IF you do not remember Alhaji Abduljelili
Adesiyan, we would not hold it against
you. As introductions go, he is the
Minister of Police Affairs. His most
remarkable action in office could be a
promise he made to Nigerians in April
2014. It had nothing to do with improving
the police.
Adesiyan complained about the burden of
the office of a Minister of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria. Barely weeks in
office, he regretted that his ministerial
position stood between him and
something that would have delighted
him: a public brawl. Adesiyan, then one of
the President’s newest Ministers
promised the first civilian Governor of
Osun State, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, a
fight once he leaves office.
Like all serving Ministers, Adesiyan would
leave office by 28 May, so the brawl could
be any date from then.
If like us, you thought it was scandalous
for a Minister to rely on physical combat
to settle disputes, actually an intra-party
dispute, Adesiyan was vehement in his
disposition. We do not want to speculate
about how the Minister uses the police, if
he was ready for physical combat.
Adesiyan and Senator Adeleke disagreed
during a stakeholders meeting of the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in
Osogbo. The meeting was part of the PDP
state primaries for the Osun governorship
election.
The Minister told the media that Adeleke
and his supporters frustrated him at the
event. “If I had not been a Minister I
would have beaten Adeleke to pulp on
that day,” Adesiyan stated. The main
cause of their disputation was control of
PDP in Osun State.
Adeleke’s departure to the All
Progressives Congress, APC, and
Adesiyan’s ministerial toga only
postponed the duel.
“I will one day leave office as a Minister
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and any
time I leave office, I will fight Adeleke,”
Adesiyan said, in a statement his media
aide issued. Those who expected him to
deny it are still waiting, more than a year
after.
Nobody should threaten another,
definitely a public office holder is not
supposed to threaten another person.
Threat, on its own, is a criminal offence.
When he finally discards the burden of his
ministerial position, we are waiting for
the next move from Adesiyan. Will he
seek out Adeleke for the promised fight?
Would sobriety intervene? What would
the Minister do?
In the likely event that he does not keep
his promise to “fight Adeleke”, he owes
the public an apology for public nuisance.