By Abdulwahab Oba
Your Excellency, as the count down to 2019 general elections begins, this week marks another wonderful moment in your tenure as the Governor of our dear state. It is your last birthday as the Governor of Kwara State. Thank God that He has brought us this far. It is not by your might but by His Majesty. Every history has an opening and every end has a beginning. Many letters, messages and well wishes will come to your table this December, they will never again be addressed as the Governor of Kwara State from next year December. Congratulations for starting the race and happily completing it, by His grace. Not every one that starts a race completes it. Some not by their errors but by the will of the Mighty.
As you run the last lane as the Governor, I don’t think you’ll ever fully understand how you’ve touched our lives. I don’t think you’ll ever appreciate how special you’re to us. You may never understand how you’ve been a role model in humility and simplicity. Many may read meanings that suit their purposes to your limitless loyalty, but some of us ruminate the source and depth of your uncommon loyalty. Most times, I rack my brains trying to fathom your prototypical origin simply because your simplicity is extraordinarily out of this clime. When I see people who you love and trust disappoint you, and yet you gloss over it as if nothing happened, I marvelled. Yet, I know you are firm.
When the news first filtered in, many thought it was impossible. How can? Why? A sitting governor, well known loyalist, with no baggage of embarrassment, stepping down from a ticket he had secured by the consensus of the political structure? It became another rarity and demonstration of humility and simplicity because in our land men hold to positions as if they will be alive forever. They fight over ephemeral posts when they are not even sure of what happens to their breath of life in the next second. But then, we are humans! We are mortals prone to error of judgement.
Your decision to cede your Senatorial ticket for the Kwara South in the 2019 general elections has no doubt attracted comments and reactions from diverse segment of the polity. Expectedly, those with little minds are happy and denigrating the political structure over the development, linking it with the disputable victory of the APC in the last bye-election for Oke- Ero, Isin, Ekiti and Irepodun federal constituency. To them Ahmed ceded the ticket in reaction to that election. But how can a man like Ahmed cede what was his right, like any other’s, to a fraud like the bye-election; a process whose outcome is yet to be determined by the appropriate judicial organ? How would a man like Bukola Saraki who has demonstrated breast guts in confronting the worst of offensives from his political enemies succumb to the ‘pressure’ of a disputed electoral loss as typified in the bye-election?
Even when the governor explained the rationale behind his decision, to wit: the need to give fair representation to all sub entities within the Igbomina ethnic bloc, they would pretend as if it is a face saving. As for me, and several others who monitored the process and those who know how close you and Senator Rafiu Ibrahim are to the system; it couldn’t have been an easy task deciding to pick one of you. When the outcome came, you both accepted it in good faith. I salute your courage and simplicity. It takes courage and reflects pragmatic brinkmanship for you to accede to request from critical stakeholders from your Senatorial zone, especially the Ibolo people. Agba ki wa loja kori omo tuntun wo…elders are there to ensure safety and orderliness everywhere and in this instance they have played that role commendably.
I commend you for your sacrifice of what others might consider as a golden opportunity to make themselve known at the national level for the sake of the masses movement called Saraki political structure. In the end, your decision to cede that ticket only points to the undeniable fact of your simplicity. The people, the masses are the bedrock of the structure; they have always been, since the days of the late Waziri n Geri, Dr. Olusola Saraki and the incumbent holder of that title, his son and worthy successor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has not deviated from that understanding.
The people matters and that is why I salute your courage and resolute against all odds. But it is heart-warming to note that you are not paying attention to the fake news and hate speeches from the trenches of your enemies. You have just few weeks ago commissioned the water distribution system to link some 48,000 households in Ilorin to potable water, just as you promised at the onset of your second term in office.
The project will bring great relief to residents along Eastern Reservoir to Oja Oba, Eastern Reservoir to Taiwo Road, Western Reservoir to Sobi, Maraba to A Division, and Baboko Market to Abdulazeez Attah Road. Others are Taiwo Isale to St. John Church, Government High School to Abdulazeez Attah Road, Oja Oba to Oloje, Abdulazeez Attah to Taiwo Isale, Basin Road to Mayode Hotel and Umaru Audi to Jebba Road. The new water distribution network is supplemented with standpipes at 130 different locations across Ilorin Metropolis while the government is already planning to award another contract for a 310km Tertiary Reticulation Network which will expand the Water Supply coverage in Ilorin to 105,000 households. These are credible achievements, even if the opposition unfortunately still continue to supply wrong information to the public. I said unfortunately because there are some issues that we don’t need to bring politics into; they are crystal clear and this is another among several others your administration has accomplished despite a difficult funding regime.
Without doubt, the commissioning of the distribution network was a milestone in the history of provision of potable water for residents of Ilorin in particular and kwara state in general. It was a demonstration of faithfulness to your pledge to ensure that residents access water within 500 metres of their habitations in the state. As you rightly noted, the government has achieved the following under your regime: “Currently, 39.94km new transmission mains, 44km of the main distribution network, and 26.75km of the secondary and tertiary distribution network. Others are a 10,000 cubic meter concrete circular tank at Oloje, a 570 cubic meter elevated tank at Oja-Oba, the connection to 5,000 cubic meter tank at Oke-Ose and two booster stations. Indeed, my administration has worked hard to reduce water supply accessibility and availability gaps in the state through infrastructure provision and renewal. The projects implemented under this scheme include waterworks in Share/Tsaragi, Oyun, Obbo Aiyegunle, Elesinmeta, Pepele, Zambufu, Gbugbu and several others across the state.”
Your Excellency, I cherish your love; I admire your tolerance; I appreciate your compassion and I thank you for the privilege of walking and working with you. I’m, forever, grateful. And as you mark another birthday this week, may Allah continue to open more doors of His mercies to you. May God bless your beyond your expectations. May God accept your worships and forgive your sins. May Allah grant your heart’s desires and give you long life and comfort. May He make your ways easy.
Happy birthday in advance, boss.
*Oba can be reached via e-mail:abdulwahaboba@gmail.com
