I read with interest the piece titled " Saraki Called from Exile, Launch Operarion # Distract_The_Government credited to one Abdulrasheed Ashura writing from Kwara North.

While I do not hold brief for the former Senate President or his Structure but as an unbiased stakeholder in project Kwara I think I have a duty to react to the write up.

Let me start from popular Ketekete song by Chief Commander Ebenezer which says " Ko sogbon te le da, Ko siwa te le hu, ko so na te le gba tele fi taiye lorun o" translated and paraphased means there is no way or means you can please the world.

Having said that, we are in a democracy where people can and should be able to freely express themselves.

I don't understand what the writer means by "#Operation distract_The_Government." Is that the message he received from the former Senate President directly or is that his understanding and interpretation of the message if at all there is any such message.

I remember that during the last one year of the Abdulfatah Ahmed Administration, and at the height of the Otooge campaigns, there were a lot of information, misinformation and outright peddling of falsehood by the opposition against the Government, the Governor and of course the person of Dr. Saraki (including accusing them of sponsoring of the Offa Robbery) by the opposition. Then it was okay.

When we sit down and look back in retrospect, all that and much more including the blocking of accounts of a legally constituted Government (whose period of governance was still intact) by the EFCC and Federal Governnent at the behest of the Opposition in Kwara in my opinion was not only distracting the govt but an affront to that Government. But to the Opposition and Otooge crooners it was okay. It was a means to an end.

Fast forward to May 29 2019. A new Government is in place and a new Opposition is in place too. So what do you expect? It is a situation of role reversal.

From the First 100 days of Governor Abdulrahman AbdulRasaq, he had started to get the reactions from a wide spectrum of Kwara stakeholders, some of whom include the APC party structure in the state, the two Ministers representing the State in the Federal Executive Cabinet, Stakeholders of the party at different levels that have been disenfranchised by Gov AbdulRasaq's style of governance (that seems to alienate everybody except his friends and family,) the Labour unions and Civil servants in the stage who he had disappointed and reneged on all the campaign promises earlier made to them including the payment of 30k minimum wage. The list is endless.

Fast forward to May 29 2020. At the one year anniversary of Gov AbdulRasaq's Governnent, he had nothing concrete to show for the 365 days and the all monies the state government received within the period except for some renovations of schools and rehabilitation of small patches of Roads.

And guess what?

The criticisms of this Governnent is more from the APC itself which claimed in their assessment of the AbdulRasaq's first year in office that *"This is not the change we promised Kwarans"* in the build up to the Otooge Revolution that swept away the Saraki Dynasty. This was the statement credited to the State Chairman of the Ruling Party in the State the APC on a Radio Programme monitored across Kwara.

Hon. Saheed Popoola also a member of the APC has criticised the Gov, The Government, its programmes and policies week-in week-out on the Radio.

The PDP as the main opposition party in the state also has continually drawn attention of Kwarans to the failed promises of this Governnent and other issues it considers germane to the people of Kwara as is expected of an opposition party in the state.

Several NGOS are at daggers drawn with the Governor and his Governnent on so many issues bordering on due process, lack of transparency, breach of procurement proceedures, and many more, including the refusal of the Governor to sign the FOI Bill amongst other issues, all of which the Governor and his Governnent have failed to address or respond to.

To the crux of my response.

How has the silence of Saraki become a distraction to this Governnent?

In my opinion I think the silence of Saraki in the Last one year has really exposed this Governnent as a government that is lacking in initiatives ideas, and is certainly ill-prepared for the responsibility of governance bestowed on it particularly at a time when the hopes of the average Kwara advocating for a change in the status quo from what it used to be was at an all time high.

Remember that when the Chief of Staff to the Governor passed away, The Governor was very quick to interject that he had not "met with his Chief of Staff in 92 days". That in my opinion was tactless and exposed either of two things:
Either the Chief of Staff was irrelevant in the scheme of things as suspected by Many
OR
The Goverment was not doing anything serious in the first place.

While I may not be an apologist of the former Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki but one thing stands clear, You cannot lay the blame of the inability of this Abdulrahman AbdulRasaq administration to rise up to the occasion on his doorstep. Instead I think he should be commended for not distracting the Government in place at the state level by his golden silence and his being away from the state in the last one year. If anything it should be a advantage to the Govt to concentrate on delivering the dividends of democracy to Kwarans.

Unfortunately the silence and Absence of Dr. Saraki from Kwara however, rather than distracting the Government has further exposed the weakness of this Governnent and it's failure on almost all fronts.

What I suspect that may be driving the fears of the writer and possibly the Governnent may be the widely speculated but unsubstantiated return of the Senate President to the APC as widely reported in the media.

I believe rather than spinning an unsubstantiated distraction theory, the writer should advice the Government to get cracking with providing dividends of democracy to the people of Kwara who had with very high expectations elected Mallam Abdulrahman AbdulRasaq to be Governor and if he is doing something serious then he should show it to all Kwarans to see.

One year after sweeping the Saraki Dynasty out of Power, We cannot be talking about Saraki distracting the Government.

I don't think Abdulrashid Ashura can be speaking on behalf of the State Government but he should rather advice the Government on the need to show more seriousness and justify the essence of the confidence reposed in it rather than chasing after shadows or else the next thing you will be hearing and as is already being chanted in town by the ardent followers of the Senate President is: "Saraki is Coming"

This Government should leave distraction alone and focus on providing Good Governance. Distractions will always be there.

Olushola Adebola Folaranmi writes from Ilorin.