The last rainy season in the backwater communities of Akute, Denro/Ishashi, Giwa-Okearo, Agbado and Ijoko communities of Ifo Local Government in Ogun State left sore tales in its trail. Not much publicity, really, was ever given to the various tragedies and colossal losses that marked the era.
In one of the locales that was wracked by flooding and erosion, a nursing mother, with baby strapped to her back, was waddling her way home through the flood at about 8pm on the fateful day.
It was pitch dark and the post-downpour drizzle was somewhat fiendish in its pattering. Suddenly, the child-bearing mum fell into a flooded cesspit. The next morning, a crowd of sympathisers gathered over child and mum; both, stone dead.
That was an instance in the cocktail of tragedies occasioned by the various abandoned projects of Governor Ibikunle Amosun in these Lagos-border communities of Ogun State.
Specifically, the Amosun administration underwent a voyage of ambitions far taller than its dreams by embarking on multi-billion naira bridges, and in the process, demolished many houses, leaving many of the erstwhile landlords uncompensated, till date.
The main tragedy in the abandoned bridges’ saga, which has prevailed for upwards of three years now, is that, the government has caused heinous environmental degradation in communities affected by these white elephant projects.
Roads that were manageable are now deathtraps, because the government sheared off their asphalt overlay and practically damaged them, to pave the way for its dream bridges.
These forsaken communities that are no more than jungles should ordinarily have been money spinners to shore up the lean resource base of Ogun State. Being areas on the Lagos border, commerce and variegated mercantilism would naturally translate as a goldmine for the state government to generate revenue, just as the Lagos State Government has been tapping business opportunities from communities that throw up great potentials.
This parlous state, therefore, has lent credence to whispers that Amosun’s relationship with ‘the template issuer’ as regards the prosperity of states under the All Progressives Congress, is patently strained.
It is doubtful if the governor is still in touch with leaders of the party from the Lagos wing, who would have collaborated with him to develop Ogun State.
This queer indiscretion and seeming political treachery is now having telling effects on the hapless masses who are helplessly dazed by the worsening rot in social infrastructure in the state.
That is why the locals, from feelers, are now looking forward to the emergence of a new governor come 2019, whose antecedents can be traced to experienced participation in Lagos politics, where acolytes of public administration guru, former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have been performing wonders in many respects.
For instance, the current Lagos state governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, has demonstrated that he passed through the ‘Tinubu School of Public Administration’, and the resultant effects are open to all.
Quietly, Ambode, who is yet to spend two years in office has constructed no fewer than 10 bridges and has won the hearts of Lagosians in the construction of a pedestrian bridge on the Berger portion of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Besides, roads tarred in Lagos in the last one and half years are over 100.
In tandem, Ogun State deserves a better deal, as the popular wish is that power should shift to the Yewa ethnic stock of the state. The APC, to attract the locals come 2019, should shop for a candidate with a track record of proper grooming in public administration; one who has passed through the requisite training of the party’s leader of ideas, Asiwaju Tinubu.
This queer indiscretion and seeming political treachery is now having telling effects on the hapless masses who are helplessly dazed by the worsening rot in social infrastructure
Worthy of recommendation in this respect is Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, widely known as Yayi. Apart from hailing from the Yewa area, which has never produced a governor, Yayi, a chartered accountant, has excelled in private and public ventures.
He was in the accounts department of The Guardian newspaper for 12 years, before leaving the reputable newspaper with a clean record. For two terms, Yayi bestrode the Lagos State House of Assembly, from where he was found worthy to be elected into the House of Representatives.
Impressed still, the Lagos West senatorial district’s voters gave their nod for Yayi to represent them in the Senate. From the Lagos Assembly to the National Assembly, Yayi has had cause to serve in many committees and was applauded in all.
In the same vein, he was instrumental to the enactment of the law that strengthened the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, a legislation that catapulted the revenue of the state from N5 billion monthly to over N20 billion.
So, why would the Ogun locals not want to enlist the services of a human dynamo of this nature, to transform their lives, come 2019?
