By Ibraheem Abdullateef
There should ordinarily be no debate about who built the satellite campuses of Kwara State University (KWASU) in Osi and Ilesha-Baruba: it is Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
Following years of failed promises, Governor AbdulRazaq inherited the skeletal works from his predecessor when he assumed office. The work was less than 30% on site, whereas billions of naira had been spent on it on paper.
Determined to make it work, Governor Abdulrazaq marched the contractor back to site in a show of good faith, and vowed to complete it for public good. When the old contractor was dragging foot after about two years, the Governor re-awarded it. And what we now have is a promise kept by the Governor. Earlier this month, 2024/2025 academic session commenced at Osi campus, opening new frontiers of socioeconomic growth and development in Ekiti LGA. Full academic session begins at Ilesha Baruba early next year.
Everyone is happy except PDP folks. They do not want the man who baked the bread to eat out of it. They don’t want Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to claim the glory for his work.
Particularly, the lengthy epistle by Lawal Akanbi Sharafadeen with the title ‘Setting The Record Straight: Saraki, PDP’s Enduring Legacy’ did a great damage to record rather than setting it straight. With the energy he dissipated in the article, one will think Bukola Saraki is coming back to contest for governorship in 2027. The Saraki years, and those of his acolyte Abdulfatah Ahmed, are not so distant, and Sharafadeen can only confuse his fellow stooges, certainly not Kwarans.
In a major, popular, revolutionary movement (still fresh in memories), Kwarans rejected outright Bukola Saraki and his politics. If they had truly built an enduring legacy, would Kwarans have told them Otoge? Interestingly, when the opportunity presented itself again in 2023, Kwarans trooped out to say capital NO to Saraki and all that he represented. This whitewashing by Sharafadeen is therefore a futile attempt.
It is, in fact, a great disservice to the man Saraki himself that in his hagiography, Sharafadeen was only able to mention KWASU and KWIRS as Saraki and Ahmed’s major achievements in sixteen years in power. Is that not shameful? In retrospect, I have decided to help him highlight twelve more of these legacies. Let’s (re)set the record straight.
Sharafadeen is perhaps not proud about his master’s Shonga Farms, which gave us food for thoughts and controversies, rather than food for the stomach (1). He won’t talk about the failure that their Cargo Terminal was (2). He kept mum on the nonexistent Trailer Park (3). Are all these (not) part of the enduring legacy? These are projects for which several billions of naira were earmarked.
It has become the culture for Sarakites to advertise KWIRS as an achievement. It is a given. But the point, however, is not in the establishment itself, but the impacts it made during Ahmed’s years. KWIRS could hardly perform optimally and work for Kwarans. It is one hard conversation we do not have enough. The O’to ge administration saved KWIRS from captivity, too, as the report of auditing shows. With its new heights, I cannot be the only one who has questioned thus: How come KWIRS was like that? What exactly were they using the internal revenue for under their watch that is cheery? Was governance so much of a rocket science to Abdulfatah Ahmed that we now have Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq doing all these with ease, when he could also blame the COVID-19 pandemic and several economic downturns?
For Saraki and Ahmed, another thing that will forever resonate with the common people as their legacy include their notoriety for (4) selling off and converting public properties to personal hands and cronies, their hobby for owing salaries, uncleared promotion arrears, and pension. (5)
But you then remember the obnoxious pension law (6)! The obnoxious pension law that further enriched the pocket of a made man, while ordinary workers were languishing in abject poverty and untold hardship. We bless God that Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has now abolished it.
Has Sharafadeen forgotten that it was during Saraki’s regime that disrespect for the traditional institution became a fashion and a craze (7)? That should form part of the legacy too. No respect for traditional rulers. No breathing space for political rivals. (8) What they did to the late former Governor Alabi Lawal alive, and even in death, are still fresh in memory. For want of a definition, you can call it ‘salake’ democracy.
In these locust years, Kwarans also remember the (9) incentivising of thuggery and encouragement of those known as ‘good boys.’ They indulged thugs so much that some of the ones who operated within their vast political family partook in the infamous Offa robbery that claimed 33 lives of several compatriots. People cannot stop recounting their ordeals in the hands of these state-sanctioned thugs at different times.
The UBEC fund diversion is another legacy of the Saraki dynasty (10). A grant meant for the development of our basic education system was misappropriated, leading to the blacklist of the state. This, in no small measure, affected the investment in our schools. It would lead to further national embarassment with WAEC as the body fined the state for exam malpractices. The pages have however been turned, as seen with the three consecutive victories of Kwara pupils at the Presidential School Debate, today, under the hardworking Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
We can go on and on. Which enduring legacy did they leave in healthcare where most of our hospitals lacked basic equipment and needs? As of 2019 when the Governor came on board, he inherited no single functional ambulance, and only one single qualified nurse in the primary healthcare agency of Kwara (11)! That was the perfect picture of their legacy in health.
Let’s talk about water now (12). The water situation was even so messy that at a point our people were made to jostle for tankers to get water. Virtually all waterworks had deteriorated and had been abandoned. This is despite the several billions of naira voted to tackle the water question. Yet, reticulation didn’t bring forth water but starvation. This page has been turned for good now too.
For all these and more, Kwarans collectively sent the Saraki dynasty packing. These retrogressive situations are what hagiographers like Sharafadeen want us to hail as an enduring legacy. Like I said, he cannot reinvent history.
I invite you to cast your mind back to the beginning of this article. I merely set out to help Sharafadeen highlight and expand the scope of conversation on the legacy of Saraki and PDP. I do not think he was wrong to do that, but I am convinced he could use more of these honest points above, and those below, in his next writing (mis) adventure.
To start with, the journey so far with Governor AbdulRazaq has cleared the mess. The administration is catering to the basic needs that resonate with the people, just as he is establishing signature projects that are making Kwara a go-to place.
I invite our friends over there to note the establishment of Sugar Factory Film Studio (which recently hosted several dozens of movers and shakers of the movie industry), Kwara Garment Factory,
Kwara State University of Education, Visual Arts Centre, and Innovation Hub (which already has global tech players like IHS Towers and United Nations Development Agency as partners) as one for the ages.
Also, the ongoing construction of the International Conference Centre, Revenue House, and multi-story building civil service hospital should be put in the record books.
If it is about legacy, the one who will be most remembered for one is the Governor who took roads to the doorstep of almost every family compound in the capital city. I am sure one cannot be far from anywhere Sharafadeen’s household is located. Hundreds of such construction of interlocks, internal and new feeder roads dot each ward in the state today.
We also have the establishment of at least 6 new critical government institutions including KWASSIP; Kwara Sports Commission; KwaraLearn, KWGIS, KWETA, and KWSRRA.
Unlike the Saraki dynasty notorious for abandoning projects of their predecessors for political vendetta, Governor AbdulRazaq has continued to invest in projects like the KWASU satellite campuses, new state secretariat, Ilesha-Gwanara road, and a lot more. It is the gut our PDP folks despised. He’s also remodelling heritage-facilities, including the Kwara Hotel, Patigi Motel, and Kwara Stadium complex, among several others.
On top of that, he is the first Governor to construct two flyovers and fully implement the minimum wages twice in his tenure. With all due respect, Mr Saraki cannot relate to these as a legacy.
Now, I remember the same way they could not brag of any major projects he brought to Kwara as NGF chairman the other time Sharafadeen sparked a debate he could not win. Fact for fact, weight to weight, pound to pound, the people would tell the best Kwara Governor so far, and it won’t be the man who took them for granted. It is the hard truth our friends have to get used to. Ciao!
Abdullateef is the Senior Special Assistant on Communications to Kwara Governor