By Salihu Ridwan Onimasa
“There can’t be reasonable impacts without necessary ideas, as ideas without sustainable impacts are as well useless”.
This is what came to my mind while dissecting the mantras and brickbats that recently occurred between the two ‘major’ contenders for the Kwara Central Senatorial Seat.
As a young and conscious man from Ilorin Emirate, I took it upon myself to seize this moment to set the records straight in order to shield the philanthropic impacts being benefited by our community at the moment than banking on the hallucinating ‘Big Ideas’ borne out of a mere philosophical expression. As the reluctance of the ‘elites’ of Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi’s caliber to magnanimously support their communities is among the cause for setbacks we experience over time as a people.
The singular act of discrediting the acts of philanthropy for political advantage is synonymous to removing the rooftop of a building to create a fence for it, as we all agree that purposeful politics is basically meant to provide succour for the people. It’s however noteworthy to realize that whittling down an act that is supposed to serve as motivation for you and your likes, buttresses the popular opinion on the deliberate nonchalance to humanity, which made most of the well-to-do in the Emirate relegate themselves to speculators in situations they’re supposed to provide supports for the less privileged. Such a discrediting comment about Mallam Salihu Mustapha “throwing money around” must not be allowed to fly in order not to create some negative impressions in the present younger and coming generations.
I opined in my article titled “REDEFINING THE ACTS OF HUMANITY THROUGH EMPOWERMENT” on 13/9/2020 that “Limiting the acts of humanity to stomach infrastructure(feeding) is a burden on the substantiality of humanity and detrimental to the essence of social investment, as the influence this notion has on empowerment seems to be dehumanizing and will continue to, if not appropriately redefined. Such an act has directly and indirectly revealed the weakness in the supposed empowerment accelerated with humanitarian endeavors, even though we cannot rule out the influence of compassion and generosity for humanity to survive because love and kindness are essential in humans’ lives.
Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi is acting on an erroneous belief that he has superior control of the media because that’s his constituency where he thrived before politics, he released the letter believing he will lead the fight in bringing down the goodwill of his opponent but he sent a wrong message through his analysis which gave his write up the tone that he’s criticizing Turaki’s philanthropic efforts, while he forgot the foundation of the Dynasty from which he became virtually everything in life is built on philanthropy(May God repose the soul of Baba Saraki).
Obviously, he was shocked at the feedback he got from Turaki, not only because he ever believed the Turaki could have gathered such momentum in the media but because of the revelation that the so-called money he is claiming Turaki is throwing around has been thrown at him too for ‘personal reason’ on occasions too numerous to mention. I’m sure he’ll be warned by his boss and associates to stay clear of this approach for it will only further weaken his already long-bedridden electoral value.
This is the same man who while serving as a Minister was approached and persuaded by stakeholders from his Ward to come to the rescue of the people from his community(mostly Artisans)to at least empower them by the least means possible, after several attempts and through the intervention of some elders, he gave his words for them to collate the list of beneficiaries and the items needed to augment their individual businesses, that was the end of it, the request neither came to fruition nor did it see the light of the day.
It is as well so hard to believe that the same Omoluabi whose slogan was “I am not a politician” whenever the youths and the needy approached him from his Ward to assist on matters bordering on their social and environmental welfare, is out today, laying claims to a precedent that was never there. I’m pleased to remind you that history never forgets and the only place feasible for you to thrive at the polls, your Ward, will also not be there for you to lean on.
A thousand and one youths from Ilorin and Kwara State by extension, who are renowned for their active participation in sporting activities and who could have made it to the international climes were they offered your helping hands as Minister of Sports, are there today languishing in their “family compounds” with their talents wasting away and you had that effrontery to come out to play with our heads by naming winning AFCON as one of your achievements as Minister of Sports, of what direct impact is that to the community, town, and state that produced you as Minister? If that can be pardoned because being a Minster of Sports and Youth Development is an executive duty, the Centralists can’t afford to risk their representation in your hands as the National Assembly not only requires capability in in-house representation but being able to bring the dividends of democracy to your constituency. I still wonder how a Director of Ilorin descent in an agency has so much impacts by uplifting people in our society than someone who had the ministerial opportunity of a whole sector for almost 4years.
If my knowledge of places in your community will not fail me, I am aware of the numerous tournaments hosted in the great ‘SANTOS’ and some in Oloje, where quite a lot of young chaps display their talents in sports at regular intervals, you should be ashamed that none of these guys could step on your shoulder to rise to prominence in their chosen careers, as widely lucrative as it is.
Don’t you think it is annoying and highly pathetic of you to come out boldly to tell people that you have ideas and that your ideas supersede someone who nurses ideas and then implements them with his hard-earned income. The underlying undertone behind your endless letters/outpour is to attract public sympathy by projecting yourself as a poor man to win the sympathy of the poor masses, kindly be aware that Kwarans may partly be poor but the richness of their minds is not in doubt.
We haven’t also forgotten how you ‘threw away’ two grand opportunities as Minister and Publicity Secretary of the ruling party by resigning, all to prove to your Principal that you’re loyal and honest to him, that’s fine between you and your Principal, but have you ever thought about whether it was your Principal you were there to represent or the Masses who had high hopes in you delivering the dividends of democracy to them. These actions are clear indications that the people cannot entrust you with their mandates, as they may wake up a day to realize that you have decided to embark on another route different from what you were originally mandated to do.
Who hasn’t dreamt of a world, where the potentialities that slumber in its population are unlocked and every individual gets empowered? The dream is distant but we continue to march inexorably toward it. This is an emphasis on the factual assertion I’ve always opined that many people, most especially youths are full of creative wealthy ideas with unarguable entrepreneurial prowess but, lack of funding capital makes most remain stagnant, reducing the value and losing focus. This is the major reason we pray to have many Salihu Mustapha in our midst, who shall generously invest in people by impacting lives with his philanthropic gestures that are born out of Reasonable Ideas and not someone who had almost 12 years to impact lives but relatively failed.
