Not Business as Usual… Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasak Redefines Governance
Democracy might have been intended to be a government of the people, for the people and by the people. But when those who force themselves into the corridors of power descend mostly from moneyed clans perched high above the sight of ordinary men and legislate to enrich themselves and their cronies, it becomes a herculean task, if not an impossible one, to find anything remotely populist about the government of the day.
From North East to South South, South East to Middle Belt, the same sad orchestra plays mourning the same sad characters. It therefore becomes refreshing to see a government that actually embraces the people for a change.
Ask the joyous residents of Kwara State whether the current government is working and they would grace your eardrums with a resounding “Yes.” The Ilorin seat of government, for so long an informal meeting spot to banter and cut cakes of astronomical proportions, has been transformed. Order and the rule of law have once more resumed their rightful places as guiding watchwords.
Traces of the stolid Saraki dynasty remain. The state’s ministerial nominee is after all Gbemisola, daughter of the late strongman Chief Olusola Saraki and sister of former senate president Bukola. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was it destroyed in the span of one generation. Still, noises from that quarter have been mercifully reduced to muted sighs and longings for lost glories.
The new governor, determined to win over the people to his side, has begun work in earnest. Important posts have been filled with smart, dedicated and passionate people whose overriding loyalty is to the people and their welfare. The results speak for themselves just a couple months after the change of power. The streets are peaceful and orderly. Civil servants go to work with smiling faces. Even the political establishment, so long spoon-fed on a diet of unending clashes, has largely moved in unison to stand behind Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasak.
While sceptics remain, the governor’s confidants insist he isn’t a man given for puppet shows. He has a clear vision of how to uplift Kwarans to a better economic station and social welfare and he won’t rest until he achieves his goals no matter what it takes.