By; Temitope Muhideen (Convydence)
In the play “A Community under an Emperor” Michael Gavend was a nationalist, a statesman with veto power to implement decisions that affect the people he govern regardless of the situation. while seeking for a second term to lead the community he became garrulous, he referenced his achievements as unmatched. He said, if no one chose to vote for him, his achievements will return him to power, he became arrogant and see the opposition as nothing, at the end he lost to Jima Kade whom was described as an emperor. GAVEND lost because he felt he is the best and the community lost because they felt he his too garrulous, Jima turned out to be a tragedy, let us leave the rest to the pages of history .
Similarly in Kwara state, under two governors of the same political ideology for sixteen years, we witnessed systematic risks such as; unpaid salary of workers, dilapidated buildings in our schools,operation fill the pot hole on our roads when they actually needed total refurbishment, SUBEB fund access blacklisted , lack of equipments in our hospitals and bad road networking and other systematic risks that an average Kwarans paid for under the administration of Sen. Bukola Saraki and his political stooge Alh. Abdulfatahi Funsho Amhed. May the bad days never resurface in our land, Amin.
In 2019, 75 percent of Kwara voters took another systematic risk, this time it was a risk towards positivity, taking back our land from the hands of a dynasty whose heir apparent has totally changed the core value of the old dynasty under the watch of Late Abubakar Olusola Saraki, in that election, Kwarans made a statement loud and clear “you can’t fool people forever “ Saraki was disgraced and the best of his boys were insulted with the outcome of the election, in short Otoge took over, The rest is history.
Despite the success of Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq at the poll, for months the logs of problem created by the previous administration persisted,Statistically speaking Abdulrahman led government struggled at the earlier stage of the administration fixing one problem or the other, paying huge debt to UBEC, restructuring of our ministries, renovating dilapidated buildings in our schools, provision of pipe borne water, upgrading some of the hospitals to general hospitals with modernized equipments, prompt payment of salary and approval of promotion to civil servants in the state, transparent process in state job recruitment process and host of others took time to achieve, getting things done takes time, it’s a reflection of excellence, Abdulrahman deserves the medals.
What does Maseelo(continuity) mean to an average kwaran? a government that is rewriting the story of the state deserves another term. A governor that has high numbers of youths and females in his cabinet deserves another term, a governor that was commended statically as youths and females friendly, locally and internationally deserves continuity. Indian greatest man of all time Mathma Ghandi , in his book Hind Swaraj he put “ the difference between bad leaders and good leaders is success, their ability to make something out of nothing “. Donald Trumph, In his own book titled The Art Of The Deal he put “good leader is a silent achiever, one who only talk when necessary” all of these aforementioned are part of the Abdulrahman led administration success story.
What does Maseelo mean to Kwara youths? In the space of three and half years Mallam Abdulrahman has appointed about 40 men and women between the age of 18-45 in his cabinet, it’s a pure representation of his willingness to give room for our youths to display their abilities in different capacities, building the youths wings that would look back someday and appreciate the opportunity bestowed on them. He understand that, for a prosperous Kwara of our dream, the youths constituency must not be left out,they are saying Maseelo.
What does Maseelo mean to the civil servants? Before the emergence of Mallam Abdulrahman, state workers were being paid what they tagged “geri gedi “ about 35 percent of their monthly salary, the local government workers were not paid for months, NULGE embarked on strike. The teachers were not paid not to talk of due promotions, the previous administration dealt with the civil servants. AA administration pays their salary as at when necessary, granted them promotion letters and implemented the minimum wage, this will continue to live in the hearts of Kwara civil servants. They are saying Maseelo.
What Does Maseelo mean to parents/Guardians? Before 2019, the previous administration refused to pay dues to UBEC which will allow the state to access UBEC fund, Kwara was blacklisted, AA administration clear the debt and Kwara got whitelisted, the UBEC fund has been part of the present administration success story, it has given birth to Digital Literacy Centre with equipments in various schools across the sixteen local government of Kwara state. They are saying Maseelo.
In few days, Kwarans will vote another governor who shall drive the state for another four years, their is need for us to compare and contrast, we are the architect of our fortune/misfortune. May Kwara work again.
Temitope Muhideen is a member of Greenfield Library Limited, Atlanta Georgia, USA.