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Olumide Lawal
Senator Ademola Adeleke is a man who has a date with destiny. A destiny, that has so far put him in good stead to serve at the highest level of law making in Nigeria dispassionately, despite human machinations. He has carried out the onerous task of effective and efficient legislation and over-sight functions for the advancement of the country. He is a man at peace with himself.
And a new dawn will soon break forth in Osun State; a dawn of fresh air. The people shall by the grace of God and judicial process, have Adeleke as their servant-leader in the true sense of it. He will soon make his to Bola Ige House, Osogbo, as the governor of the state.
The waiting shall not be long, and the people will have cause to smile, that the voice of the people, is indeed the voice of God.
Adeleke in his political career has come out untainted; unscratched.
He is the proverbial cat with nine lives, furthering the principle of politics without bitterness put in place by his late brother, Senator Isiaka Adeleke.
The ways of God are not the ways of his traducers. They are just ordinary mortals, testing the supreme will of God. But they will continue to meet their Waterloo. Adeleke has resolved to move Osun State many miles ahead of its peers as so far demonstrated in his sterling services at the Red Chamber of the National Assembly.
A state, where her youth will be creators of wealth, through induced direct foreign investment and entrepreneurship skills; rather than wait for the peanuts from the federal allocation in Abuja. That is the state of his dream.
For Adeleke, the state should be well illuminated with far-reaching socio-economic projects. The state is racing against time, craving to be in league of states like Lagos, Oyo, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom etc. This is achievable with pragmatic and workaholic leader like Adeleke, who will not shy away from availing Osun people his wealth of experience. His would be a government with realistic and realisable economic blueprint. His detractors will be green with envy and crave to join his team for the overall development of the state.
Nothing can stop an idea of which its time has come. With Adeleke at the helms of affairs, Osun shall get it so right, to the extent, that young school leavers will be happy to partake of the envisaged agro-industrial revolution in the offing by engaging themselves meaningfully in the rural areas with cottage industries, where basic social infrastructure will be taken for granted Citizens and residents of Osun State are resilient and focused. They are eagerly only waiting for a leader, who will turn their dream into reality, from the present state of inertness, that they unwarrantedly found themselves, owing to no fault of theirs. Again, the waiting shall not be long. They will have the last laugh, which is the best laugh.
Let them remain steadfast, resolute and painstaking in their prayers for the grace of God and positive judicial pronouncement for Adeleke, who has also counselled them to be law-abiding and peaceful in their conducts and utterances. The Almighty God that started this project shall see it to a favourable conclusion. All “hands of Esau and voices of Jacob” shall be subdued.
In furtherance of their desperation to give a dog a bad name just to hang it, his detractors in their wild goose chase, went ahead a few days ago and revisited, in their usual malicious manner, the issue of his academic eligibility to contest the September 22, 2018 governorship election. This was an issue that was utterly thrown out by the High Court, Osogbo, presided over by Justice Oladimeji. It was not appealed within the 180 days stipulated time before the election.
Also an official of West African Examination Council (WAEC), Mr. Osindeinde Henry Sunday Adewumi, Deputy Registrar/Head of School Examination Department on subpoena by the court, deposed to an affidavit, that Adeleke, did in fact sit for the 1981 West Africa School Certificate Examination (WASCE) and presented the WAEC Ledger to that effect before the court.
What then, with all modesty, was the basis of the judgment handed down by Bwari High Court, Abuja, on April 2, 2019? The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) could not have allowed Adeleke to contest the governorship election without carrying out due diligence on his academic eligibility among other requirements.
When by God’s grace and through the judicial process, Adeleke becomes the governor of Osun State, it shall be a bond between him and the electorate to make them, the centre piece of his government. He will give them an open administration, devoid of monopoly of wisdom as was witnessed in the past, where it was a one man show with orders “oozing” out from the masters, who also came to Osun, to insult our collective intelligence, that they are richer than the state and its good citizens. We now wonder why they failed to avail Osun their bottomless resources to put Osun on fast track of development.
After all we have a world-class university put in place in Ede by the philanthropic Adeleke family, of which Ademola is a part. What can the ‘lords of the manors’ point to as their individual private investments in Osun State? The Adelekes have shown so much love for state and her people, irrespective of religion, tribe, race, creed or colour. Over the years, they have put smiles on the faces of the less privileged without any string attached. And they don’t make noise about their achievements, preferring instead others to do it for them.
That silent philanthropist, Dr. ’Deji Adeleke, would rather, like the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, prefer to remain at his post, working assiduously for the improvement of mankind in all ramifications, as only the deep can call to the deep. This is the family of repute from where Ademola has carved a niche for himself, since his incursion into the political terrain. He is a leader who thinks not only of today but tomorrow, with resolve for a public service built on values and not self-centeredness.
•Lawal was Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke; he writes from Osogbo.
