17th November, 2019
One year after his victory in the Nov. 17 Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero Federal Constituency’s by-elections, Hon Raheem Olawuyi, says the victory has caused a new culture of good governance across the length and breadth of the state.
Olawuyi made the assertion in a statement commemorating the one-year anniversary of the “Oto ge”‘s struggle in Kwara and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Omu-Aran on Sunday.
The lawmaker said he dedicated the anniversary statement to the five deceased members of All Progressive Congress (APC).
He said the victory had also heralded a trajectory of a decent society across the state.
Five APC members, Femi Olaoye, Oko ward, Segun Adewara, Omu-Aran ward, Mrs. Folake Awolowo, Arandun ward, Chief Adebanjo Adekeye, Ajase ward 2 and Isa Bakare, Odo-Owa, died in a ghastly motor accident along Omu-Aran-Oke-Onigbin road a day after the party’s victory.
According to Olawuyi, for decades, Kwarans have yearned for genuinely independent expression of their collective political desire, unhinged by any act of totalitarianism, manipulation and manacling.
“That day was their first experience of the accomplishment of this desire.”
“The mandate was freely and overwhelmingly given to me and our party on November 17, 2018, represented a beagle signal beginning of a newly birthed Kwara that is people-owned and people-driven.
“No more shall one individual, in the name of a dynastic hegemony, holds the lives and destinies of millions of others to ransom.
“The campaign that took place in the two weeks and the eventual victory at the polls was a symbolic gesture that the people of Kwara will no longer accept the top-to-down approach in matters affecting their destinies.
“They took control, unified in a volunteering venture that is unprecedented in Nigeria’s modern political history.
“While the status-quo political establishment relied on a well state-funded, logistics-based electoral stratagem, we relied on the steam of the goodwill of our people.
“A one year cycle and circling around of this epochal event is completed today; I am, as I was exactly one year ago, humbled by the awe-inspiring resolve of our esteemed people from all axis of Kwara.
“The commune that was experienced on this day one year ago set the tone of solidarity, that swept the unprogressive authoritarian political dynasty away in the main general elections that followed early in 2019.
“I dedicate this special address to the cherished memories of our compatriots, who left us in a most painful manner at the peak of the celebration.”
Olawuyi, who prayed for the repose of the deceased, also praised the doggedness and commitment of some party leaders such Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Gov. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
He called on party members, leaders and officials to see the victory as a wake-up call to service by promoting a governance culture that will provide decent lives and livelihoods to all categories of the citizenry.
“As we remember the victory of November 17, 2018, and the many memorable events it heralded, we must also be conscious of the future that we must confront.
“All those that have been saddled with public trust, working in concert with our esteemed peoples must not lose focus of the sole objective of the change we clamored for,” Olawuyi said.