Loyalty Indeed; by Thomas A. Akintoye | Opinions



It is over a whole year that the National election which ushered in President ‘Bola Ahmed Tinubu was held. As is the usual and expected practice before such a big election, numerous groups showed their unalloyed support for their candidate. Banners, Bill boards as well as designated offices dotted the whole city!

Indisputably, PBAT enjoyed unprecedented support in huge numbers. However, barely twelve months later, a cursory look throughout the landscape of the metropolitan city of Ibadan: the capital of Western Region, Western State and Old Oyo State, notorious for "operation wet e" in the 60's and rascality cum vandalism seen in 1983, shows that almost all the support group offices had been closed down. Except for two.

These are the two big offices occupied by Sen. Rilwan Akanbi and utilized as the 2023 campaign outlets for PBAT election. The offices are still standing with very visible billboards and banners of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The first of these offices is located at Ringroad, a popular and densely populated area of Ibadan South West Local Government. The second one is in the hugely populated interior of the city namely ‘Nalende, in Ibadan North West LG.

Noteworthy is the fact that The multiple campaign buses branded and used for the electioneering campaign by Sen Rilwan Akanbi are still visible till date.

It can be said that for anyone to keep such offices running and campaign vehicles functioning, he must be popular and well loved in his community. Suffice to say that most had closed down their offices for obvious reasons which includes lack of funding as well as fear of repraisal attacks like when the Petroleum products subsidy was removed and the hyper-inflation biting very hard!

Loyalty as the topic which is rear in politics, On his part, Senator Rilwan Adesoji Akanbi, the Okanlomo of Ibadanland, remains the astute progressive he has always been. Well known for his philanthropic endeavours, he will continue to be a worthy voice of the people while proudly raising the flag of the Party very high.

Signed.
Thomas A. Akintoye
Email: taakintoye @gmail.com