Date: 2015-02-01

Someone once said that one should be careful about arguing with people who don't understand issues, otherwise one would be dragged to their level and then get defeated by experience. Such is the likely outcome if I continue on this thankless voyage of replying those that I now consider as "Atunwa boys". Please don't ask me if that is a good title.

Meanwhile, one Lawal Ibrahim Abiola found the time and effort write a rejoinder to my essay (Living in pain: Efue's primitive existence exposes Atunwa's failure) published on this site few days ago. Although Abiola described my piece "...as weak and baseless", but he still went through the trouble of replying me; even when he could simply have dismissed the write-up as just another ranting of an unrepentant anti-Atunwa. But may be there is just something with the truth that people can't ignored - it bites.

Had Ilorin.info published the pictures I sent along with the story, real pictures that I took on my visit to Afon and Efue/Berikodo last week; perhaps people like Abiola won't have the gut to ask the people of Efue/Berikodo why they should single out Atunwa for blame when, according to him, "there are several political office holders and successful business men and women". The question for Abiola is: how many of these so-called political office holders are from Efue/Berikodo ward? How many of them have attained the political status of Atunwa? Should we turn Atunwa's negligence of the people of his ward in Efue to a debate of 'a Peck in your eye too' - others have not done it, so why should Atunwa? And by the way, who is contesting election to represent this same neglected people?

OK, let's take a quick look at Atunwa's achievements in a DECADE. Atunwa bought an 18-seater bus for Asa local government secondary school, made a donation of 2 million naira to the same school in order to, in Abiola's words, ensures "the granting, aiding and ACCREDITATION" of the school. It is fine to aid and support a school, but doubt will begin to set in when someone somewhere, just out of desperation to rewrite facts, claimed that Atunwa is assisting a public school to gain accreditation. Accreditation? From who and by who?

I know that courses in higher institutions are supposed to have some sort of accreditation. But when a public school that is supposed to have a measurable KPI directly from the State's Ministry of Education now need an Atunwa to assist it in order to ensure that its certificates are acceptable(or is that not what accreditation connotes?), then someone is lying about somebody's achievements. It is just unfortunate that even the distortion of English words could not hide this obvious fact.

After calculating all the monies Mr. Abiola claimed Atunwa had spent on empowerment, even after ignoring the very obvious lie that Hon. Atunwa spends N500,000 yearly for grading what must, in Abiola's calculations, be a very stubborn Itamo-Ogundele-Oyo State boundary road; everything Atunwa did in 10 years come to about N32,500,000!

Also, Atunwa, whom Abiola claimed "has done so much to make teaching and learning viable in schools at Asa local government" recently rushed through an educational empowerment(basically given out exercise books) in the same Asa where he "has done so much". If doling out exercise books and paying school fees(even though the same government Atunwa works with claims that education is free) is still Atunwa's definition of educational empowerment; then it is easy to see why the "so much" he did (?) have not reflected on his people.

I was in Afon and Efue/Berikodo and I have recorded interviews and pictures. The suffering people of those communities are, contrary to your expectations, holding Atunwa responsible for their misery. They are bitter and they said so many unprintable things about your 'Oga at the top'(Atunwa). Quite frankuly, they may have their grievances against Bola Shagaya and her son as well, but they didn't tell me that. I took a journalistic voyage and I reported what I saw and heard. Abiola, you may do same and let's compare notes when you return. Surely, everything cannot be politics and politics cannot be everything.