Permit me to start by first and foremost congratulating you over your overwhelming victory at the just concluded House of Assembly Poll. The rigorous campaigns, permutations, alliances and counter alliances forged before, during and after the election bear testimony of a well deserved victory. To this end, accept my sincere congratulations Sir.
This congratulatory message is coming at this time for some reasons; first, to allow the encomiums, celebrations and of course goodwill messages that accompanied the election outcome subside.
Second, it is my firm believe that by now you must have settled so well to start reminiscing on events that preceded the election and the aggregation of certain interests that will form the basis of agenda setting for the next four years.
Lastly, it is hoped that you must have been relieved of the pressures arising from the electioneering period and thus presenting an ample opportunity for this piece to gain your attention.
The record breaker; Sir, you will agree with me that fate has been so kind to you. Your political adventure and subsequent uncommon successes are evidence of God’s benevolence and kindness on you. As you know, I am not one of your many supporters and sycophants who know nothing but sing praise you at every given opportunity. However, the record must be set straight.
Sir, you will recall how many times you tried, contested and failed, for several but obviously obsolete reasons and impediments. Yet in 2015, we saw a need to join hands and fight, so you won. Yes you won not just the election but you won the battle against such politics that set us against one another, you won and defeated the age long practice of ibi owe ire, thereby setting a new paradigm in motion.
Sir, you were the first to defeat an incumbent, the first to defeat all the assembly of the then Owe political leaders who were against your ambition (many of whom are now your close associates), you then became the first representative from the constituency to become. Majority Leader of the House, the first Speaker from Kabba and indeed Kabba/Bunu, as God will have it you became the first Acting Governor from Kabba/Bunu Constituency and finally, the first representative to get re-elected. This is no mean feat, I must confess.
However, just like Mordecai said to Esther; “…and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”. I strongly believe that all these did not just happen for nothing, God has done all these for you for a reason and that is for you to stand in for the people when it matters the most, to be their voice and speak for them, lobby for them and when necessary fight on their behalf.
The agenda
There is no agenda greater than the people’s well-being. This must occupy the first on the agenda list and subsequently form the basis for adopting or otherwise of any proposed plan(s).
Sir, you must know that there is hunger in the land, this is not the usual kind common in most places, it is the kind that have assumed an unprecedented dimension wherein our people have been subjected to untold hardship, humiliations, some resorting to begging, and yet our people die daily over avoidable illness, all these are the resultant effect of a non functioning system where workers are not been paid for several months, our senior citizens owed and yet, others are hanging in the air without knowing their fate whether they are still in service or out.
Mr Speaker, the cry of these poor people must get your attention in this second term of yours. Also, the alarming rate of youth restiveness and hooliganism is mind bugling, which is a direct fallout from the high rate of unemployment, and so should attract your attention when setting the agenda. This is not without the recognition of your empowerments programs in the past, but I sincere think and convinced that you need to review and improve.
Mr Speaker Sir, may I call your attention to some salient observations that manifested during the electioneering period.
First, The election was a rich contest knowing the calibre of persons that showed interest and vied along with you. Many of these folks, myself inclusive, came with a burning desire, passion and vigor to contribute their own quota to the development and upliftment of the Constituency. I have had cause to study, review and criticise some of the blueprints projected by these aspirants and discovered very rich, interesting, workable and lofty developmental ideas. Therefore, in the interest of the people to which you swore to protect and in the spirit of sportsmanship, I employ you as well as advice that you reach out to some of these people in other to run an all inclusive government that will bring everyone to the drawing board for the benefit of our Jerusalem (Kabba/Bunu).
On my part as an individual, I hereby pledge to support you on every cause in favor of the people of Kabba/Bunu Constituency and equally promise never to pretend, shy away or spare my voice whenever I perceive things to be wrong.
Secondly, I observed that the people are more than ever before more aware of their rights and prepared to fight for same. I employ you once more not to betray this trust.
Finally, you must stand firm and refuse to take too seriously the counsel of sycophants who sees every critics as enemies you must not be close to, this is democracy, the system that ensures the will of the majority prevails but equally guarantee the opinions of the minority.
Once again, I congratulate you while wishing you a very fruitful tenure.
– Hon. Prince Olorundare A. S. Destiny, CHRP
