Famodun at 63: Understanding the nuances of party politics - Kunle Oyatomi

Until the coming of the Bolshevik Revolution that gave the world its first Communist nation, the party system was not reckoned with as a powerful lever in the process of a nation’s growth. The party and its members were largely relegated, hardly considered a critical mass. But the Soviet communists under Vladimir Lenin, drawing from the doctrines of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, dredged the party from the background to the limelight as the driver of political evolution in society. Government figures, no matter how visible and powerful with control of enormous state resources, no longer stood alienated from the party; it drew sap from the party organ for sustenance.

So, this ideological power of the party is no more an abstruse phenomenon in modern times as we observe in the politics of Nigeria, given the dynamic role of the party and its helmsmen. The progress (or decline) of society and its constituents is the outcome of what the party leaders make of it. Set in place forward-looking party men and women and you’re bound to have a government that would reflect forward-looking policies and development strategies. 

These are issues that are turning up in my mind as we celebrate the birthday of Prince Phillips Adegboyega Famodun, the Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, in the State of Osun. Having a perfect understanding of the role of the party in the modern state has enabled Famodun to multitask: running the party machinery and leveraging its ideology to govern the society. You can’t alienate the party from government. We may bring in the substance-shadow analogy. The party is the shadow, while the government and its structures in the long run are the shadow. The shadow takes on the image of its fountain. None can do without the other. 

Famodun’s take on party politics, founded irreversibly on grassroots principles, dates back to when he was the Chairman of Boluwaduro Local Government in Osun. The record indicates that Famodun had to his credit indelible feats that took the grassroots people to new planes of prosperity and progress. Again, his vision was driven by a scheme that interrogated the old forlorn role of the party as an alien entity in administering the people. Arising from his strong beliefs in the centrality of the party in any attempt to propel rapid development for the masses, he changed the narrative to allow for massive party input in his administration.

It is therefore no wonder that decades after his era at Boluwaduro, Famodun’s achievements are still fresh in the memories of the people he served. It isn’t also strange that he left a template that has since guided a host of successors in the local government area. Many of them have taken shelter in the lingering shelter of his shadow to learn priceless lessons in politics.

The people and party lords have acknowledged Famodun’s contributions and decided that his skills as a strategist, mobiliser and campaigner are crucial skills too large for restricted local government activities. The APC chieftains have since ferried him Famodun to the center at Osogbo, the capital, installing him the Chairman of the party.

It has been a wise decision. The party has enjoyed more sunshine of stability in his era than the clouds of tension between government and party lords. There’s now a clime that has enabled Governor Adegboyega Oyetola to operate at full throttle. The traditional dysfunctional hiccups between a shadowing party and a suspicious government is nowhere to be seen, giving way for seamless governance. This is the magic wand, as it were, responsible for the great advances in Osun.

The upshot of it all is the repeated return of APC governments and candidates to power at the poll each time the people are asked to choose from a crowd of competing parties and politicians. Likewise, APC under Famodun, keeps on receiving thousands of members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Only yesterday, Famodun embraced some 5000 such politicians in Osun. They want to be associated with a winner and not a loser.

To be sure, these facts speak of a personality whose main goal is to live a life solely dedicated to exploiting the ideals of constitutional democracy where the party, though supreme, yet recognizes the sacrosanct influence of the vehicle of government it installs. 

As we celebrate the birthday of Prince Phillips Adegboyega Famodun, we must also salute his lucid comprehension of the nuances of the relationship between government and party that has allowed Osun to enjoy a rare stability and economic growth in recent times.

Happy Birthday, Prince Famodun!

Kunle Oyatomi Esq is the Director of Publicity, APC in the state of Osun