If Kwara North advocates will not keep quiet, we will also not stop setting the record straight. It’s outrightly clear anywhere in the World where democracy is their choice of government, that the people’s interests, opinions, and ideologies are always respected irrespective of their class, status or numbers, at the same time, it’s crystal clear that in any governmental settings, there are times for politics and time for governance but the reverse is the case in Kwara where the former has been prioritized at the expense of the later, and in an attempt to mix up politics for governance and vice versa such a government may not achieve the desired results to extend the dividends of democracy to the people. I’m more concerned not only because I’m not an APC Member but because the burning patriotism in me will not allow me to fold my arm, serve as onlooker and watch how our common patrimony and resources are being misutilized.
I’m not unaware of what played out in the last one week where various groups and some fair weather Kwara North advocates were aggressively holding meetings upon meetings and summits upon summits all in the name of power rotation and equity. It will interest the lovers of the state that the current administration has barely spent a year out of the four years reelection mandate, but instead of the people witnessing the proceeds of good governance in the real sense, Kwarans are left to fend for themselves while the emergency lovers of the people are engrossed in the politics of who becomes the next governor, so bold of human as a creature, one who can not guarantee the next seconds happenings boasting of what will be in the next 3 years. And this left the self questions of “in all these mindless politickings clogging the wheel of governance in our dear State, where is our Governor and what is his stand?
I am not concerned about all the imbroglio because the Kwara North agenda is not a new phenomenon in our State, we’ve had similar situations prior to 2019 and the recent 2023 general elections, and the players and frontiers of aforementioned scenarios abided by the rules of the game by not using politics to disrupt governance and made prominent their agitations masked as advocacy during the electioneering period. One would wonder why Kwara’s political atmosphere is filled with upcoming events while even the President who understands the Nigerian political terrain better is not talking about politics or reelection. But it’s so sad that people of the State especially those from the Northern district where the number 3 citizen of the state comes from, where we have a senator, Reps, a Minister, and many more who ought to be asking the right questions on their score card in the first year of their representation of their elections or reflection as the case may be rather, same people shunned their responsibilities by focusing on politicking that has to do with reelection and jettisoned the real essence why their representatives were elected in the first place, and this question pops up again, where is Gov. AA in all these ugly developments?
It was on records where their key actors and stakeholders from Kwara North ranging from their traditional rulers, politicians, youths, the aged and even religious leaders converged somewhere in Bode Saadu, the same place which is the headquarters of Moro LG and for years has been neglected as part of the Kwara North was now the choice venue they thought appropriate for them to converge. When it comes to politics they took advantage of Moro but when it comes to the dividend of governance, the poor people are left to fight for crumbs, the question begging for answers is that convergence betrayed every form of logic because it portrayed the atmosphere as if we were in an electioneering period to the extent that a communique was released to that effect as if the sheriff in town gave the nod to organize such untimely gathering. Well, we can’t speak for the governor because we can’t determine his body language and as well won’t say his silence amounts to granting them approval for such politicking but I believe we are all wise enough to know that who pays the piper dictates the tune.
I just want to charge the governor as a Kwaran who doesn’t have much flair for party affiliation but good governance in the State, that he should take charge and act as the number one citizen of the state. What we all want withness is good governance and not this politicking of a thing. May I ask the people from Kwara North to sit tight and understand what is expected of them at this critical stage in their lives, their representatives, the beneficiaries of their mandates should at every time be asked what their scorecard is in the last one year? By implications, if the governor feigns ignorance about this, the people from Kwara Central and the Southern part of the state will join the fray and start the agitation towards 2027 because what is being demonstrated in the North despite not having the higher percentage of electoral strength is taking politics too far and this may gear up others to rise and will eventually lead to burying good governance and ushering in raw politicking which I am sure will not be in the interest of the people.
Comrade Yusuf Isiaq Obe writes from ilorin East.
