Mariam Mariam
Ordinarily, the Distinguished Senator Smart Adeyemi would have ignored, with a wave of hand, the jaundiced opinion article published on this published on this page last week by Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, the above caption. However, this response is necessitated by the fact that the said article is an exercise in a deliberate falsehood and a desperate attempt to malign the Distinguished Senator. It is highly libelous and
stemmed out of personal bias of the writer against Senator Adeyemi. Is’haq Modibbo Kawu used to be one Lame Kawu, who practiced journalism with the Distinguished Senator in llorin, Kwara State in the 80’s and 90’s. He has a phobia for success and is often afraid to take challenges.
Background to the opposition
When Senator Adeyemi was with Nigerian Television Authority llorin as a Correspondent, he made a deliberate effort to bring life into the Kwara State chapter of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ). The first opposition.he.would encounter came from Is’haq Modibbo, who along with his group, insistedon having an Ilorin indigene as the Chairman of the local chapter of the NUJ. The opposition was fierce and persistent, but Senator Adeyemi emerged victorious. When he wanted to move up as the Vice-President of the union, Modibbo and his group were unrelenting as providence havejoined together, to understand the common problems of they formed the opposition group, again God gave Senator Adeyemi victory over them. The story was the victory same when he was to contest for the office of the National President of the union. This is the fundamental issue.
However, the immediate cause of his present outburst is the insistence of Senator Adeyemi to follow the due process and rule of law,in screening the nominated Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, Prof Abdulkarirn Oba, by inviting parties that have petitioned the Federal Character Committee of the Senate on the nomination, to present their views. This will be analyzed in detail later.
His alleged opposition to the North
It is certainly not a hidden fact Senator Adeyemi was born and raised in the North. He speaks impeccable Hausa language and he had substantial part of his education there. To this extent, he is very conversant with the traditions and norms of the northern part of Nigeria. But he never denied his origin as an Okun-Yoruba person. On several occasions in his public comments, he has had cause to publish articles acknowledging the outstanding qualities of the founder and father of the North, the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto as affects the welfare of his Okun Yoruba people.
When the Sardauna was alive, he once visited lsanlu and he was to proceed to the South-Eastern part of Yagba. At a point, he could not further, because itwas raining and the road was terribly bad. His concern was that the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was Premier of the old Western Region, had tarred the road up Omuo, the boundary town between the North and the West. The late Ahmadu Bello was saddened by the condition of the road. He turned back and left but with a promise that the road would be done the following year, but unfortunately, that was the year he died. Up till today, that road still remained as the late Premier left it and yet it is a federal road.
Merger of Kwara and Kogi with West
One of the wild allegations ofModibbo Kawu is that SenatorAdeyemi called for the mergerofKwaraandKogi States with the Western part of country, during the Political Reform Conference of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. This claim is absolutely untrue. During the debate, SenatorAdeyemi raised his voice against the present zoning arrangement, which divided the country into six goo-political zones, particularly as it
affects the electionof the PresidentofNigeria. The only zoning arrangement he supported was that of the NORlH AND SOUTH. His reason was simple: ifKwara and Kogi remain inthe North-Central, anytime there is a president from the South-West leaving office, no Kwara or Kogi Yoruba can aspire to succeed such a president, because there will be a moral question of one Yoruba person leaving office for another Yoruba man to take over. This scenario played out when the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi wanted to be the Chairman of PDP under former President Obasanjo. He was denied the opportunity, because Obasanjo insisted that Awoniyi was Yoruba man like himself.At the conference, Senator Adeyemi called for a different zone to be created for Kwara and Kogi on the basis of this obvious handicap and political margina lizationthattheYombas of Kwara and Kogi would suffer as it has turned out to be today. However his call was not acceded to.
Link with OPC
As I said at the beginning of this write-up, Senator Adeyemi has Whatsoever with the OPC. It so happened that on one occasion, in the course of his assignment as NUJ President, he stumbled on one of the Leaders of the organization at a function in Lagos. That function was on air that evening and that was all. He is not a contributor to the fmances of OPC and he has no association with the organization in any form either directly or indirectly.
His educational background.
As an Okun indigene, Senator Adeyemi did not start life with just a diploma certificate as claimed by Modibbo Kawu . The Okun people value education and their parents often take the extreme option of even selling their properties to train their children in school. Senator Adeyemi had his Advanced level certificate before he proceeded to Bayero University Kano for his Higher Diploma. After that he came back to Kwara State Polytechnic to do a Post Graduate Diploma and today he holds a Masters degree in Public Administration.
His membership of Northern Senator’s Forum
The Northern Senator’s Forum is a voluntary association of all the Distinguished Senators from the northern part of the country.Membership is voluntary in the sense that no Senator is under any influence to join. allowance is paid by been a rnember and no opinion isforced on anybody. However, Senator Adeyemi chooses to be a member of this association, because he feels it is reasonable to be part of the people that destiny and providence havejoined together, to understand the common problems the north and proffer solutions to them. Those who voted for him are full blooded northerners, who believe inwhat he believes in and are happy that he has joined a platform, where issues that concern them can be better addressed. It is of note also that his election as the Vice Chairman of the association is based on his ability to perform and deliver. The Senators that elected him know his antecedents, his ability and courage to lead them and lead them aright too.
Yomi Awoniy’i’s bill board
It is important to stress that it was only Chief Yomi Awoniyi bill board was pulled down during the campaign. Senate Adeyemi’s large bill board that was also pulled down somewhere in Yagba yet had no reason to suspect anybody as he regarded it as an act of political immaturity. If Senator Adeyemi would order the pull down of the late Awonoyi ‘s son bill board, he would certainly not have started his Senatorial project from Mopa and not close to where the late Awoniyi’s family could benefit from it.
Hatred for Ilorin people,
Ilorin happens to be the second home of Senator Adeyemi. To the glory of God, he has prospered in that town. Modibbo Kawu lacks the basic knowledge of what it takes to prosper. It is certainly impossible for one to prosper in an environment where such a person resides and hates the people or the environment. SenatorAdeyemi prospered in Ilorin because he loves the people and the environment. He regards the original Ilorin people as men and women of honour and integrity, gentle and humble people. Through what God has provided him with, he has affected the lives of very many Ilorin people with the provision of employment in his investments. He did not take his money to Lagos or Abuja but he has decided to invest it in lIorin to boast the economy of the state.
Why Modibbo Kawu chooses this time
Modibbo Kawu and his group has chosen this particular time to attack Senator Adeyemi because of their failed attempts to prevail on him not to invite theAcademic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and many other interest groups to testify at the screening of Prof Abdulkarim Oba, an Ilorin indigene and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of llorin, who has been nominated as the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission. As the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Character, Senator Adeyemi has insisted that all the sides to the issues must be heard more particularlywhen Prof Oba would have an opportunity to defend himself at the screening exercise. It is a new dawn in the Senate and not a business as usual. The exercise has provided Prof. Oba not only an opportunity to clear his name of all the allegations, but to assert his innocence.
The Kwara and Kogi NUJ
Before SenatorAdeyemi became the national President of NUJ,Kwara and Kogi chapterswere partofZone Dof the unionwhich has its headquarters in Jos. Many a times, representatives from Kwara and Kogi chapters were unable to attend their meetings inJos because, ittoo far, as ittakes about nine hours by road to get to Jos from 11orin.The issue happened to be one of those addressed atthe ConstitutionalReview Conference, where a decision was taken that Kwara and Kogi chapters of NUJ be joined with the lbadan zone, which is closer to them and more convenient in terms of financial commitment. However, this has not stopped them from fraternizing with their colleaguesfrom the north.Itwas a democratic decision taken for purely administrative convenient and when itwas done.
Certainly, SenatorAdeyemi isnotbotheredneitherwill he be deterred by the ranting ofModibbo and his group. He is over and above them and he has God behind him in his present assignment. Modibbo and his group know what they are united against but they don’t know what they are united for, because they are certainly not working for the interest of north in their present undertaking. Having read the article on Thursday, I jlliJjaalsked the Distinguished Senator ofhis comments. He simply said: “Allah yahyisa.
