Recently, the Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Smart Adeyemi, embarked on a tour of the some projects he is executing to make life meaningful for his constituents. AYODELE ADESANMI, who was on the tour, reports.

Though Senator Smart Adeyemi represents Kogi West Senatorial District in the upper legislative chamber, he is better known on the floor of the Red Chamber as man of the masses. Whenever he speaks on the floor of the Senate, he reminds his colleagues that he speaks on behalf of the masses of this country. He also gleefully announces himself as a Comrade. Often, the Senator would punctuate his speech with statements like “I speak for the benefit of the masses of this country.”

But the reality in the statements by Senator Smart would dawn on anyone who visits his Constituency in Kogi West. During a recent tour of some ongoing projects of the Senator, it emerged that the man had practically turned into a ‘government’ of his own. His projects cut across lock-up shops, health centres, stadium and play grounds, community halls and even roads.

In different interviews, Senator Adeyemi had confessed to having been lured into politics by the populist approach of the late strongman of Kwara State politics, Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki. He said that the late Senate Leader’s love for the less privileged in the society is something he wanted to emulate in politics.

He had also revealed that his objective is to help eliminate poverty by giving to the people from the blessings he has a received from God. He appears to be living his dream, going by the projects he is personally implementing in his constituency.

Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi West Senatorial District, Hon. Balga Mohamed, said that the people of the area are impressed and satisfied with the performance of the Senator so far. He stated that the Senator has not disappointed his people since he was voted into office in 2007.

Adeyemi, a two-time National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalist s(NUJ) obviously has no reason to regret the path he had chosen as he benefitted from the goodwill of his people in the build up to the 2011 election. The state government had deployed its forces against his ambition. It took the resistance of his people who had seen him as the champion of their cause to checkmate the forces. He eventually won the party primaries and got re-elected.

Like a crusader, he resumed at the Senate with renewed vigour as he picked up his assignment from where he stopped in the first term. Observers in his area are already touting him for a return to the Senate the third time. He has however warned his supporters not to jump the gun as there is still work at hand for him to do.

During the tour, he told the Chairman of Ijumu Local Government, Dr. Remi Odutola and the Senatorial Chairman of the PDP that he would soon inaugurate a number of projects, including renovated health centres at Igbaruku, Odo Eri, Igbagun and Ayetoro.

There are 30 lock-up shops at Itedo and Egbe towns, as well as 100 similar shops at Iyara, the headquarters of Ijumu local government. The Senator is also building a multi-purpose Town Hall in Koto Karfe, a 2,000 seater stadium comprising a football pitch, handball, Lawn tennis court and swimming pool. This is being replicated in Iyara, headquarters of Ijumu Local Government and Egbe town.

Other projects embarked upon by the Senator include the construction and renovation of classrooms at Ponyan, Ejiba and Oke Eyin, as well as the provision of more thanr 40 boreholes in different communities. He explained that most of the projects were embarked upon through personal savings and support of his friends which came through the Keystone Charity Foundation. The Foundation has procured 21 fully equipped ambulances which are to be distributed to Health Centres across the state. “The medical equipment which are to be delivered to the health centres have arrived Nigeria in seven containers. The 21 ambulances are certified by the Ford Motor Plant in New Jersey, United States of America,” Senator Adeyemi said.

The senator said the cost of the medical equipment to be distributed free by his Foundation was more than N200 million. Some of the equipment include 500 hospital beds and an equal number of mattresses, five incubator machines for premature babies, 10 exercise bikes, 10 special wheel chairs, 20 x-raying machines and 10 Ultra-sound machines.

The Senator said that the medical equipment would not be restricted to Kogi West Senatorial District and that hospitals around the state would benefit from the goodwill.

[b]The ongoing effort by the Senator through his Foundation further complement the gift of more than 200 vehicles that have been given out as empowerment in the Senatorial District. Some 50 Sport Utility Vehicles have so far been given out to traditional rulers and opinion leaders in the area, while the Foundation plans to release 15 before the end of the year.

Having gone round a number of the projects, the Senator looked back with satisfaction on the modest impact he has been able to make in the lives of his people and stated that Nigerians should always vote wisely at elections. According to him, it is incumbent on the people to vote for those who will give them adequate representation and cater for the interest and welfare of the masses. He said: “At the National Assembly we are not only talking, the welfare of our people is equally paramount in our minds. We realize that they are the ones who sent us there to represent them and in order to be a good representative there is need for us to show appreciation.”

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The lawmaker told his people that the strident calls on him by some constituents to contest a third term in the Senate amounted to a distraction as he would prefer to be allowed to face the task of making live meaningful for the people. “This second term was almost truncated; I would not have made it if not for God, because if it was man, it would not have been possible. Therefore, let us leave third term in the hands of God as He would speak through the electorate when it is time,” the senator said.

A woman leader in the senatorial district, Hon. Rachel Olupeke, appealed to the agitators to leave the senator alone for now and pray for his long life. She said for now, he should be allowed to concentrate on his activities, describing Adeyemi as a prayerful and disciplined person who has self control. She stated that the Senator was always concerned whenever any matter that affected women, adding that he had not deviated from this since she met him in 2003.

PDP Chairman in Kogi West Senatorial District, Honourable Balga Mohamed, also disclosed that Senator Adeyemi is a man of the people and that his popularity cut across the country .He attributed this to his contributions to the socio-economic empowerment of his people and his concern for the masses.

However one of the beneficiaries of the yellow taxi cabs donated by the Senator in the first term at the Senate, Abass Mohammed said that Senator Adeyemi promised during his campaign that he would empower his people and he fulfilled the promised.
Mohammed said: “I am highly elated because others who were there before were not able to do anything for us but Senator Adeyemi is one of the outstanding Senators. He is doing well for us and we he has made us proud. That is why we are always behind him.”

Dr. Remi Odutola, a medical practitioner and the current chairman of ljumu local government area of the state said that Adeyemi is a natural giver and philanthropist, adding that he had been involved in philanthropic activities before he became a senator. He added that the lawmaker provided boreholes and donated money to various communities even before joining politics. “If you have followed his activities at the National Assembly closely, you would realize that he is always on the side of the people, agitating for the masses, not for himself,” he said.