By Onilemarun AbdulKareem
A better Kwara is in the hands of Kwarans, and not in the hands of God, because the Almighty is not an hypocrite like you all demonstrated months back. If you wished anybody bad, don’t assume they’ll wish you success, although approach differs—in the current light of event in Kwara.
I believe everyone wish for a better Kwara, but one that isn’t forceful. If the new administration wishes to perform, the ground is widely open, and if otherwise, another Ó Tó Gẹ is looming— no amount of prayer will turn things around for better if the political will is missing.
Dr. Bukola Saraki who lost 100% during the last election had demonstrated that he is a thoroughbred Democrat. He could have towed the shameless path trodden by politicians in states like Rivers, Lagos, Kano; a lot he could have done like other politicians did to retain their influence and relevance, a situation that could have resulted in unrest and probably bloodshed; but Dr. Saraki congratulated the winners and chose to be a patriotic leader who believes that his ambition is not worth the blood of any Kwaran because power is transient.
We all should remember that when Dr. Saraki served as the state Governor, many of the freedom fighters today claimed he did nothing, but today we can point to many of the visible projects carried out to put the state on a path of sustainable progress. Some of them include:
— Kwara State University
—Kwara State Aviation College
—Kwara State Diagnostic Centre
—Kwara State International Airport (Ungraded)
—Kwara State Cargo Terminal
—Kwara State Independent Power Plant, Ganmo
—Rehabilitation of rural and urban roads across the sixteen LGAs
—Health Centres across Kwara Communities
—Every Child Count Education Policy (now adopted y the Federal government)
—First Overhead Bridge in Kwara state
—Kwara Mall (to boost economic growth)
—Kwara metropolitan Square
—Shonga Farms… Et cetera.
The failure of former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed (Maigida) to handle some major crisis in governance is therefore lame and shouldn’t be blamed on anybody. It’s all going to be a matter of personal destruction (if history speaks).
Let’s take for example the case of an elected member of Kwara State House of Assembly, representing Ilorin North/West Constituency, one Gafar Ayinla Ayilara who was recently indicted by the EFCC in a criminal case for fraud, (https://www.facebook.com/509762239046271/posts/2330476490308161/). Will the EFCC overlooked this criminal act of a 29 year old and put the blame of the crime on his political leaders like Abdulrahman? This is why no fair-minded person should blame whatever Maigida did or failed to do on his political leader and benefactor, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
If what the erstwhile Governor Ahmed left is better than what he met in 2011, posterity will judge him fairly and he alone should bear the blame for any failure. Even if time will judge him well in very few areas, let him also take the credit.
In the light of the above, it would be a glaring reinforcement of failure for Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to offer any lame excuse on behalf of the self-acclaimed freedom fighters. No excuses—no blame game. The campaign that brought AA to office was built around a claim that Kwara lacked good leadership and that the APC guys will do better, having been armed with the knowledge of how things went bad and how to fix them. If Dr. Saraki had chosen to blame past administrations before him, the numerous aforementioned projects achieved during his time as governor won’t be there for all to see today.
All present elected officers in Kwara should tighten their belts, because the scorecard matters the most. Kwarans are well informed and anxiously waiting to see where and how far the knowhow of the immediate opposition party, now ruling party in the State, will take the citizens in the coming years.
While waiting to see the achievements of our new people in power who won the last election only through the deployment of emotion and false narratives, I should hasten to add that election comes every four years. We should therefore never compromise peaceful coexistence whatsoever in our new terms of engagement, because losing an election is not a big deal— it is normal. Somebody must win and somebody must lose in every zero sum game. Now, everyone must work for peace and harmony of our dear state.
Yes, I remember that many frontline youths in the then opposition APC threw ethics and etiquette to the dustbing and instead became rogues, abusing everyone and throwing fake news all over the place; calling people unprintable names and made hate speech their favorite pastime; all in the name of playing opposition politics, but we won’t toy this path. We would engage constructively and commend when need be. The table has indeed turned, and the glory that flatters has now rolled to the other side. I can only remind the new guys in government today who, under the pretense of opposition politics, played dirty that ‘karma is a bitch’. All that you did before and during the 2019 elections will come back to hunt you.
* Onilemarun writes from Ilorin. He can be reached Onile050@gmail.com; Twitter: @Onile050
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed on our opinion page are those of the writer and do not represent the position of INSIDER or any of its reporters/editors.