ogun State and Nigeria as a whole.
As witty and insurmountable as he seemed, Kashamu could not explore any of these attributes to escape death when it came calling. If it was not COVID-19 related, it could have come in another form. This should be a point of deep reflection for other leaders still on this side.
Buruji Kashamu meant different things to different people. A few Ogun indigenes might have rolled out the big drums to celebrate his exit, but many more would be utterly devastated, having lost a fearless leader, who stood by them, not only in strength and wit, but also with sustained meals and uninterrupted cash flow.
Esho Jinadu might have played his politics, without regret, in a way that many thought was detrimental to the wellbeing of the same party that he represented. Some even said his political fortune was constantly watered by the lingering chaotic ‘bimodal’ structure of Ogun PDP. As such, he would prefer a troubled party to a united one. But if we may ask: what are the acceptable rules in Nigerian politics?
Before you roll out the drums to celebrate what you think is a new air in Ogun politics, please take some time to reflect on how many prominent Nigerians have been swept away by the deadly tide of Coronavirus. If money could save these fallen leaders, they would still be here today, considering the resources they controlled. Let’s pray for the souls of the departed and beg God for mercy on the world.
A few Ogun indigenes might have rolled out the big drums to celebrate his exit, but many more would be utterly devastated, having lost a fearless leader.
Kashamu played his game his own way till the very end without defeat. Now that he has gone to be with his maker, Ogun PDP leaders no longer have a hiding place. The blame of any woeful outing, from now, will rest squarely on their shoulders.
I commiserate with the good people of Ogun State, Governor Dapo Abiodun, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Peoples Democratic Party and all Nigerians on this very sad loss.
May Allah SWT forgive the shortcomings of Kashamu, comfort his loved ones and grant his soul eternal peace.
