Date: 2014-06-21

For some days now, the news has been filtering in on the readiness of Mallam Akeem Lawal to try his hand on Kwara’s gubernatorial contest. If memory serves me right, readers will remember that I made a subtle allusion to this fact about two months ago and advised the young man against such a move. I believe he has refused to listen, or maybe he didn’t read that piece of advice.

Although, what they told us was that Akeem was not interested in 'anything' but now that the hen is coming home to roost, some of us can not afford to keep silent in the face of this monumental crash!

From the onset, I must admit that Akeem reserves the right to contest for any political post that attracts his fancy, including the plumb position of governor. As long as he has the financial war chest, the political clout and connection and a genuine personal conviction, God help him. At the end of the day, everybody shall answer his father’s name!

However, I have a candid advice; a priceless but unsolicited advice, and I hope he reads or his good friends bring it to his attention. As much as I do not profess to know all, but I know that overwhelming public opinion does not support his gubernatorial ambition for now. He is considered to be chronically inexperienced and lacking in the charisma to muddle through a gubernatorial contest. And if memory serves me right, the manner Akeem talked at the Basin PDP rally early this year, showed an Akeem that is still grappling with life; that does not even know his direction in politics. He could not coherently communicate his thought, not even to the teeming youths that were clamouring for him.

Akeem has a cherished surname (please mark my word, surname). It is a surname and not his own name. That name was built not only by his late father, but thousands of Kwarans who stood and still continue to stand by him even in death. I am a proud member of that group. So, whether directly or indirectly, I am ‘connected’ to the Lawal brand too. I will thus, hate to see that name soiled and dusted in the gubernatorial contest. It will amount to double defeat for the late Lawal; his adversaries would be triumphant over such a defeat, which is already staring us in the face, even before Akeem actually makes good his over-ambition. A defeat of Akeem at the poll will signal a total collapse of the enduring Lawal political structure.

So, I believe Mallam Akeem should try and rethink his ambition. Whoever is by his side, goading him to this hopeless frenzy should have the fear of Allah in mind. For the sake of his father that paid the ultimate price for the emancipation of Kwara, all the gejudujera around him should stop misdirecting him. They should realize that the little dole in the hand of the young man isn’t for waste. His family has suffered enough to be defeated yet again by the cabal who has been holding the state at its jugular! If it is because of his money that they are misadvising him, they should know that Akeem is a special breed that must not be toyed with. He represents whatever is remaining of the Lawal structure in Kwara now, and he should be jealously kept and nurtured for the task ahead, but definitely not 2015 gubernatorial contest.

Meanwhile, by way of a candid suggestion, Akeem could give a shot at the federal house of representatives. He could square up with the do-nothing Ali Ahmed for the Ilorin East and South Federal Constituency. It is going to be a walk-over for him! What with the groundswell of sentiment in favour of the name ‘Lawal’. After then, especially by 2019, we could now sit and strategise on other bigger things. But for now, Akeem should thread softly, softly please!

Bello Bature writes from Ilorin