On this day two years ago, the Senator representing Kwara Central at the National Assembly, Dr Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe staged his first ever empowerment program which featured the distribution of heaps of Cassava tuber, Garri processing tools and cash to selected willing female constituents of Kwara Central who had been earlier trained in the arts of the venture for a week before the day of the empowerment. Many thanks to Facebook for reminding me this morning.
The empowerment program which became the most criticised and ever-insulted exercise by political traducers, uninformed political opponents and the unsuspecting populace was facilitated by Sen. -Dr. Ibrahim Yahya Oloriegbe with a vision of promoting entrepreneurship and self-sustenance through Garri processing trade, a vision which has been since realised as the majority of the beneficiaries of the program are doing impressively well today through the venture.
While poultry farmers, confectionary bakers and cosmetologists were also empowered aside from the instructional materials which were also donated to selected Primary Schools across Kwara Central on that particular day, the mischief-makers chose to trend and twist the Cassava story beyond reasonability as if none of them has ever drunk Garri, ate Fufu and bread made out of Cassava tubers which they much denigrated because of their sheer hatred for the person who facilitated the empowerment. As such, they wrote him off and cancelled outrightly, the representation that was just one year and three months old as of that time. There were about seven months of no activity across the globe out of those fifteen months due to the Covid-19 Pandemic that shook and shrunk the world and its inhabitants.
They have forgotten! Despite all our entreaties, explanations and evidence-based corrections to straighten the misinformation, the bitter enders did not retreat until they got tired and weakened by the undeniable legislative strides of the Senator whom they have despicably dubbed 'Sen. Egemony', 'Sen. Egebideen, 'Cassava Senator' amongst others. And today, many of them are not only seeking overt and covert forgiveness from God and man for their mischiefs but have become cheerleaders of Sen. Dr Ibrahim Yahya Oloriegbe's uncommon feats as the representative of the people of Kwara Central. No matter how long lies have travelled, the truth would catch up and overtake them with time.
Just as Sen. Oloriegbe was made a demon for choosing Cassava as a tool of empowering willing constituents, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was almost skinned alive for dare positing that Nigeria under him as president would feed our Armed forces with 'Cassava and Agbado'. The rest as they say is history.
*Bolaji Aladie* is media aide to Sen. Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe.
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