Ona-ara Local Government, Ibadan in its Lowest Ebb

I have seen honourables with remarkable achievements, I have seen honourables with feeble achievements. I have seen bills that did not see the light of the day. I have seen many uncompleted projects, I have seen phantom projects that are not visible to the ordinary eyes.

What I have not seen is an honourable that can't even make a speech. What I have not seen is an honorable that shot himself right in the foots. Sadly, the honourable is my state honourable in Ona-ara LG. I know people love to see Ona-ara as scarcely underdeveloped despite the vantage position and array of lands for modern industrialization and commercial farming. Our weakness can also serve as our strength - we have a land mass capable of starting up agriculture for interstate trade, instead we choose to deject our resources and the abundant potential in our land and labour resources.

Ona-ara LG is bereft of good leaders from time immemorial, we can go on and on to list names but it will drive us nowhere to cast aspersion. What spurred me to write this long epistle is our present state honourable, Buniyamin Azeez, who couldn't even come up with laudable achievements over the last three years instead they were laughable. We have the rain to thank for saving us the embarrassment of listening to a poorly cooked dissertation adorned with mediocrity. He wrote that speech like a sophomore, I could not blame him less as Ona-ara is designed for the lower dichotomy of the Ibadan people: the lower class. We couldn't even challenge him to do a proper speech, he was also less bothered about how that lowly rated address will slice up his further political ambition into tatters, we raised no obvious fear for him, no challenges, he was infact, in his poverty stricken state on mind, prepared to read it aloud to do lower class of the society who wouldn't adjudge him excellent, fair or poor.

More laughable enough, he has achieved absolutely nothing in his over three years in office, his pedestrian singular bill, three motions, explanation and boreholes in 11 wards - so ineffectual and paltry result is the dumbest report you will hear in your entire lifetime. He further hoped for a second term, how do you fail the people this obviously and still gather the courage to make a second term request. We are no zombies. The passionate people of Ona-ara LG are not blind chauvinist.

But he goofed completely, much like his past colleagues who have hold higher political offices in the past. They all came up with the believe that they can merely toy with the heart of the people, simply do nothing and later come back to solicit for their vote and support by dolling out peanuts. Having come this far in our democracy, we would not give into you false prophets anymore, Fela Anikulapo branded you all 'animal in human skin'.

If we can't conquer Nigeria as a whole, we will stand tall in Oyo state and in a smaller unit: Ona-ara and Inukan LCDA

Alaafin of Oyo Endorse Bayo Adelabu for Governor

The Federal Honourable representing Afijio/Oyo East/Oyo West/ Atiba local government constituency Hon. Akeem Adeniyi Adeyemi, the crowned prince of Oyo Town has also publicly declared his support for the governorship candidature of the Agbaakin Parakoyi of Ibadanland Adebayo Abdul-Waheed Adelabu.

Speaking at the official press conference of Adebayo Adelabu governorship declaration, Hon Akeem Adeyemi expressed his profound joy at witnessing such as historic event which in his words: will bring forth many successes and transformation to our dear state, Oyo.

He emphasized strongly on the high pedigree on standards of our past leaders in the calibre of late Chief Bola Ige, late Lam Adeshina and present Governor Abiola Ajimobi who all have rich family history on their side and how Chief Bayo Adelabu will achieve similar greatness and even propagate the Adegoke Adelabu legacy to a higher level.

In the same tone, he delivered the greetings and political support of the High King, The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III. He relayed the King's solemn support for Bayo Adelabu's ambition and further shed more lights on the relationship between his grandfather King Adeniran Adeyemi II, the then Alaafin of Oyo and Honourable Adegoke Adelabu Penkelemesi and how they, the descendants, have all been committed to fostering a better relationship due to their connected bloodlines.

In his closing remark, Honorable Akeem Adeyemi thanked Bayo Adelabu, a governorship aspirant under the platform of the ruling party APC, for keeping a good name of the Adelabu family while in office bearing in mind President Mohammadu Buhari's complete disregard for corruption. A good name is more precious than Gold. He promised to stand by Adelabu 2019 project completely and observe all sort of mobilization in his own little capacity.

Adebayo Adelabu Resignation: A Sacrifice for the Betterment of Oyo State

Adebayo Adelabu, the grandson of Adegoke Adelabu Penkelemesi, recent resignation from the CBN is no longer news and the gist have been littering all over the media space from the conventional media to the new media. It is also no longer news that he will in due time make a public declaration on his ambition and party line of focus. However, since his resignation hit the media space, it has garnered mixed reactions from the public and many have pondered on the plausibility of someone in Nigeria leaving such a juicy office, the CBN, for the murky and uncertain political terrain of state politics where nothing is absolutely guaranteed. These line of thoughts, albeit quite understandly, is unbeknownst of some basic fundamentals on the history of Bayo Adelabu himself.

Permit me to digress a little, Bayo Adelabu grew up in the slums of Oke-Adu in Oluyoro, Ibadan, where he went to primary school and later attended Lagelu Grammar School before going to the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (Great Ife) where he graduated with a first class in Accounting. He has since been in the private sector gradually rising up the ladder of success right to the peak of his profession where he was at the brink of becoming the Managing Director of First Bank PLC before the office of the deputy governor of CBN came begging for his service. Through these periods the Oke-Adu boy hardly spends a weekend outside the shores of his state.

Infact it is a street parlance in Ibadan that Adelabu is always in town for the weekend from his different spells at work in Lagos and Abuja except when he is out of the country on official duty. His affinity and passion for the town can be traced back to his childhood days where he hawked and sold different food items, played through the streets, the nooks and crannies of the town and became an home grown son of the soil. These and much more reasons are the justification for his staunch patriotism of his beloved state and explains further why he is passionate about providing an improved living standard for his people. 'I have longed believe that sacrifice is the pinnacle of patriotism' so says Bob Riley. Bayo Adelabu's level of patriotism to his home state can be further exemplified by his solemn decision to resign from the apex bank and contest for the number one seat in the state, which counts for a great sacrifice considering the high stakes involved. Hence making such humongous sacrifice beseech an immense level of appreciation and embrace from his people. This selfless gesture from this young man should rather be widely applauded by his people, just as Napoleon Hill once postulated that 'Great achievements is always born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness'.

From his rich profile, it is visible that he largely has a high percentage of his businesses located in Oyo state: from his hotel business, Bayse one hotels, which is over 10 years in operation to the international franchise of Best Western Plus; real estate business with offices/shopping complexes; Bayse one Farms (agriculture). Quite unlike many capitalist who would rather savour the opportunities in situating their businesses in foreign countries, Bayo Adelabu has looked inward to tap from the opportunities and resources available to flourish his business with home grown talents who can even be more productive than their foreign counterparts. He has localised his business ideas to enrich and support the bountless and numerous untapped resources of the state.

The huge and selfless contribution to the revitalization of his alma mater, Lagelu Grammar School is equally unparalleled. He has been the chief contributing factor to the rebranding of the age old institution where he also double as the Chairman, School Governing Board, Lagelu Grammar School. He has spearheaded many laudable projects to awaken the learning standard of the school from it slumber, his numerous projects cannot go unnoticed since 2012, the year he led his set, 1982/87, to renovate two blocks of classrooms, provision of 500 units of students chairs and lockers, 10,000 pieces of big exercise books and 10 computer work station as their quota to providing quality education in the school. Evidently, Bayo Adelabu has  been a work in progress since then and in 2017, he also led his set to donate an ultra-modern block of toilet consisting of 8-rooms while celebrating their 30-years graduation anniversary. More recently in 2018, he is building a school governing board building for the school which will house the administrative office of the School, School Governing Board Office and an Alumni Centre, superlative gesture you will say, he does them without blinking an eye.

It doesn't end there, he has a wide range of projects in the state which were facilitated during his tenure as deputy governor of CBN. Projects which include: Donation of Multi-billion Naira buildings for the University of Ibadan, the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, the Technical University, Ibadan and Bishop Philips Academy Secondary School; the CBN Ultra-modern Diagnostics and Medical Center in Ibadan while the proposals for similar projects have been approved by the Board of the CBN for the University College Teaching Hospital, (UCH), The Polytechnic, Ibadan and Lagelu Grammar School, Ibadan to commence work soon. He is also about to commission the already completed Skill Acquisition Center in Ibadan and the new Ultra-modern Administrative Building for Lagelu Grammar School. He has also assisted the state government in tourism attraction with his state of the art investment in hospitality and  the entertainment sector, as well as providing affordable housing for the people of Oyo state through his investments in commercial real estate all over Oyo state and so much more, all to mention but a few.

All these recap, however sets up an intrinsic knowledge on the motivating factors behind the concept, Bayo Adelabu, his future ambition towards the betterment of Oyo state and his subsequent retirement from the CBN. He does not come to you like your everyday Nigerian politician whose primary goal is to invest in the people abinitio, thereupon, multiply their gains consonantly when they assumes power, but Bayo Adelabu comes to build Oyo state together with the people to reach an unprecedented height in the history of the state and to also propagate the huge and priceless imagery and ideology of his grandfather Adegoke Adelabu Penkelemesi, pioneer of modern politics in Nigeria.

A lot is vested in his pedigree and rich family history which will also serve as a yardstick in measuring his level of success during his tenure. Hence, his resignation should rather be seen as a humane and selfless gesture which deserves our collective embrace. It also serve as a pointer to the believe that there is no juicy office that is not worthy of retirement or walking-away from especially when you can make more notable influence and proffered changes to your people's way of life and social environment than the former office. Bayo Adelabu has influenced many lives during his private and public service yet at a restricted capacity in the banking sector, his greater impact will no doubt be felt and accomplished if he assumes the helm of affairs by being the governor of Oyo state come 2019. Bayo Adelabu Penkelemesi is the man to make the difference and return the state back to its former glory as the country's pacesetter, let's rally round to support this great achiever towards 2019.

IN PURSUIT OF HIGHER SERVICE: THE BAYO ADELABU EXAMPLE BY AKINSOLA IGE

One of the most difficult decisions a man can make is to walk away from his Olympian height  while the ovation is still at its loudest. Indeed it is not in the nature of man to so do,  especially a Nigerian holding a very high position of authority  in the Nigeria clime. That difficult decision was what Adebayo Adekola Adelabu, FCA, FCIB took on May 31, 2018 when he resigned his appointment as the Deputy Governor,  Central Bank of Nigeria!

EVEN while it is no longer news that the Deputy Governor in charge of Operations of CBN had turned in the towel  at the apex bank,  the novelty of his action is what stands this youthful technocrat out as a man of example worthy of emulation by not only those who would hold positions of authority in the future but also current political and corporate leaders who view public offices as a lifetime throne. While cynics might want to argue that resignation from office is not of much ado, such nay-sayers should be reminded that walking away from the Central Bank of Nigeria as Deputy Governor and potential Governor is perhaps unprecedented in the annals of the nation's foremost banking institution.

SENTIMENTS aside, one of the takeaways or lessons to be leant from Bayo Adelabu's action is to realise that there is no position, no matter how prestigious and exalted that one can not walk away from even when there are higher prospects of moving further up. This astute banker has made a loud statement with his resignation indicating that he is of much deeper conviction and vision than the very prestigious office which he had voluntarily bid bye.

LIKE he had always done wherever he had had the privilege of serving in his over twenty five years of professional life,  this Ibadan-born banking and finance guru left the Central Bank with trail-blazing achievements that would be difficult to match in years to come at the apex bank. While transversing three of the four Directorates of CBN namely; Corporate Services,, Financial Systems Stability and lastly,  Operations, this former Chief Finance Officer of the country's oldest commercial bank,  First Bank proved his mettle as he brought novel innovations that have seen the CBN gaining worldwide applause and accolades in its statutory and other supervisory responsibilities.

UNDER the able leadership of the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele,  this First Class Accounting graduate of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile Ife contributed immensely to the raising of standards in the banking and finance industry in Nigeria to a much higher height. Throughout his stewardship at the CBN,  his impacts on the lives of the ordinary Nigerians are not just academic but downright practical. Such populist CBN-driven financial policies like Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme(ACGS), Payment System Strategy Board (PSSB) Treasury Single Account(TSA) to mention but a few and their attendant positive impacts are the evidence of his dexterity in his four-year sojourn at CBN. However, discerning minds would not be too surprised about these Adelabu-inspired exploits. Those far reaching achievements just go to show that someone like 'Bayo Adelabu who had transversed all the foremost Business Schools in the world by the quality of his trainings is condemned to succeed wherever he is opportuned to serve.

NOW that the Chairman of the Oyo State Security Trust Fund has put his tenure at the CBN behind him, it is an open secret that his next move is towards the highest office in Oyo,  his home state. But then,  this particular Bayo that has been severally tested and has earned the trust of Nigerians nay the people of Oyo State is fast learning that the murky waters of the state's politics is not for the chicken-hearted nor lily-livered. Characterisrically, as a chip of the old block and grandson of the irrepressible Adegoke Adelabu (Penkele Messi) he has fast learnt the rope and currently the candidate to beat in this crowded race towards occupying the Agodi Hill comes May 29. 2019.

CURIOUSLY, and yet interestingly, there is somewhat a familiar trend about the trajectory of past attainments of the  immediate past CBN Deputy Governor, Operations. Recall that while he was coasting home to become the Group Managing Director of First Bank, a higher role was waiting in line for this Destiny Child. Such scenario seems to be playing out as his chances of becoming the substantive Governor of CBN is getting more plausible before his present detour into politics. The slight difference in the present scenario is that while Bayo's current political move is a sharp detour, the title and nomenclature of the highest office in CBN where he just left may be exact and same in all fours with the next one he is eyeing and destined to occupy!

BY AKINSOLA IGE, ESQ.
IBADAN
08034037151