By Abdulwahab Oba
I have just read an infantile piece that sought to ridicule the PDP gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Abdullahi Shuaibu Yaman and his promise to continue the legacies of the immediate past governor of the state, an Harvard University trained and alumnus of the better by far University of Ilorin, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed.
The said piece listed a concoction of claims against Dr Ahmed, seeking to contrast them in a way that would make the PDP administration of the time an unsuccessful regime.
For those who know Kwara very well, especially its most recent history, the said piece must have made them open their mouth in awe, and then a bout of laughter, for that was what happened to me when I saw it: surprised that anyone could wake up to concoct such lies and put it up for consumption by a critical audience. I laughed because the piece reflects the desperate tactic of a drowning man; clawing at anything to stay aloft. Definitely and surely, AbdulRahman is confused, frustrated and bummed.
To those who are laughing at the piece and its writers, I enjoin you to continue enjoying yourselves. For others who might not be aware of the reality on the ground, I offer to quickly ask you to disregard every statement in that piece and be assured that yes, indeed, a Yaman government will continue with the legacies of Ahmed. Question is, what are those legacies?
Dr Ahmed’s regime is a legacy of transparency in government business. Every month Dr Ahmed was in office, he demonstrated readiness for openness in the affairs of the state as he regularly released allocations to the state. He was not a deaf and dumb governor who would not dialogue with the people until another election circle. His government was not shrouded in darkness and did not wait for speculations before releasing earnings to the state.
Kwarans have not forgotten how our “Olundu” governor has refused to speak with them on which bank their N17.9b of the bond is domicile and while. Kwarans need to know from the government the exact amount of the Sure-P refund.
What of the legacy of innovative approaches to solving government businesses? Ahmed introduced the Kwara State Internal Revenue Generating Services. The innovation helped to shore up the internal revenue base of the state tremendously and soon became a model for other states across the country. If elected, Yaman will revive and re-invigorate the abandoned innovative funding approach for capital projects, Infrastructure Fund, Kwara (IF-K), which is a growing concern phenomenon, institutionalized by Dr Ahmed. If well managed, IF-K could have saved us from the meaningless and unnecessary borrowings that have now plunged the State into the unprecedented debt trap that may continue to hunt this government.
As he said elsewhere, Yaman “shall revitalize the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS) back to the trajectory of growth and funding of the IF-K” as envisaged by Dr Ahmed. Yaman shall make KW-IRS accountable, transparent and responsible and not a collaboration for pilfering the state’s resources.
Unlike the current ineptitude government, Yaman will continue the legacy of productive and inclusive dialogue with the labour force, rather than taking them to court and unduly sacking them. For the first time in the history of our state, and under the watch of AbdulRahman, an Auditor-General got queried and sacked for doing his job; Government House Offices became a ghost of itself; civil servants’ key responsibilities contracted to surrogates and twelve super permanent secretaries were unjustly sacked.
A Yaman administration will continue the legacy of Dr Ahmed by “revitalizing our civil service and restoring the hopes and aspirations of career officers whose promotions have been largely politicised”. Yaman will be the governor for the enhancement of service-based promotion schemes for civil servants and ensure their continuous training.
In the manner of AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the shameless writers hiding in the dark made their usual dumb allegations. But let them bring their proof into the public domain or proceed to EFCC. If with his access to all government documents in nearly four years, AbdulRahman could not legitimately nail anyone over any of those wild claims, then for anyone to still go to the public with the same is, simply put, stupid and psychopathic.
So, since I’m not what they are, I reiterate the commitment of a Yaman government to continuing the innovative legacies of the Ahmed era. The legacies that brought about the Ajase-Ipo International Vocational and Technical Centre, the KW-IRS, the IF-K, the various campuses of KWASU, the Split Diamond Underpass, and the Sango/UITH dualised road, among others.
The current legacy of lies, secrecy and personalisation of government, is not a worthy one for Kwara. Those who walk in the dark are destined for perdition. OSUWA.
07/12/2022
