Immediate past Ogun State Commissioner for Information, Sina Kawonise, must be commended for re-awakening our memory about the pervasive air of fetishism that dogged the administration of his erstwhile boss, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. During that era, lurid stories were told of the practice of necromancy in high places. Many of these were documented in Wale Adedayo’s book, Microseconds Away from Death. Adedayo should know. He served that government for the best part of six years, including as director of communication, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ogun State and later, media director to former Governor Daniel.
Eager to prod us to remember our recent, most despicable, misfortune of being saddled with the most archaic government ever, Kawonise, in a recent piece, accused Governor Ibikunle Amosun of being responsible for the “death of prominent Egba chiefs” in recent time. He did not stop at that. He accused Amosun of “spiritually” responsible for the carnage on federal roads, including Lagos/Ibadan and Sagamu/Ore – axis in Ogun State. How much worse can an individual exhibit intellectual stagnation!
It is heart-warming, at least, to know that throughout his piece, Kawonise could not pin a single case of physical violence intent on Amosun since assumption of office. It may be necessary to recall immediate ugly and shameful development that led to Kawonise’s emergence as information commissioner. Before him, two former predecessors of his left office in record hullabaloo. One, Niran Malaolu, allegedly got slapped for daring to attempt to instil decorum into the governor’s activities. The other, Kayode Samuel, fled the shores of Nigeria, fearing that the goons of the administration would take it out on him, before throwing in his resignation letter.
Shortly after Tunde Oladunjoye, erstwhile boss of Ijebu North East Local Government, who, by then, had fallen out with Otunba Daniel for his patriotic opposition to pilfering council fund by the executive branch, went to town, armed with copiously intimidating evidence, some pictorial, that the wife of the governor, physically led rag-tag undertakers to unleash terror on his home in Ijebu Ife.
Indeed, three media managers fell out with the Daniel administration in circumstances as intriguing as they were nearly bloody. Take the case of Adedayo, Daniel’s erstwhile media director, who engaged in a gun duel with suspected agents of the government at Ilishan before he went underground.
This is a mere snippet of the general air of terror which pervaded Ogun State in our recent past. Now, is it not curious that while his three predecessors scampered out of office in the circumstances painted above, Kawonise, a hitherto unknown media figure, not only worked cordially with a government openly accused of murderous tendencies but also still keeps company of his erstwhile boss.
It is a known fact that the menace of cultism and youth brigandage spiralled during the eight agonizing years of the Daniel administration. Boys, barely out of their pre-teen, were armed to unleash mayhem on opponents of the administration. The ripple outcome of this is the overwhelming possession of illicit weapons in wrong hands, a situation that has led to increased cases of violence in our environment.
Not prepared to be caught napping, the Amosun administration recently introduced the highest number of Armoured Personal Carriers in crime control in Ogun State. Amosun deployed 13 of the equipment as against the only one dubbed “Iyalode” (for its eternal immobility) purchased by the Daniel administration.
While he inherited 16 Hilux trucks meant for use by policemen, the Amosun administration, barely a year in office, bought 182 of the vehicles. The government also bought a large number of bullet-proof vests, helmets and riffles, precise number of which can not be disclosed here for obvious reasons.
As soon as he came into office, the Amosun administration recruited 5,000 youths, mostly university graduates, into the civil service. At the moment all the lucky individuals have been fully integrated into the service.
Unlike the practice of his predecessor in office whose officials spoke to the people only through cudgels and, sometimes, the gun, Governor Amosun personally went around the state to interface directly with the people who would be affected by massive road reconstruction currently commencing in Abeokuta, Sagamu, Yewaland and other places. Many of them, particularly in the state capital, Abeokuta, have received momentary compensation for their property that would give way to the modern roads. Others who have not received theirs are already being prepared to take their entitlement as well.
Many of these roads have become incapable of withstanding modern day traffic across the state. As a matter of fact, many of them were built at a time when the state population was less than half of what obtains today. Therefore, it needs no further prodding for any responsible government to know it is, indeed, time to overhaul them.
On the economic front, over 500 transformers were acquired by the Amosun administration. They have since been distributed to needy communities. In no small manner, this gesture has greatly assisted economic empowerment of citizens since a large potion of the populace derive their survival from availability of electricity.
Still in the empowerment arena, a total of 77 buses, the largest ever in the state, were drafted into the hitherto epileptic mass transportation system of Ogun State. These consist of 27 pieces of 43-seaters luxury buses; 30 of 18-seater Toyota buses and 20 Nissan buses. Aside remarkable positive intervention in the sector, this move has also provided gainful employment for no fewer than 250 indigenes of Ogun State.
In place of the practice of yesteryears when youth were deliberately armed by the government to cause havoc in the society, the Amosun administration has begun the arduous, but necessary, task of steering them away from crime. In January this year, the Amosun government flagged off the distribution of N1.8 billion worth of textbooks to private primary and secondary schools in the state. This was a follow-up to a similar gesture involving distribution of instructional materials such as note books, pencils, biros, file jackets and school bags among others. To promote the process further, 28 model schools are currently being built across the state.
• Lawal is publicity secretary, ACN, Ogun State
