By Sola Abegunde
If you knew the late former Governor of Oyo state, Christopher Adebayo Alao Akala, you will have no doubts about his humility, Godliness, kind heartedness and his ability to connect with people of diverse backgrounds.
To Adebayo Alao Akala, your status didn’t matter. All that mattered was the fact that every human being deserved to be treated with dignity. His smile was genuine and infectious. His kind-hearted dispositions was out of this world and his humility was unbelievably genuine.
Like every human being, Alao Akala had his limitations but, for some of us who worked with him closely, most of the negatives things said about him, most especially, in the Press, were either half-truths, outright lies or mere exaggerated propaganda.
No matter how you may wish to look at him, if you were objective, you would definitely agree that Alao Akala had a good heart.
I got to know Hon. Dr. Jelili Kayode Amusan through a mentor of mine. We discussed his intention and aspiration to be the next Governor of Ogun state and that connection afforded me the opportunity to engage Hon. Amusan on a wide range of issues.
We discussed about his antecedents in politics. I took him up on his plans to make Ogun state better than it is and one of the first things that struck me was his grasp of the identified problem areas and the ready made solutions to the problems. I was also in awe of his deep insights and foresight.
For example, we discussed about Agriculture and how Agriculture could be developed to create jobs, make food available and cheaper and ensure increased internally generated revenues, IGR and he told me point blank that his first concern is the security of farmers, the farm land and farm products.
In this regard, he said if he has the opportunity to become the next Governor of Ogun state, he would consider it his first priority to establish what he called Forest Guards to safeguard farmers, the farm land and products.
I think we had this discussion sometimes towards the end of 2024 or early 2025 and not long after, president Bola Ahmed Tinubu raised similar concerns and discussions around the establishment of Forest Guards or is it Rangers were muted by the presidency.
I remember joking about the development with him. I told him that it appeared he and the president were thinking alike in that direction and he said he was happy about it because the president’s proposal would strengthen his desires if it pleases God to make him the Governor of Ogun state in 2027.
I was also captivated by his plans for Education. Without going into the details, I remember that we talked about Vocational training and he gave me a vivid plan about how he intends to intervene by establishing functional Technical Schools in all the Senatorial Districts of Ogun state.
We talked about how he intends to work out a plan that would see Local Governments getting involved in the training of Nurses and Midwives and how after training, the Nurses would be bounded to work for the State and Local Governments for a specific number of years.
We discussed about a similar approach on Agriculture. I remember that we talked about the Adire Market in Ogun state and how he plans to take Ogun state Adire to the world.
Hon. Amusan is ready. Loaded and he means business. I started by talking about the late former Governor of Oyo state, Adebayo Alao Akala. Every Governor of a state is an embodiment of the office they occupy and their real self.
I am not saying that Hon. Amusan will act like Alao-Akala as a Governor. The inference I am drawing here is limited to the personality, the self.
Hon. Amusan is not only a complete gentleman, he is also kind hearted, generous, humble, God fearing and passionate about the feelings of others.
There is no way the personality of an individual will not have an impact on the office he holds. As Governor, the person, self, of Amusan will reflect on how he governs the state.
The combination of the good in his personality will definitely rub on his actions as Governor. May this kind hearted gentleman succeed in his efforts to become the next Governor of Ogun state and certainly, Ogun state will be the better for it.
Sola Abegunde. Journalist and public affairs analyst.
