I understand that drivers of public transport buses otherwise known as korope in Osun were in the practice of stopping and ejecting any person known to be a civil servant who mouthed anti-government policies in their vehicles. They further reject fares that such passengers ought to pay while they quickly exposed such passengers to other people as one of the enemies of government in the civil service. The drivers, market women, artisans, okada riders who were usually mobilised by agents of darkness to thwart the efforts of the government were fully carried along with government programmes and policies and many of them today analysed governmental activities like graduates of political science. All thanks to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.

Lesson No. 6: No Fortress is Stronger than the People
A most important lesson to all is that no fortress is stronger for a leader than the protection afforded by his people. According to Niccolo Machiavelli in most important treatise of all time, The Prince:
“For this reason the best possible fortress is – not to be hated by the people, because, although you may hold the fortresses, yet they will not save you if the people hate you, for there will never be wanting foreigners to assist a people who have taken arms against you.” See The Prince, page 125.
Due to the love people have for Aregbesola, the forces of occupation drawn by the Federal Government all over the Federation could not rig him out. On the other hand, the hatred the general masses have for the candidate of the PDP made him a whipping boy in the election and no army, no matter how large or sophisticated in weaponry was able to obtain for him what the people would not give him.
This point, when well imbibed, enables the leader to be able to mobilise his people to rise up in his defence when attacked by foreign enemies.
Nigeria as a nation has a lot to learn from the Osun 2014 governorship election. It was easier for the PDP to rig the previous elections because the principles above have never really been put to use. In many cases, when we present popular candidates we did not back them up with the wherewithal that would enable the electorate to monitor the elections in order to prevent rigging. General Muhammadu Buhari was a popular candidate at lease to a larger percentage of the Nigerian populace in 2011, his party did not have the wherewithal to monitor the election so as to prevent being rigged out which enabled Goodluck Jonathan to clinch victory with less popularity. Structure is equally important for mobilisation and monitoring.

Lesson No. 7: Never Rule Your People by Factions
A very important lesson which men of ancient days have taught us but which we often jettison is not to cause factions among the populace. Nigeria is a volatile State when it comes to religion and ethnic irredentism and township prejudices. Several wars have been fought based on these negative emotions and sentiments which have never been beneficial to us as a people. Look at the Nigerian/Biafran war, Zangon/Kataf crisis, Ife/Modakeke war, the menacing boko haram carnage etc, etc. It would be most unwise for us to promote religious division or township or zonal prejudices in selecting who carries the banner of the party in the next election.
How ancient is this rule? I once again refer to Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince at pages 122 – 123 where he said:
“Our forefathers, and those who were reckoned wise, were accustomed to say that it was necessary to hold Pistoia by factions and Pisa by fortresses; and with this idea they fostered quarrels in some of their tributary towns so as to keep possession of them the more easily. This may have been well enough in those times…. but I do not believe that it can be accepted as a precept for today, because I do not believe factions can ever be of use, rather it is certain that when the enemy comes upon you in divided cities you are quickly lost, because the weakest party will always assist the outside forces and the other will not be able to resist.”

This is the present scenario we are confronted with in which certain interest groups for selfish reasons have been demobilising our collective and united constituency by religious sentiments. They suddenly, for personal aggrandisement started promoting the call for a Christian governor as if all Christians in Lagos held a meeting where they said they wanted to be governor. Same perilous invitation is equally being touted at the National level. For God’s sake, Lagosians/Nigerians are only interested in good and qualitative governance and no one cares whether you are a Christian or a muslim. This is how our leaders cause division among the people for no just cause only to secure the party’s ticket for an anointed candidate.

The same way they promoted the ludicrous idea of zoning and unilaterally zoned the ticket of our party. Who on earth formulated this ungodly sentiments which are now setting the Ikorodu people against the Epe people and the Badagry people against the rest of us? At the National level, it is the North against the south, the South-West against the South-East or South-South. This is how they started the boko haram thing as a military tool of certain politicians in the north and now it has become a monster consuming us. Now muslims in Lagos State have been saying that since the two governors that have ruled in Lagos since 1999 claimed to be muslims but with Christian wives who were deacons, we must ensure that the next Christian governorship candidate of APC must have an hadjia as his wife. What a ridiculous thing we have reduced politics to! Religion or zoning is now beginning to assume the threshold upon which we now determine leadership rather than competence. The admonition of the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola becomes quite apposite here as the question is whether a Christian governor would construct roads that only Christians could ply or Muslim governor would build schools meant for only Muslim pupils.