By: Abdullahi Abdulsalam
For those who are very familiar with Ilorin folklore, they will be able to easily relate with the import of the title of this piece. While we were growing up in the 80s, names like Nurudeen (shortened and pronounced as ‘Nuru’), Kareem (pronounced as ‘Karimu’), Muneer (whose Ilorin version is Muniru) etc all have a distinct song that were often rendered to whoever bears the name, either as a praise or mockery.
For example, there was a particular song of rebuke normally used to chastise anyone who bears the name of Muniru and whose attitude often depicts that of someone who will refuse to do something and still will not have good words to encourage those who choose to do.
It goes thus: “Muniru, koniru, koni j’eleru o ru…’(loosely translated to mean someone who will not do and would not allow those who choose to do have their peace).
At the moment, this particular song perfectly describes the Kwara PDP in relation to the interventions posted by well-meaning individuals in support of the victims of Alanamu market fire incident.
It is sad to note that a terrible occurrence such as a fire disaster occurred within the community, and people made genuine efforts to ameliorate the pains of those affected (the same people who belong among those the PDP seeks to govern); but instead of joining to support the victims or at least keep quiet if it could not commend the efforts of those who chose to intervene; the Kwara PDP instead descended low to play politics with a serious issue of that magnitude.
While it is fine to play politics, it is unfortunate that the major opposition party in Kwara does not even know the right moment and what matter to trivialize. At a time they should be commending the efforts of those who offered support to the victims of the unfortunate fire outbreak in Alanamu market, assuming they do not have the resources and the good heart to intervene; they are instead busy creating a fiction out of genuine intervention and messing around with a laughable story of one person struggling to outshine the other.
A PDP commissioned viral contents had emerged yesterday with a wanton claim of friction between the Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and the Turaki, Mallam Saliu Mustapha. Because these two great individuals had offered separate supports for the victims of the Alanamu fire, the obviously zero sense group had claimed that it was a mere election time showmanship, and it amounted to a competition for space in the political circle between the Gov. and the Turaki.
But assuming, without conceding, that there was such a struggle between Gov. AbdulRahman and the Turaki as the PDP claimed, which ultimately is to the benefit of the people and the community concerned; would that not be regarded as a “healthy competition”? Yet, such competition is not one that the PDP finds attractive, since the people matter the least in their calculations.
What a lot of people do not realize is that the relationship between Gov. AbdulRahman and the Turaki did not start today. It is a 2-decade long relationship that dated back to their time in Kaduna, where they all grew up. And it has so solidly blossomed it would take more than seventh sense to put asunder, if at all.
But I have nothing but pity for the PDP. Their kite has refused to fly. Their ship is wrecked and now sinking right in their own faces without a rescue. They have inadvertently ended up with unpopular and unsellable candidates who are running a lackluster campaign that's obviously leading to nowhere. So, instead of focusing on their ship that's sinking, they would rather prefer to poke nose into the mundane, with the hope of distracting the ruling APC and its star chieftains from their goals.
It is my prayer that God will give the Kwara PDP and its candidates the genuine heart to know and appreciate that everything cannot be about politics and election.
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