Known as home of progressive politics, the significance of Iwo in Osun State has been central in the political evolution of Southwestern Nigeria. With the ability to navigate complex historical events, its religious identity and strategic location, the role of Iwo in the political landscape of Yorubaland cannot be overemphasised. However, despite its rich trajectory, robust contributions, and a parade of political gladiators, Iwo has not produced a governor, deputy governor, House of Assembly Speaker, or even a Deputy Speaker since the old Oyo State and current Osun State. Hence, the constituents feel most marginalised.
   
This is the kernel of the book written by a prominent son of the town, Alhaji Liad Tella. Titled, Iwo and the Dungeon of Political Poverty, the book was unveiled on Saturday, July 19, 2025.
  
The event was a moment of sober reflection, and it nudged Iwo people to look closely at how far they have fallen behind politically and what must be done to reclaim their place in state and national politics.
  
Speaking at the unveiling, which was held at Riverside Hotel and Resort, Iwo, Osun State, Tella lamented that the ancient town has delivered huge votes to the electoral successes of past contenders with little or nothing to show for it in terms of development. He said: “Iwo was once the third largest town in Yoruba land, after Ibadan and Ogbomoso. Today, we are somewhere around 13th or 14th. What happened to us?”
   
The former National Commissioner at the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, and at different times, the General Manager, Sales and Circulation of National Concord and Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of The Monitor Newspapers, said the people of the town have not benefited from politics owing to factors, which he highlighted as poor educational background, lack of economic powers, treachery and the practice that makes every political appointee to return home after serving one term.
   
“Iwo has remained stranded in political wilderness while others feast on the meat of political authority,” he said. He asked: “Why is that despite our numbers, we remain voiceless? Why can’t we produce a governor, a minister, or even a speaker?”
  
Tella’s book also highlights how towns with smaller populations like Ejigbo, Ede, and Ilesa have produced senators, ministers, and speakers multiple times, while Iwo remains locked out.
  
For him, the problem is not external but internal. “We cannot even talk about marginalisation from others,” he argued. “We are marginalising ourselves. We have more than 200 professors in Iwo. We have generals, professionals, PhD holders yet we keep pushing weaklings into the political arena. People who are not known. How do you make an unknown man a Speaker in the House?”
  
He cited several cases where Iwo’s candidates failed to win influence because of poor representation, lack of planning, and an unending cycle of betrayal and internal division. He described this failure as self-destruction, urging the people to stop ‘playing dirty politics’ and start choosing leaders with capacity, education, and strategy.
  
“This book is a compass,” he said. “It is pointing to the minds of Iwo people to stop selling their votes and stop sending their weakest to represent them. If they allow this message to change their minds, I thank God. If they don’t, the next generation will blame us.”
  
He added that the book is just the beginning. “I’m writing another one called Dance in the Forest: Political Adventure of a Journalist and I have two more already finished called Witness to Power Struggle and Journalist in Transit.”
   
Starting with the lack of European education, which permeated the area, he traced this to what he called ‘Islamic irredentism’. He said: “Iwo has been a completely Islamised town since the close of the 13th century. At the early stages of national political development in Iwo, only very few read beyond primary education that ended up being mostly primary school teachers unlike the emerging politicians from Ijebu, Egba, Ijesa, the Ekiti areas of the old Western Region. The fear of evangelisation and forceful conversion to Christianity made the people shun the white man’s school. Only a few allowed their children to go to school and most of them were eventually converted. Iwo, therefore, needed high grade educated people to square up with their counterparts from the other major Yoruba cities and towns in the allocation of resources and sharing of political positions in the civil or public service. The situation was compounded by the poverty of economic power.
  
“Most of the known moneybags were stark illiterates with a narrow economic base beyond their immediate environment. The moneybags were also not in reasonable numbers to back up the politicians of their time. Most of them were cocoa farmers/merchants, butchers (Alapata) and lorry owners/drivers compared with the Egba, Ijebu, and Ijesa. Many, if not all of them, were not educated in Western education. Many of them, however, had Oriental and Islamic education.”
  
He also pointed to fratricidal rivalry, blackmail and demonisation as one other stock in trade of Iwo politicians. “The ‘bring-him-down’ syndrome remained intractable till the present day. Few prominent Iwo indigenes who found themselves in politics were rudely brought down,” he said, adding,  “anachronistic single term syndrome for elective or executive office holders has caused a turnover of political office holders to be higher in Iwo more than anywhere else in Nigeria, with one-term only for elected legislator at the state or federal levels.”
  
According to him, the people of Iwo have a tendency to align with powerful political movements, but they do so passively, often following the flow without placing clear demands on the table. Worse still, those who get into leadership positions are often too weak to represent the town’s interest effectively.
 
“We are always aligning,” he said when asked if Iwo marginalisation is because they are not aligning with politicians from other towns. “But the people we align behind are weak. They can’t deliver development.”
  
He called for a deliberate and strategic political engagement, one where Iwo chooses strong candidates and supports them consistently. He also condemned the culture of “chop-I-chop” politics, where votes are sold for money and favours, calling it one of the biggest obstacles to sustainable progress.
  
According to him, ‘’the turnover has been responsible for the inability of Iwo individuals to attain higher positions in politics and there is no way for Iwo to produce speaker, deputy speaker, or principal officers of the State or National Assembly.
 
“This has negatively affected the fortunes of Iwo land in both resource and project allocation. A newly elected legislator who is not politically mentored or educated will need to learn the process and ethics of lawmaking to make reasonable contributions and impact. It may take up to two years to learn the ropes. Thus, the time to struggle for re-election may not allow him/her to concentrate on the demands of law making. The National Assembly is not supposed to be a place for political neophytes or Lilliputians. Highly experienced people are needed for a functional legislature.”
  
He said the rascality of semi-strong boys who became politicians used in the bring-down-power struggle, which was used during the Action Group crisis of 1962, and the demonisation of the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) led by Chief S. L. Akintola persists till today in Iwo more than any other town in the South West region.
  
The main idea of Iwo and the Dungeon of Political Poverty is that number is not enough to gain political power. It requires vision, unity, and the ability to negotiate and demand a seat at the table.    
  
On the book, the author said, readers would learn a lot of lessons from it. “The advocacy that this book raised will cause light of relevance to shine on Iwo, an ancient town which had long been marginalised. The book will further push Iwo town forward from the politically marginalised side to limelight. This gathering today shows that we don’t do politics of bitterness as politicians from all parties are here.”  
   
The publisher of the book, Hon. Femi Kehinde, in his submission, said the inability of Iwo’s political elite to unite and push the agenda of the ancient town represents a great calamity. The Director of Akoosa Publishers and former member of the House of Representatives said: “The book is an expose of the great calamities that have befallen Iwo. I am an indigene of Iwo and when I look back, I know Iwo can be better.”
 
The book reviewer, who is the Vice Chancellor of African School of Economics, Abuja, Professor  Mahfouz Adedimeji, said the book is a major clarion call for political gladiators from the town to place premium on the interests of the town above personal interests.
   
Adedimeji said: ‘’Ultimately, ‘Iwo and the Dungeon of Political Poverty’ is a clarion call to conscious conscientisation and collective conscience towards a great political future for Iwo and the future begins immediately. It is all a lamentation and a lecture, a critique and a counsel, a history and a hope all rolled into one. It tells the story of Iwo, but it is also the story of many Nigerian communities that suffer in silence while contributing to the political fortunes of others.”
   
While lauding the efforts of the writer, the Iwo-born scholar stated that Tella refused to be silent though he knew he would ruffle some feathers.
He said: “Tella has rendered a patriotic service to Iwo, one that demands not just reading but reflection, not just agreement but action. His highly engaging and informative book is both a mirror and a map. In it, Iwo must not only acknowledge its past political prominence and the present predicament but also chart its future path. The dungeon may be deep, but the ladder of liberation begins with unity, education, vision and a refusal to be a perpetual victim of use-and-dump politicking. In a world where the politics of numbers is daily exposed as a fallacy, and where only the strategy secures the spoils, this book should be a required reading for political actors, community leaders, and all concerned Iwo indigenes alike.
  
‘’As a timely instrument for ploughing the field and clearing the path to power and plenty or a manifesto for political renaissance, Iwo and the Dungeon of Political Poverty deserves commendation for its boldness, relevance and timeliness. In the words of Prof. Wole Soyinka, ‘the man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny’. Tella refuses to be silent though he knows he would ruffle some feathers. In lending his voice, the veteran journalist, media administrator, political scientist and resourceful scholar has given Iwo a compass to navigate its political waters, more so with his eleven recommendations.”
  
While recommending the book for people to read, the reviewer said: ‘’This book is a manual for political actors and future leaders, an eye-opener for every son and daughter of Iwo. I recommend that you read it not just with your eyes, but with your heart. For in it lies the soul of a city that is rising again.”
 
Adedimeji said the book is a major clarion call for political gladiators from the town to place premium on the interests of the town above personal interests.   
  
While highlighting the factors responsible for politically marginalisation of the town, Senator Ajibola Basiru, said:  “There are four factors that work against development and benefit of any communities or groups. We must prioritise western education and not rely on Arabic class alone. We must work on the economy of our communities to be viable; our politicians must work jointly for the progress of Iwo and external politicians must see to the development of all towns evenly.”
  
On his part, Dr Akin Ogunbiyi, who was a co-launcher, said: “I can boldly say that Iwo has been marginalised for so long as if it is not part of Osun State in the last 30 years. There is no development that has come to Iwo compared with other communities. When you read this book, you will weep for us in Iwo. I challenged Tella to write this book so that people will know what we are facing. In the last 40 years, we have never been governor, deputy governor, Minister, Speaker, Ambassador…Nothing! I want to tell the people of Iwo that power is not shared a la carte, we must fight for it, earn it.”
   
In his remarks, the Chairman of the occasion, Senator Iyiola Omisore, urged every politician in Osun State to get a copy of the book. Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, the executive guest of honour, who was represented by his Commissioner for Water Resources, Sunday Oroniyi, described Tella as a patriotic elder statesman.
  
The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Adewale Akanbi, the grand royal father of the day, commended the efforts of the author. The launch attracted many important personalities, ranging from politicians, media icons, senior bureaucrats, to academics, and traditional leaders, who expressed surprise over the marginalisation of the ancient town.  
  
These included a former Secretary to the Osun State Government (SSG), Fatai Akinbade; Prince Dotun Babayemi; former Commissioners under the administration of Adegboyega Oyetola, Yemi Lawal and Folorunso Bamisayemi; a former National Commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Lai Olurode; Hon. Femi Kehinde, and General Adelekan Adeniran (rtd).
  
Others were a  former SSG in the state, Kazeem Adio; Lt. Gen. Lamidi Adeosun, the National Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC); former Deputy Governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore; Prince Dotun Babayemi, Dr Akin Ogunbiyi, Hon. Lukman Mudasiru, the Chairman of Mutual Benefits Assurance, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi;  a former Special Adviser to Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Semiu Okanlawon;  former Chairman of the National Hajj Commission, Dhikrlah Hassan; state chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, and the former senator representing Osun West, Adelere Oriolowo.
  
Also present were The Guardian Weekend Editor, Dr Kabir Alabi; Prof. Rashid Aderinoye, Prof. K. Kamil Oloso, the Akire of Ikire-Ile, Oba Azeez Olatunbosun; the Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ayede, Oyo State, Dr. Taofeek Adekunle Abdul-Hameed, and others.