₦airaland Forum

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.”

[/b]
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.

Eko Ile:


My ignorant friend, you are very wrong. Akwa Ibom has the largest budget in Nigeria and less infrastructure and service delivery.

Akwa Ibom's budget for 2012 was 407 Billion plus 2 supplemental budgets for 100 Billion and 125 Billion = 632 Billion which remains the highest in the history of Nigeria for 1 single year.

Lagos state's budget for 2012 was 485 Billion

by d way, does dis man still exist? tot he's passed on.
what a way 2 display falure! it also shows he has a failed mindset.
i tink he shud just sharrap and bow his head in shame.

who would want to remember failure? Nobody i guess, so i don't blame him for his opinion.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Thinking political office is an act of god is EXACTLY the problem with every African leader since the independence movement that began in the 1960's. YOU WERE NOT ELECTED BECAUSE OF GOD, YOU WERE ELECTED BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE.

It is this misguided belief that drives men to hold onto power until they are forced to let go. Who will give up God given authority? What citizen can demand accountability from a man appointed by God himself? NO! These are mortal men who are elected by mortal citizens. Their job is to serve the common man that elected him. Even their power comes from the compliance and cooperation of the PEOPLE, not from the angels.

If African politicians realized that they were average men, and humbled themselves, they would stop fixating on building monuments to vanity and start building roads. Our Governors would fixate less on people calling them "Your Excellency" and they would instead remember that Jesus washed and kissed the feet of his disciples.

The last thing Nigeria needs is more "ju ju" politicians thinking that the Angel Gabriel put them on an eternal throne.
BTW, a single term is a terrible idea, because there will be no reason for a politician to perform. Even if he/she is hated by the people all they will have to do is wait for their term to be up. The whole point of a democracy is that political leadership is a privilege, and not a right. You perform in your first term and get rewarded by the people with a second. If you fail, you are punished by being removed from office. The fear politicians have of elections is the defining hallmark of democracy.

In this bill, there is very little benefit to the common man, and lots of benefits for lazy politicians. That alone is enough to be against this proposal. Even worse is when the people drafting the bill say that they will allow the people currently in office to benefit. That is just opening the door to a dictatorship and that is a door that Nigeria can NEVER open again.

That luxury does come at a steep price. A double bacon cheeseburger sells for 3,500 naira, the equivalent of about $22. A vanilla milkshake is 1,800 naira, or $11.25. Yet the service does come with a smile, a song and a bit of spectacle often missing in Nigeria, where customer service can quickly degenerate into exasperated shouts and curses at blank-eyed employees.

He took the same
arrogance to the NGF. He would
not let Deputy Governors to
represent their governors in an
NGF meeting. He would ask them
to wait downstairs, while he met
with the Governors in attendance.
Amaechi is a ruler.

In the light of recent events in the polity, it is imperative that I continue to explain the make-up of the MB area. I see a situation where some boundaries will have to be agreed between the various regions and peoples of Nigeria

NASARAWA STATE:

This state is just north of the Benue river and north east of the Niger-Benue confluence. It is erroneously thought by a lot of Nigerians to be a core north state.

To give a brief summary, there are settlements of Hausa-Fulani (KEFFI) and Kanuri (LAFIA) which have come to dominate the political landscape of the area since the jihad. However, a lot of small ethnic groups can be found in this 13-LGA state which do not belong to the above groups

Most prominent of these are the Gbagyi (again), Bassa, Ebira (again), Alago, Mada and Eggon. Alago is closely related to Idoma, mainly found in Benue State

My take is that these groups would be of a greater population than the core north groups which can be found in the state
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