OPINION: Unveiling Bashar Akanbi;Another of Kwara govt's saboteurs.

OPINION: Unveiling Bashar Akanbi;Another of Kwara govt's saboteurs.

By AbdulFatah AbdulRahman

You have every right to hold opinions. You have the intelligence to be fair and just with them. If I didn't believe you could be a better person, I wouldn't have bothered writing this piece. I hope you find your way home.

As political events continue to unfold in the state, I have a basic understanding that more and more people will pick sides, which to me is fair and square in politics. However the stand one takes, we should at least endeavour to elevate the discourse by all possible standards. This, I believe, is the only way to curate driven engagement capable of helping the beautiful brides-- our people-- in forming an informed opinion against future decisions.

Dear Akanbi, it is expedient I point it out that your latest piece, 'Gov. AbdulRazaq: Who is more inordinately ambitious?,' fell short of the above indices. And, funnily, it is a parody of your little effort that you have carefully woven the same attire of comedy you laboured to point out in others. It seems only right to call your piece a self- satire-- because it only speaks about you all through.

 Let me carefully lay it bare. You accused the governor of attacking the personalities of those who contested the 2019 gubernatorial with him and considered it unpalatable. That would be a serious observation if it were only true and made by an objective fellow. First, you will do well to provide empirical evidence of attack against any of these persons like you provided an old link in the body of the article to point out a forgotten disagreement between the governor and one of his aides. Two, you should be able to put a notable name in the government to it. If these are made possible, you may be able to change the public perception of you as a vicious media hireling to watch out for in the coming days.

The second paragraph is a rework of the first inarticulate one. The only point to note is an attempt to paint the governor as an enabler of online provocations between the government well wishers and the insatiable political group renowned for cheap blackmails and propaganda. And I will waste no time in putting it to you that such a notion is lame. That what you see at work is a power of conviction and belief in a just cause. Don't be surprised so many people support the governor today. Not many people cannot see how much he needs help to conquer evil people hellbent on soiling his name in the media because of lurid political purposes. People can now read through the thick screenplay of envy, pettiness, rebellion and hatred you abhor for the man whose God has chosen. I know they may have contracted you for this exercise, but not many people are like you. So you will do well to retrace your steps,too.

Let me equally point it to you that one of the things people pride themselves in the governor is his open door approach to criticism. It is a point of fact that no media person or critics has been arrested in one year of his stewardship. So no life in your lines on stopping people from exercising their freedom of expression. If he was to go by your call to literally hound social media analysts, what would remain of our democracy? In fact, how would a piece so malicious like this find a way out? One is safe to conclude your appeal came as the heat is becoming unbearable. That is how it is: there is often no peace or respite for mischief makers and evildoers. So here is a lesson for Akanbi. He should reason long and hard before writing.

I hate to comment on this again yet I'd take the pain. Making attempts to downplay the struggle of AA in securing the ticket and eventually the seat is too heavy a task for small minds. It presupposes the fact that they all come to town with the narrative that he got it on a platter of Gold. How laughable! While someday a book may come out with detailed accounts, I urge Akanbi and his people to move on. All these media huffs and puffs are becoming embarrassingly childish. It makes them look more like a child crying over a split milk. One is even afraid that their 2023 ambitions giving them sleepless nights now may be a walkover going by their poor display of ingenuity so far. To what end will these half truths further their cause?

Here is the crux of the matter. The point where he sold himself off as a jingle bell of "inordinate ambition" of some persons he desperately sought to deny. After a laborious effort to chronicle the political sojourn of AA, he rounded it off rather shabbily that he practically did nothing and only 'bribed' for the ticket. I appreciate Akanbi for making such a woeful attempt and have the honour to greet him for shooting himself in the legs as we now know where he is coming from.

So I would look further now and send him back home. Akanbi, so o gbo?:

No person today is an opponent to the governor, not even those in other parties as much as the public knows. He has treated them so far as people with different views about social issues. I can see that ' e shock' his traducers so much that people are not giving much attention to their mounting orgy of shamelessness. Once again, it is not too late to learn logic

AbdulRazaq is ordained by God to be governor. He made a worthy push for it and he was eventually crowned. That doesn't mean he did it alone. We know it was due to collaborative efforts with other people. The public knows they lent their time and money and more to support the movement.. They told them that they were concerned about their plights and could do anything to change the story. But that is not about all, as we have come to see. Whereas the world thought they did so out of their free will, some persons had sinister motives.

 And no one, contrary to Akanbi's tell tales, has been harassed, embarrassed, maligned and disrespected secretly or publicly. The governor appreciated all the players and appears to still hold them in high esteem till today. Rather what we have seen in the public space are sponsored writers like himself trying to subvert the people's will for development. I dare him to bring evidence to the contrary. It is just emerging that they are doing so for their 2023 ambitions. But do they have to make the government look bad to look good?

It has always been people like him doing hatchet jobs. The people won't be able to point at statements against any of these figures but have enough memories of articles against the governor. The people won't be able to provide a single statement by any of these respected politicians accusing the governor of any wrongdoing. Until there is Akanbi as a mouthpiece for the vicious one. Already we have a clue which one it is and will not suffer fools gladly. The time will unveil them duly.

In the meantime, we hope they will be brave enough to clarify that the latest of their blackmail is a cry of deep- seated rebellion which Akanbi seriously sought to refute. When will they be bold enough to say it out? Not that they don't have a right to dream. But it is evil machinations as this that show some of them lack the integrity and emotional maturity to hold offices. The armies of blackmail and propaganda against the government just because of a delay in recognising them for one post or the other concretize my claim.

On a serious note, people might have started wondering why Akanbi's sponsors are making a work of their ambitions. They should stop hiding behind a finger. Which work is he saying they have gone back to? Did they not also run in 2019? Were they not working then? No, don't mind them. The rate at which they play God is sickening. As if some of them, especially the identified sponsor of Akanbi with just an over bloated radio clout, didn't lose out woefully. These persons pushing the gentleman had better let him be now. We know they need money to revive a dying medium and is an open secret they would want to milk him again. But may God not allow them to hoodwink and mislead him. The people are enjoying dividends of governance with AbdulRazaq and obviously do not have ears for stories from those bearing the brunt of treachery and sleaze.

I hope Akanbi will set a tempo for constructive criticism henceforth as a rebuttal like this is not what we enjoy.