By Akinremi Olaolu
Every period in the history of mankind,God throws up a leader among the people. The chosen one is always made to suit the purpose at hand and to lead the people out of a particular crisis.
The crisis at hand in Nigeria now is multi-dimensional. It has socio-political, economic, and moral sides. Therefore, what is needed is a leader with the right knowledge, experience,connections,temperament, vision,determination,and programme to lead in harnessing and distributing state resources for the overall benefit of the people.
With the way things are going in our country, it is obvious that to develop Nigeria, each of the sub-national entities must work to bring development to their area. They must put their best brains and hands to work such that each of them becomes a development centre and good news must be simultaneously coming from every state in terms of improvement in the lives of the people.
Back home in Kwara State, it is obvious that the government in place is not doing well at all. It is not only bereft of ideas as to how to identify the resources of the state, harness them for general purpose, and redistribute them to make the overwhelming majority of the people happy and prosperous.
Yet,we are stuck with that government for the next 34 months when their mandate will expire. The current government in Kwara State under the leadership of Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has demonstrated that it has no clue about how to use state resources for general development. Rather, it has been a government run on impulse.
Projects are haphazardly conceived and implemented. Individual benefits are placed over the general goal. That is why the government still appears directionless after five years in office. No project of great value has been commissioned. No policy has been unfolded and no life-changing programme is ongoing.
This takes me back to the issue of leadership. Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, the Waziri of Ilorin represents many things to many people. While a lot of people see his many good sides, others do not see anything good in him. He is constitutionally barred from being governor of Kwara State, having served in that capacity, producing great results between 2003 and 2011.
He cannot even run for any office in the state having been elected Senator twice from the state and moved on to become President of the country’s highest law-making body, the Senate.
However, at every turn, events have proved without any iota of doubt that he is the best Nigerian to have ever been produced by Kwara State in particular and the North Central zone in general. Apart from being the highest national office holder ever produced by Kwara State, the recent events following the death of his mother, Chief (Mrs) Florence Morenike Saraki on June 18, 2024, have proved that Saraki is the Iroko tree under whom all Kwarans can find shade.
Between June 18th when the announcement of the transition of Mama Saraki was announced and July 19th when her remains were interred,the entire nation, irrespective of tribe, religion, political party, and socio-economic status rose as one entity to support Saraki in celebrating the life and times of his late mum.
The Ikoyi home of Saraki’s mother as well as his own homes in Lagos and Abuja became rallying points. The high and the low, Christians and Muslims, old and young, from the north and south, the highly educated and the barely educated ones, the people living with disabilities and the very fit ones, all came to commiserate with Saraki.
The President of the country, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu issued a press statement and also directed his wife and Nigeria’s First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, to pay a condolence visit. Leaders from other African countries, diplomats, and other foreign dignitaries all visited the former Senate President, a man who in more than five years has not occupied any public office.
All these show the reach,influence, and national /international network that Saraki has. He is in a class of his own. The mother’s funeral was a class act. The lesson for us Kwarans in the before, during, and after events of the funeral is that Saraki is the undisputed national leader that God has selected for Kwara as of today. He has no match.
Whether anybody likes him or hates him, any Kwaran who has the interest of the state at heart and is motivated by the development and welfare of the state, that person has no option but to cooperate with Saraki and work with him to place Kwara State on the national map as one of the places where good news is often breaking.
Saraki has demonstrated that he knows the people, the how, and the when to network for more national and international benefits to come to Kwara State. We have to change the current narrative where in five years and with hundreds of millions of naira down the rain, no single foreign investment has come to Kwara State. Yet, the administration spends more money to antagonize Saraki.
With such a situation,how can the youths get jobs, how are we going to break the poverty circle and from where do we begin the lobby for investors to find our state attractive to put their money?
As it is,if there is any grievance or disagreement between any Kwaran and Saraki,let it be settled. Let there be forgiveness and reconciliation across the lines. Kwara State has nobody as big, well-connected, and reliable as Saraki. He is the big tree that can provide the much-needed shelter for us in the state.
He only needs our cooperation, support, and prayers to deliver.There is nowhere in the world where people are blessed with such a huge talent, shining star, and focused leader, and yet he is discarded and made to waste away on the narrow calculation of envy and dislike. If you ask a good majority of those opposed to Saraki’s leadership and who do not like him, their reason will be principally based on the talk of: Is he the only one? How can one person be the one who gets most of the top slots?
Now, that envy propelled the O to Ge campaign. It has made all of us vote for another political platform other than the one led by Saraki without weighing the options and critically examining what we are being presented as a replacement.
Now, we have experienced the other side and like the woman who just wants to change spouse to know what it looks like to be with another man, we are stuck with those who specialize in deceit and have no ideas as to what to do to better the lives of the people.
A word is enough for the wise. Let us co-operate with the one God has chosen for us. Let us seek to march with Saraki to build a new Kwara where all hands are on deck to rebuild, refocus, redevelop, and reposition the state.
Olaolu writes from Offa, Kwara State
