You wake up every morning to stories that defy even logic and rational thinking. This latest one is like a man who went fishing in an empty pond and came back to announce that he caught a whale.
Two articles. Two empty barrels that deserve to be shaken and put these traducers to shame.
*The first one screams about missing nomination documents. Missing CV. Missing oath, missing this and missing that. The only thing that was not missing was the human hands that went to submit the documents. But you cannot say a man’s soup is saltless when the pot is still on the fire. Forms are on sale. Submissions are ongoing. The window is wide open. So how can documents be missing from a process that has not closed?*
This is like a doctor diagnosing a sickness before the patient has entered the hospital, or a judge passing a sentence before the accused has spoken. It makes no sense. That is exactly how they want it, because when sense is absent, confusion becomes the weapon of the desperate.
They give no INEC query. No party letter or a disqualification notice. Just “sources within party circles.” That phrase is the uniform of people with nothing to wear. When you have no fact, you hide behind a source. When you have no evidence, you manufacture a circle. This is a vacuum wearing a headline.
*Governor Abiodun has danced this dance twice before. In 2019 and 2023. He submitted his papers. He passed the test. He won elections. Now they say he forgot to attach a CV? A man who has governed a state for eight years forgot to write his own history? That is a compliment to his patience for even reading such nonsense. If this is the best they can fabricate, they should be embarrassed.*
*Now to the second article: The ranking senator argument – They say Ogun East needs a senator who has stayed long enough to become ranking. They mention Senator Yayi. They mention the late Senator Kofoworola. They talk as if sitting for years is the same as building for years.*
*Let us pause here and ask a simple question. Over all these years, with all these constituency allocations that have passed through their hands, what exactly do they have to show for it? We are not the ones who will answer. Let them answer. Let them stand before the people of Ogun East and name it. Let them bring out the list. Let them show the evidence. We will wait.*
Because here is the thing they fear. The moment they start naming, they will also have to explain the money that was allocated versus the value that was delivered. And that is a conversation they have been avoiding all this while. That is why they hide behind the word “ranking.” It is easier to talk about tenure than to talk about returns. When we reach that bridge, we will help them cross it, even if it means dragging them with a string.
They want you to keep a man in the Senate because he has sat there for years. But ask them to place his constituency allocations on one side and his achievements on the other. The scale does not balance. It does not even wobble. They will look at the floor and change the conversation. Let them prove us wrong. Let them bring their receipts.
Now, let us talk about those who did not wait for ranking to deliver. Let us talk about first-term senators who showed up and worked from day one.
Take Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong from Cross River South. Three years in the Senate. Twenty-two bills. Eight motions. Twenty-three kilometres of roads. Twelve thousand four hundred solar streetlights. Solar boreholes in all seven local governments. Over five hundred thousand free bus rides. Thousands of bags of food and fertiliser. No ranking. Just work.
We could go on and on. Senator Mohammed Monguno from Borno North. Senator Benson Apugo from Ebonyi. The list is long. What do they all have in common? They did not sit around waiting for ranking to begin working. They understood that the people sent them to deliver, not to count years.
*The same people now clutching their chests about “experience,” forgot to mention what that experience has actually produced. Go ahead. Tell us. We are listening. But do not give us names of senators. Give us names of projects. Give us locations. Give us dates. Give us budgets. We will wait right here.*
*Then there is the proven network, goodwill, and interpersonal skills Governor Abiodun brings. The connections and respect he already enjoys across board. That is what truly matters in the Senate. As governor, he has brought the Senate President and leadership to Ogun State multiple times. Now contrast that with how many times has OGD been honored by the Senate leadership. These are the things that earn any senator a decent level of respect and a principal office in the National Assembly, not the number of years spent there without any meaningful work to show for it.*
They also say Governor Abiodun will be weak if he goes to the Senate because he will be a first-timer. That is the oldest scare tactic in Nigerian politics. A two-term governor is not a learner. He has managed billions. He built an airport. He built roads. He grew IGR. He chaired the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. But yes, tell us more about how he needs to sit on a bench for four years before he understands how things work. Tell us another one. We are listening.
Every day, they cook a new story. Yesterday it was security issues on a flight to Mecca. Today it is missing documents. Tomorrow it will be something else. They are desperate to project him negatively before the public, hoping to weaken his voting strength. But the Governor is too busy governing to join their circus.
*So here is our advice to the people behind these empty articles. Go and find something useful to do. Plant something. Build something. Stop cooking meals that even you cannot eat. A desperate man will throw anything at the wall, hoping something sticks. But desperation is not a strategy. It is a confession of defeat.*
The people of Ogun State are not fools. They are not moved by phantom documents. They are not confused by the argument of empty tenure. They want to see what has been delivered. Let the ranking senator come forward and show us. We will wait.
Until then, the Governor is building. The rest are scrambling to remember what they did with the money.
Signed :
Dr Arabambi Abayomi
Convener
Sustainability Of Ogun State And Dapo Abiodun Legacy Beyond 2027
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