Abe daa lode, ko daa nle, ibi e ri e ru’ku Abe re o. ( Abe was a nice man to the outsider but a failure at home, he will not be buried at home).
The above lyrics tell a very sad story of Abe, a very wealthy man, who lived abroad.
After he became rich, he neglected his home town, his roots, but to the outsiders in the foreign land where he sojourned, he was a good man, a cheerful giver.
The worst part of this story was the fact that Abe never identified with his people and neither did he endeavor to have any investments in his home town.
Then, Abe grew old and passed away.
His corpse was brought to his hometown in funfare but surprisingly, when those who were bearing his remains got to the outskirts of his town, they found the gates of his town not deserted but tightly locked from the inside and only an old woman was waiting for them.
As they approached the gates the old woman stopped the procession and sang the song above.
She told them that Abe, though a wealthy man while alive, he was useless to his community to the extent that he did not built a single building for himself in the town and as a result of that, the community had decided to reject his remains.
She asked them to take Abe’s corpse to wherever pleased them as the community would not accept the corpse of someone who contributed nothing to its developments when he had the power to do so.
I saw a news story yesterday evening and when I read through the headline, I shuddered and I immediately remembered the story of Abe and his community.
I also remembered a Yoruba proverb which says the white man’s dog is beautiful but lacks the stamina to hunt games. ( Aja Oyinbo dara, o ku ati sare).
I must admit that I didn’t go through the body of story itself.
The headline is enough to provoke deep thoughts.
The headline reads, ‘ Conference of Speakers Chairman, Ogundoyin’s Award-Winning Leadership Inspires Others To Emulate His Example ‘.
I had read about a particular award given to the Oyo state House of Assembly Speaker by a particular University a couple of days ago.
Why would my mind go to the story of Abe when I saw the headline of the story which eulogized Debo Ogundoyin’s Award-Winning Leadership?
Debo Ogundoyin has been elected Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly since 2019.
He has spent over six years in that position which they refer to as the number 3 in hierarchy of governance in the state.
He is the second person from Eruwa to hold that enviable position.
The late Chief Davidson Mokolade Gbolagunte Esq was the first Eruwa man to be elected as Speaker of the old Oyo state House of Assembly.
Today, we remember him, not as a result of his modest building located at Ile Agidi, along Bareke-Oke-Ola road in Aborerin, Eruwa, but because he used his office to facilitate a Polytechnic that is today known as the Adeseun Ogundoyin Polytechnic, Eruwa.
The establishment of that Polytechnic transformed Eruwa in no small measures and the effects of the Institution on the social-economic activities of the town is massive.
Late Chief Gbolagunte served as Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly for just four years and the competition for Government patronage at the time was higher given the fact that Oyo state at the time included the present day Osun state.
Yet, the man was able to fight for remarkable development of Eruwa and Ibarapa Land.
The interesting part of this story is the fact that not many of the younger generation are aware of the sacrifices of Mokolade Gbolagunte most especially, with respect to the Adeseun Ogundoyin Polytechnic, Eruwa.
I remember vividly well that the late Mokolade Gbolagunte was always in Eruwa on weekends to attend to the concerns of his people.
His house at the time, had no fence. It was completely opened to visitors at all time moreso, when there were no Gates nor Gate men to hinder anyone from accessing the building.
At the time, Baba had a reservoir where he used to store water because we still had access to pipe borne water at the time and after his tenure as Speaker, he would personally supervise the distribution of water to neighbors between 8 and 10am in the mornings and 4 and 6 pm in the evenings.
I can confirm that he used to stay up at midnights to personally pump water for storage.
Such was the dedication of Mokolade Gbolagunte, the late former and first Speaker of the old Oyo state House of Assembly, to his people.
Now, come to Debo Ogundoyin.
Like I said, he has been occupying the office of Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly for over six years now.
What are his achievements?
Since he became Speaker, Governor Seyi Makinde has been making one empty promise or the other regarding the only direct road that connects Ibarapa to Ibadan, the 48 klm Ido/Eruwa road.
When Governor Makinde deceived the people of Eruwa that the road would be completed by December of 2023, Debo was aware that only 12 of the 48 klm of the road was actually awarded.
He must know because the funds appropriated for the project was approved by the House of Assembly under him as Speaker and through that process, he had information about the actual number of klms awarded.
Yet, he joined the Governor to deceive the people of his home town.
He was also with the Governor when he made another empty promise to complete the project within eleven months from the date of the Coronation of Samuel Adebayo Adegbola.
Personally, I never expected anything positive from Governor Makinde’s promise on that occasion.
The Governor was ambushed by shame on that day, so he needed to save his face but several months have passed now, what efforts has Debo Ogundoyin put in to ensure that at least, he saved his own face?
From the day Governor Makinde made that promise till today, nothing has happened on the road.
Under Debo Ogundoyin as Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly, the roads from Eruwa New Garage-Local Government-Poly-Oke -Ola and Alayande Junction-Isaba were awarded sometimes in the year 2020.
It was alleged that a sibling of Debo Ogundoyin got the contracts.
For about six years now, both projects were abandoned and the roads made worse.
According to Governor Seyi Makinde, the Eruwa Farm Settlement was to be upgraded and Debo Ogundoyin was the Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly which has been approving funds for that purpose.
Has the Eruwa Farm Settlement been upgraded?
When there were uproar about the contract sum for the rehabilitation of the Adamasingba Sports Stadium, Governor Makinde said the costs of the rehabilitation covered construction of mini stadia across the zones of Oyo state.
Igboora was chosen as the beneficiary for Ibarapa zone.
What has Debo Ogundoyin done to ensure that this comes to reality? After all, Oyo state House of Assembly approved the funds for this purpose years ago.
The road linking Ibarapa with Ibadan has been in a deplorable condition for the past six years.
All the roads within Eruwa, including the one linking the residence of the late father of the Speaker are bad.
The Ibarapa East Local Government is docile with no reasonable projects done for years.
It is worrisome to note that each time you heard that a contract is to be awarded within the town, the name of the Speaker would crop up.
Whether the above insinuation is true or false, the fact that anyone would associate his name with contracts should be a concern even to him.
Presently, a document from the Oyo state Government has re-listed the New Garage Junction- Local Government-Poly-Oke -Ola road and the Alayande Junction-Isaba roads for fresh contract awards.
I have a few questions for the Speaker here.
I have thrown those questions to the Governor even though I didn’t expect any response from him but as a mark of patriotism, will Debo Ogundoyin provide answers to the following questions?
What happened to the initial contracts awarded for the New Garage Junction-Poly-Oke-Ola road and the Alayande Junction-Isaba road?
Were they cancelled or what?
Who exactly was the contractor who got those jobs and why did the contracts failed?
In the new approval, a particular road is incongruously defined as Lanlate Garage Junction- Local Government-Poly-Oke -Ola road.
Will the Speaker explain whether the project would cover from Lanlate Garage – Orita Eruwa – Sanngo – New Garage Junction-Poly-Oke-Ola?
Will the Speaker provide insights as to how all the road projects totalling less than two kilometers will be done for an outrageous sums of over 4b Naira?
There’s also being some allegations that the Speaker and the overall Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Ibarapa zone are on each others throats, fighting over the contracts listed within Eruwa Ibarapa.
Is that the case?
I don’t know the criteria used to arrive at the choice of Debo Ogundoyin by those who presented him with an award.
However, it is very unfortunate to note that there is nothing to write about the Speaker in his home town.
I can conveniently say that Ibarapa, most especially, Eruwa has never had it this bad under any Government.
Like I said, Eruwa will forever be grateful to Gbolagunte for the Polytechnic of Eruwa, regardless of the name affixed to the Institution.
What are we going to remember Debo Ogundoyin for?
Abe daa lode, ko daa nle, ibi e ri e ru’ku Abe re o!
Sola Abegunde.
