KWARA

Kwara State was one of the first sets of states created, after the tragic coup and counter-coup of 1966 in Nigeria. As the country hurtled towards a Civil War, the creation of states, became one of the masterstroke decisions taken to assuage the feelings of different communities that had been in continuous agitation in the past. I have lived my entire life, being aware of the creation, evolution, and the political developments in our state. I have witnessed the very best of its development, when the state was central to development and we saw service delivery in education, health care, and several other indices of positive life. I grew into life, and began to build a professional life in broadcasting and journalism, within the sureties of the truly remarkable developments of the early decades of the state's development. Similarly, I have experienced and seen at very close quarters, the worst years of state capture, unbridled corruption, the institution of the personality cult of one family, between 1979 and 2019, with the worst excesses manifesting between 2003 and 2019. The writings under this section reflect my understanding of the realities of Kwara State, in the period covered by the pieces here.