twO events will coalesce to bear testimony to the passion and person of one of the very illustrious sons of Ogun State. The activities will happen in quick succession, between May 13 and 14. For Senator Adegbenga Sefiu Kaka, ASK, farmer, former Deputy Governor in the “Gateway State”, his 65th birthday will unload at the final berth on these days aforementioned. Characteristically, for that is the apt word to use, he will be looking at Nigeria from his country home of Ijebu-Igbo, from the binoculars of a fearless Senior Advocate Of Nigeria, Chief Femi Falana. He has all along been concerned, even to the point of being troubled, about the affairs of the Nigerian nation. So, when other self-centered, ostentatious and oppressive mortals would have opted for the choicest place on the seaside, with harems of on-duty-girls to frolic with in the name of birthday( yea, even at that age and above it), this poultry farmer University of Ibadan alumnus has chosen, for altruistic reason, to ask where Nigeria is!
This is not surprising to anyone who has had the privilege to meet, interact and understand this enigma, who is better described thus: Simple, Spartan, Straight. Before one could ask Kaka why he chose to discuss project Nigeria under the topic: “Whither The Nigerian Nation,” on May 13 as a prelude to a school project commissioning, it is pertinent to check his background on and off the political turf. He has been, he is and I will be disappointed if he fails in the future, to continue to be a practitioner and Apostle of human capital development. Building Blocks of classrooms and health centers across the nine local government areas which constitute Ogun East Senatorial District has been his preoccupation.
A study in native intelligence, Kaka will ask that a committee be set up to determine whosoever had served the area where he sites a project well, to name it after him or her as a way of immortalising the person and encouraging others to embrace community service! Only rare humans can do this. I know of more than 40 of such projects across the length and breadth of Remo and Ijebu areas of the state. And still counting, outside government office, at a distance from government patronage and portfolio. That is one of the hallmarks of a non-conventional politician, a statesman whose eyes are fixed on the future. To underscore the axiomatic accuracy that a leopard can never change its spot, the birthday will climax with the commissioning of project at Ansar-Ud-Deen Model College, at Oke-Sopin in Ijebu-Igbo. His upbringing when his Uncle, Engr Popoola Okeowo had to bring him up educationally, morally and even Islamically, notwithstanding Popoola’s Christian background, largely informed his resolve to impact lives.
As a humanist who is not given to using people and dumping them, especially vulnerable journalists, the former Pfizer worker would monitor you with calls to and from his modest country home or anywhere he called you for journalistic engagement. It is not so with many of his ilk in the political engagement. “I see it as playing to the gallery, engaging in self-glorification and unnecessary show off when people mill around your residence for assistance and you keep their numbers swelling to melting point before you attend to them,” was how he once responded to the question by visitor who expressed surprise at the dispatch with which he attends to his visitors.
However, it needs be said here and now that he is a Godly person, not just religious. He is not a light-fingered or if we like “heavy-fingered” person who will amass what he does not need. Pray, how many politicians possess his history of service—Commissioner For Agriculture, Senator of the Federal Republic and Deputy Governor—will possess only a modest flat for 13 years? That was the length of time it took him to build his Abuja home. His patriotism has never been in doubt for those who have followed his trajectory. Once upon a time, he wrote to former President Olusegun Obasanjo to manage excess oil money well for the rainy day, once upon a time, he called his colleagues in the National Assembly who had served at Executive capacities before lawmaking to chose one of the two or more pensions they were drawing to save the country from dying.
Also, once upon a time, he canvassed that certificates of interested graduates be used as collateral for government funding of agriculture. He convinced this writer that he had done an independent research and collaborative findings on this to ensure that our country gets out of the woods. What else can we say of this disciplined statesman who should be one of the cabinet members of President Muhammadu Buhari, even at the kitchen level, if Nigeria will recover its soul which pretenders as agent of change has stolen. As a federal lawmaker, his contributions and impact led him to sponsor and see to the eventual assent by former President Goodluck Jonathan, of the anti-Cybercafe Crime Bill, among others. He never shy away from speaking his mind and disagreeing with his friends on his conviction. He is a good public speaker and always seeking knowledge.
On behalf of the masses of Nigerians who believe in you, we say congratulations and many more happy returns of your day, as you discuss Nigeria and her future.
- Adeleye writes via segunade22000@gmail.com
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