By Ahmed Ajikobi
The Press Officer on Local Matters to the former Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Abdulqadir Abdulganiyu has berated the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State. He referred to members of the ruling party as busybodies and nosy parkers.
Abdulqadir also lampooned the ruling government for concocting false stories, regarding the establishment of the Ilorin International Airport.
Abdulqadir was responding to a report from the camp of the ruling party that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had always claimed that it built the Ilorin International Airport, a lie the APC said was unraveled following the renaming of the airport by the federal government.
Reacting to the claim in a strongly worded press release, on Saturday, Abdulqadir said at no time did the PDP lay claim to the establishment of the airport which is owned by the federal government.
He noted that the PDP government has several signature projects in Kwara and therefore has no reason to take credit for what it did not do, its contributions to the airport and indeed every part of Kwara notwithstanding are feasible.
The statement reads,
“This is an absolute falsehood and another attempt by the naysayers to present the PDP in a bad and dishonest light.
“The PDP has never taken glory for the establishment of the Ilorin International Airport which has now been renamed the Tunde Idiagbon International Airport. This is despite the PDP’s substantial role in creating the modern facilities that make the place qualified to be called an international airport, instead of a mere aerodrome with sparse equipment as it used to be. All right-thinking Nigerians know the state of the airport before 2003 and what it is today. The difference is clear.
Needless to mention, the Saraki government saw the airport as one of its possible areas of modernising Kwara State and opening it up for business and tourism to the world. It therefore solely constructed a new terminal building for the airport. The Saraki administration also facilitated the reconstruction of the runway. This is achieved by collaborating with FAAN. The PDP government in Kwara State also built the new cargo terminal at the airport, long before airports across the country keyed into the idea. Today, that cargo terminal – for reasons best known to the incumbent Abdulrazaq APC government – has been converted into a “Tailors’ Shop”. That is a topic for another day.
It remains an indisputable fact that the then-PDP government also injected life into the airport, by making it commercially viable, having hitherto been moribund before 2003. Before the inception of the Saraki government, the airport was not in proper use. For those who know little about the aviation industry, it takes a level of patronage to break even or attract constant flights. The Ilorin airport was a far cry from that reality. It took the ingenuity of the Bukola Saraki government then to revive the airport and get it working again.
The Saraki government facilitated the constant use of the airport by working out an arrangement with Overland, a private airline, to ensure that commercial flights constantly flew into Ilorin from Abuja and Lagos. The government went as far as subsidizing every trip to augment the cost of empty seats on the flights to encourage the airline and ensure it constantly operated flights into the airport. The initiative ensured that air traffic was directed into Ilorin.
This singular economic decision has its ripple effects. It has brought high net-worth passengers into the town, heightened commercial activities as well as promoted transport, tourism, and hospitality business. Today, whatever success story is there to tell about the airport has its roots in Saraki’s bold initiative. Other airlines, having gained confidence, joined, and today, the airport enjoys patronage from about four airlines which now operate constant daily flights in and out of Ilorin, and are mostly full. Travelers to and from neighbouring states like Osun, Ekiti, and Oyo also see the Ilorin airport as a conducive connecting point.
Meanwhile, it must be stated that no refund was made to the state government for the modernisation workbitbundertoolat the Ilorin Airport. You can liken this to a situation in which progressive state governments, instead of waiting for the central government, decide to reconstruct and rehabilitate key federal roads within their state and with state funds. Those states do this for the overriding benefit of their people. This is what Saraki did. Sadly, the Abdulrazaq government has not successfully constructed any of its own roads, how much more, join the progressives to embark on the reconstruction of any critical federal road in the state.
Permit me to school the ignoramus that naming an airport after a Nigerian leader is a mark of respect and honour in recognition of their service to the country and has nothing to do with the airport.
The Federal government had in May 2023, acted in this regard by – for instance – renaming the Maiduguri Airport after the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari. Port Harcourt Airport was renamed after the late nationalist Obafemi Awolowo, while the Nasarawa Airport was used to immortalize the late founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, Usman Dan Fodio.
It was in the same light, that the late Brig. Gen. Tunde Idiagbon was as well honoured, a delight to us as Kwarans. More importantly, the Kwara PDP is happy that the airport is named after a prominent son of the soil, who has served the country at the highest level. May God continue to grant him a place in Aljannah. Why the ruling party has chosen to rant over a non-issue such as this shows the pettiness, cluelessness, and mediocre disposition of this section of the political class.
They could indeed have saved themselves and their sponsors this embarrassment if they had taken time to at least visit the internet to verify who owns and operates the airport.
The PDP administrations under former Governors Abubakar Bukola Saraki and his successor, Abdulfatah Ahmed will break no sweat to proudly point at signature projects dotting all the Senatorial districts of Kwara, all of which make the State of Harmony what it is today.
Part of the PDP legacy is the International Aviation College, Ilorin, situated just beside the Ilorin Airport. Unfortunately, these APC people seem too blind to see the foremost aviation institute of global standard in Sub-Sahara Africa.
It is unimaginable that a government running from pillar to post in a bid to seek approval for a defect-ridden flyover at Tanke Tipper Garage will exercise no modicum of shame to throw up such petty nonsense about the Ilorin International Airport.
These mischief makers in the Government House, seeking to curry their principal’s favour, must be reminded that Saraki’s government constructed the Post Office overhead bridge. The bridge is not just serving its purpose at optimal level, its quality has never been questioned and its aesthetic value is of no measure.
Yoruba will say, “to omo re, ko le fun o ni isinmi.” Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq needs to tame his data boys to think before typing and save him needless embarrassment such as this.
Abdulganiyu Abdulqadir – ABDUL ABDUL writes from Ilorin.
