Inside Kwara PDP political entropy

By: Ibrahim Abdul-Aziz

Winston Churchill once thoughtfully remarked that the price of greatness is responsibility. For the Kwara APC, nothing is truer. In principle and in practice, the party has demonstrated effective leadership where it matters – in policy formulation and implementation – one that spreads the dividends of democracy across the state curves and contours. In fact, Kwara APC under the reliable stewardship of Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has surpassed and shattered all available records in office – even the best of Kwara PDP is scared of the APC’s.

From the quality and functional education, to sustainable infrastructural strides, to accessible and affordable health care, to name just three, the government of APC in the state has no doubt permanently etched its name in the gold as a credible platform under which good governance can be achieved.

Oddly, the events of the past three years are a clear departure from the PDP’s sixteen years of ineptitude, incompetence, and ineffective leadership. Until the overwhelming and massive electoral victory Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, the lot of Kwara was to modestly capture it: a sorry case. In the human development index, under PDP’s administrations, Kwara was notoriously reputed to be a backbencher, languishing in debilitating debt while its citizens wallowed in abject poverty.

The irony of PDP Kwara was that the government and its machinery were carefully and cautiously built around the ego, aspiration and ambition of one man, at the expense of millions of diligent and patriotic Kwarans. Here is the catch: the peril of a strongman is that once they fall, their entity and perhaps dynasty fall suit. At that distant and terrible time, that man’s cough was enough to send a shiver down the spine of the state economy and perhaps the government itself. 

Once people got a glimpse of how their patrimony became subservient of one man, they refused to turn the other cheek.

In addition, Kwara PDP’s sixteen years of misrule stands in sharp contrast to Churchillan’s nugget. Where the famed British Prime Minister advocated responsibility, Kwara PDP preferred irresponsibility. 

And as Stephen Covey conjectured in his best-selling book, Seven Habits of Habit of Highly Effective People, responsibility is response+ability, that is the ability to respond appropriately in a given situation and circumstances. For Kwara PDP during their infamous reign, the best way to respond to people’s pain and plights, cries, and hues is to steal, siphon and squander. They milked the state dry, embarked on frivolous ridiculous and cosmetic projects.

The result was the devastating blows that landed on them in the 2019 elections won by the visionary leader, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. And for the past three years, the Governor has carried out his duty and assignments with unmatchable clout, dexterity and acumen. He has shown Kwara can only progress and succeed where others stumble and falter – through purposeful and adaptive leadership. To better understand this gist, it helps to look at some of the giant strides recorded by the administration of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.

In terms of critical infrastructure, Kwara state has moved up in the ladder. It has changed dramatically from a state that only pays salaries to one that can boast of achievements.

Unfortunately, the opposition PDP have remained quiet in all of these and more. They are jittery at how an administration could achieve and record this in the shortest time possible – despite paucity of funds. In other words, the dwindling fortune of Kwara PDP is not unconnected with its woeful performance in office and in so far as APC continue to deliver dividends of democracy to the people across board, it will continue to lead while others follow.