- Wahab Oba
Allegations of widespread profligacy in the administration of Governor Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman have gained momentum with an open letter penned by a prominent member of his party, Hon Mashood Mustapha, who now prides himself on leading the “revolution and struggle for the emancipation of Kwara state between 2018 and the election of 2019”, on the renovation of one of our common heritage in Kwara state, the Kwara Hotel.
Hon Mustapha’s letter, expectedly, has been trending in the media, just like the critical documents on the controversial renovation that are also in meta space courtesy of a nonprofit and nonpolitical organization, Elite Network for Sustainable Development, ENetSuD. On this matter, neither Hon Mustapha nor ENetSuD should be taken lightly. The former was once a member of the State Executive Council, a federal legislator, and a governorship aspirant in the last general elections, while the latter once had a working MoU with the State government on social audits of government affairs.
Hon Mustapha’s outburst, no doubt, again, confirmed what his co-travelers in the APC started to complain about, first in whispers and later openly, soon after Abdulrazaq assumed office as the governor of Kwara State. Can we forget the open lamentation of former Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, or the cries of Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo that the AA in office was not the AA they envisaged when they gave him their backing despite the apparent manipulations that heralded his emergence as governorship candidate of their party-APC? In fact, it is recalled that one of the O’toge leaders once alleged that the governor confided in him that he was only in Kwara to make money as a businessman.
The meat of Mustapha’s letter which must be of interest to all concerned Kwarans, irrespective of political leanings, is that the estimated N17.8b for renovating the 172-room hotel is far above the N5billion maximum that he discussed with the governor. ENetSuD has availed the public of a valuation of the hotel by a reputable real estate agent engaged by the government, and that valuation puts the worth of the hotel in figures around what Hon Mustapha mentioned. And while the make-up of a hotel may be different from that of an office complex, should we not be concerned as Kwarans still, that this same administration is building a completely new 11-story office complex for KWIRS at the cost put around N20b. It is completely a new building. And have we also forgotten so soon that an International Conference Center with a five-star hotel is also being built for N13.5b in the same Ahmadu Bello Way, Ilorin?
What Hon Moshood Mustapha and EnetSuD did not mention in the Kwara Hotel palava is the issue of transparency and accountability in the award of the contract as well as how it was re-awarded to Craneburg. What qualifies Craneburg for three major contracts in the state above others? What is the capacity and competence of Craneburg Company? There is possibly more to it than meets the eye.
While we are at it, should we also remember that this administration of governor AA had once told us openly that it ‘invested’ N17.9 billion of Kwara money in a bank? That would have been a good move until you hear that the money was part of a bond and we don’t know which bank it is sitting in to date. Bonds are taken to execute specific projects, but we seem in the current dispensation of Kwara to take a bond to deposit in the bank amid acute infrastructural deficit and threatening youth employment while we also continue to pay heavy service costs unnecessarily.
Obviously, it is the same ‘ingenuity’ that surrounds the construction of the Tanke flyover. In my last intervention, I tagged that project ‘the bridge of controversy’. In reality, that is what it is. Fortunately, every stakeholder, technical and professional about that bridge, agrees that something is wrong with the work, both in its cost and its construction. Every stakeholder, except those who are benefiting from the current misnomer or those who are still timid and don’t want to ‘rock the boat’ maybe in anticipation of their benefits or out of fear as to what an angry government can do to them when they speak out openly against its errors, has one reservation or another about the Tanke bridge. Unfortunately, the governor looks the other way over the view of the stakeholders.
No matter the validity of any reservation about his under-the-table handling of our commonwealth and patrimony, AA does not care, has not cared, and probably may not care. A governor who is not transparent, accountable, and shies away from accountability even with the media is not one to care about allegations of misconduct in cases as under discussion here, or any other for that matter.
If AA cares, he would have taken time to speak with Kwarans about why he prefers to spend N17.8b on a hotel in Ilorin rather than invest heavily in the agricultural business where we have a reasonable comparative advantage above other surrounding states. If AA cares, he should tell Kwarans the name of the bank where the N17.9b bond is domiciled and how much has accrued as interest. If AA cares, he should have told us why our tourism sector has not been fully explored. If he cared, he should have allowed civil servants to do their jobs but paid them a living wage to cushion the effects of current economic hardship and settle the pensioners while paying indigent students leaving bursary awards. And if he cares, he should stop being an off-campus Governor that no one is sure of how to locate him for critical state matters.
Gov AA does not care. And why should AA care? Having again secured a second term with the certainty of not coming back to the office as governor, his skin would have deepened against criticism. No more need for transparency, accountability, responsiveness, and inclusiveness.
This then is a major reason for everyone interested in the future of Kwara to join hands and ensure that this man does not impose his stooge on the state come 2027. That would probably be his major scheming now.
Those politicians in the APC who have seen how things turned out when they obliged an error, must be ready to work with others in the PDP, LP, NNPP, and other parties to stop the possible emergence of another AA, or a governor who will be there merely to protect a proper probe of the allegations of sleaze against this current administration.
We must be ready to bury our pride and sink our hatchet. We must be ready to look at our wounds and see only the scar but not the pain. We must be ready to open the doors of our hearts to a new arrangement that welcomes everyone to make Kwara a better place for all of us. AA does not care, and it is clear as a crystal. But we must care. It is the challenge ahead of us; especially the elites, some of whom were conspirators in getting us to this despicable level; if the current bleeding of the state must be stopped.
Wahab Oba writes from Ilorin, Kwara State.
