Right of Reply: Kwara and regime of empty revisionists

In what appears to be a disingenuous move by the handlers of Mr. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, the governor of Kwara State, an opinion article was published in The Guardian newspaper, credited to one Babajide Fadoju. It was a crude effort to whitewash the lackluster incumbent administration that has spent 67 months in office with little or nothing tangible to showcase to the people.

The tragedy of that article is that it is not just a poor attempt to revise history, it was also a desperate attempt by a regime that lacks vision and depth but wants to gain traction by rubbishing the achievements of the predecessors, despite the presence of solid facts and evidence to the contrary. Where the issue lies mostly is that the supporters of the current Kwara State government, particularly the Governor believe they can redefine what ‘development’ means.

Like other revisionists of history, Fadoju made a fraudulent attempt to discredit the well-documented history and progress of Kwara State and award the present leadership underserved merit. We urge the readers of this great newspaper to go to the streets of Ilorin, Offa, Omu Aran, Kaima, Patigi, Lafiagi, and the rest of the state, and hear what the people have to say about Governor Abdulrazaq. The people are sure not in agreement with Fadoju’s positions in that article.

What Fadoju and his likes call ‘effective leadership’ is the concession of Kwara Hotel to Crystal Group, owned by a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Moshood Mustapha via a resolution passed by the State House of Assembly at the sum of N3bn, only for Mr. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to re-award the renovation of the hotel to Craneburg, a Lagos based company at the sum of N17bn. When Hon. Moshood Mustapha disclosed to Kwarans how much his company agreed with the State Government as the true cost of bringing the hotel back to life, what followed? The demolition of a shopping complex owned by the APC Chieftain. Kwarans can testify to the fact that many businesses became moribund as a result of this demolition exercise.

In the last 67 months, the government of Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has not commissioned a single project. How will they? Where else have you ever heard the term “re-dualization” if not under present Kwara State leadership? For those outside of Kwara State who may be wondering what the term means, it simply means the expansion of existing roads by an inch, utilizing billions of naira for the purpose and many NGOs and CSOs have flayed the overinflation of contract sum for these projects. That is what Fadoju labels as ‘effective leadership’. I am sure this phrase means something different to this group outside what the dictionary says it is.

When in recent times has Kwara State ever appeared in the media for infrastructural development or good policy initiative? It is a question we must ask Fadoju and his ilks. Former President Muhammadu Buhari did not visit Kwara State once in the first term of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to commission a single project. President Bola Tinubu is about to complete his second year in office. He has also not visited Kwara State to commission a single project. Even the recent visit to the State by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abass to the State was to deliver a speech at Al-Hikma University, not for anything related to the State Government.

There is a flyover at Tanke roundabout in Ilorin, because it is located where many students reside, it has been rechristened as ‘Tanke Gada.’ The reason is that since 2021, the flyover has remained locked and has been converted to a photoshoot spot. Why wouldn’t it be? In the beginning, Kwarans pointed out to the government that the area does not need a flyover, but rather a road expansion, as the traffic there is not heavy. To make matters worse, the government employed direct labour to construct the complex structure that a flyover is, and the people witnessed how the bricklayers and other artisans were battling to put the flyover in place in such a crude manner as if it was a low budget, roadside water drains that were being constructed.

The government ignored calls by professionals that the mode of construction did not follow the standard practice. Today, the flyover remains closed out of fear that when vehicles start plying it, it may collapse. Billions of naira wasted. And Fadoju dares condemn the Saraki administration which constructed the first flyover in the history of the state at the popular Post Office junction in Ilorin, a structure that has stood the test of time for the past 15 years after its construction. Other governors elected alongside Abdulrazaq and those elected after him have since completed the construction of hundreds of Kilometres of roads and several flyovers. That is what Fadoju and co call ‘effective leadership’. That Tanke flyover is a monumental relic and testament to the failure and lack of vision of the government they seek to promote.

Governor Abdulrazaq in a state address to Kwarans on the N27bn bond he obtained, claimed that a huge sum of the money is lodged in a bank account. A few years after he made that claim, people are still asking where N17bn of the money saved in an unknown bank account is. Till today, no further information has been given on the said money. Does it make sense that a State Government obtained a bond (loan) for certain projects, and then turned around to lodge that borrowed fund in an unknown bank, with the galloping inflation and inflammable exchange rate in our economy? What purpose will such money be serving in a bank vault? It is not a revenue, but a bond, with a commitment to pay back. That is what Fadoju and co call ‘effective leadership’. This can only be incompetence and dishonesty. A government lacking in vision, mission, and purpose.

The latest advertisement of the level of ‘effectiveness’ of the present Kwara State governorship arose from a Budget speech delivered by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to the State House of Assembly. He claimed that his administration sponsored the payment of examination fees for over 66,000 entrance candidates, 58,420 Basic Education Common Entrance (BECE) candidates, 28,500 for WAEC, and 27,000 NECO candidates in 2024. Immediately the text of the speech became public, parents started besieging local radio stations with phone calls to debunk this lie. The governor and the entire government were so embarrassed that they later compelled the State Ministry of Education to denounce the claim and take responsibility for misleading the Governor. The Ministry stated that there was a “mix-up.” We believe readers are intelligent people and can see through this folly. That is what Fadoju and co label ‘effective leadership’.

The claim that Kwara State was worse yesterday is false and not supported by facts on the ground. In the 16 years that the PDP was in power under the leadership of former Governors Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Abdulfatai Ahmed, Kwara State was one of the best-positioned states on policies and infrastructure. There is no single state in North Central Nigeria that was better than Kwara during those moments. Maybe Niger State is now being positioned to snatch the agricultural success that Kwara State achieved in the Saraki years right under the nose of the present Governor. Insecurity ravages the Kwara North and banditry and kidnapping in Kwara South and Central. Check the records, the most people that have ever been kidnapped in the history of the state are under the present leadership. A young supporter of the Governor was shot dead at the Centre of Ilorin, ask them for an update on the case (may God repose his soul).

Under the previous administrations in the state, Kwara State had the best education sector in the whole of North Central, and the revenue service of the State was rebuilt, and restructured by the leadership of the PDP in its 16 years. Present departments and parastatals were created by the PDP in those 16 years. None had been added or restructured by Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. Ask the present governor about the one thing they did with the N27 bond they took under their leadership.

You can see KWASU, Aviation College, re-establishment of air passenger routes to and from Ilorin International Airport, construction of the new terminal where Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq fly from, the establishment of the School of Nursing, Oke Ode, construction of the ultra-modern Banquet Hall where the present government has been holding important state functions, construction of the new Executive Council Chamber where the cabinet meeting of the present government should be holding, Ilorin Metropolitan Square where the governor took his oath of office in 2019 and 2023, the Kwara Advanced Medical Diagnostics Centre” and many other projects that Dr. Saraki used the state money for. These are legacy projects now inherited by the Abdulrahman government which claimed it lodged a huge chunk of the fund from a bond it took in an unknown bank.

Fadoju and his fellow revisionists believe they could stand facts in the head by denigrating a Saraki government that “initiated and completed 35 major road projects, tarred and expanded 417 Kilometres of road, established the International College of Aviation, built 10 major residential estates, redeveloped two major markets, was the first state government to complete the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) by re-energizing the Ganmo Power Project from 90 MVA to 150 MVA with an installed capacity of 300 MW, provided electrification projects in 375 Community Health Insurance Scheme in partnership with the Dutch government and Pharmaceuticals Access”. Which of these projects will Fadoju and his fellow revisionists deny?

These revisionists being sponsored by Governor Abdulrazaq sure do not know history. If they know, they will see that while the Saraki Group democratized opportunities for all and sundry, it is the Abdulrazaq family that monopolized opportunities. In the 16 years that the PDP was in power, only two Saraki family members contested and held offices. The hundreds of people who occupied different offices at state and federal levels, elected and appointed, are not Saraki but they are Kwarans and they came into prominence and offices on the strength of their being members of the Saraki political group.

Can the Abdulrazaq claim to have made anybody or help anybody to grow? The governor’s father AGF Abdulrazaq was a regional and federal parliamentarian, minister, ambassador, and commissioner, and held many offices, all that came out of it were the numerous choice landed properties across the state capital and Lagos that the family owned. Many Kwarans can testify to the many legacies and impact of Dr. Olusola Saraki, who happens to be the father of Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki. We know who lives in the memory of Kwarans. Even AGF Abdulrazaq merely exists faintly in the memory of his children, not by Kwarans. Come to think of it, how many positions did late Olusola Saraki amass for himself? He was just a former Senator for four years and three months. He never held any other position until his death.

It is no news how the Governor’s siblings, male and female, dabble into the administration of Kwara State, thereby running the administration of Kwara State as if it is a monarchy. Governor Abdulrazaq is now an untouchable. He does not allow other state organs to function. No system is in place. The executive council does not sit. The House of Assembly is a caricature of the normal legislature. The council of traditional rulers is in limbo. The State Security Council has become moribund. The party on whose platform the government got to the office has been sidelined. And yet sponsored handlers like Fadoju were talking about decentralizing governance. How? Decentralizing government by enabling his sisters and brothers to dish out instructions while he, the governor, is running a government through WhatsApp messages.

As governor, Saraki ensured that the Emir of Ilorin and other key traditional rulers, key opinion leaders like late Justice Mustapha Akanbi, and top party leaders of the PDP stock could effectively influence government policies and projects. Ordinary Kwarans could force the government to shift its position. Today, they can see the difference. So, to claim that Sarakis monopolized politics is a nasty, fallacy remark.

Look at what a lacklustre, third-rate governor has turned Kwara State into. Unlike when the Sarakis and their group were in charge, Kwara State no longer wields any influence nationally. The state does not get what is due to it not to talk of getting anything special. The status and calibre of a governor should dictate the recognition and respect the state gets in the comity of states. Can anyone point to one Kwaran who is currently holding a top position or heads an MDA whose nomination can be credited to the Governor? Today, no Kwaran who sought a national appointment gets it. Even in the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) that Abdulrazaq heads, he is a mere figurehead. His deputy, Seyi Makinde has more influence than him within the Forum.

Abdulrahman has never prioritised the people, nor does he possess any unique vision. His aides threaten civil servants who criticize his leadership in the State, and Kwara has never been more divided than it is under him. This is a lesson in history for Fadoju and his ilks. They should check the facts. Ask the right people who should know about all my submissions above.

Sharafadeen writes from Ilorin.