Exclusive: The Pack Of Lies Of Kwara (Opinion)

I am not sedentary. Sedentary is a state of being immovable but being a migratory reporter, I move much to unravel untruth. So two days ago, when a professional colleague, Dr. Muideen Akorede, former Senior Special Assistant to ex-Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, suddenly surfaced to defend his political paymaster over the sale of 110 government property before he left government, I decided to go fact finding.

I had called on a former legislator of the Kwara State House of Assembly who wants to remain anonymous for his views on the trending denial of the former governor over the 110 sold government property by his administration. His words almost threw me off balance. He said, “Why should he deny he did not sell the alleged government property to himself and his boys? He should be man enough to own up rather than the untruths and half truths contained in his press statement”.
This fallout implies that the ex-governor intentionally muddles up facts so that you cannot know if he is lying or not.

We gathered that as one of his cronies, if you have been occupying a government-owned property in any of the Government Reserved Areas in Ilorin, all you need do is apply in writing with your valuation cheque attached and go to the former governor for his signature of approval. From that day on, you become the official owner of that property.

Akorede’s statement on behalf of his former principal said: “the former governor disputes the conflicting figures cited by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq”. He absolved Ahmed’s administration of any wrong doing regarding the sale of government property.

The statement further said: “My administration followed due process in selling government quarters to civil servants and members of the 7th Kwara State House of Assembly on owner-occupier basis”. Ahmed claimed approval also covered other property disposed off by his administration with the proceeds paid into government coffers.

The big questions Akorede and Ahmed are missing which elicit great lies and misguided truth are: *How many government property did Ahmed’s administration actually sell to himself and his cronies? And a follow-up: How much was the total sum realised from the sales and when? Furthermore, into what government account at what bank was the sum paid into so that it is accountable in auditing process?

There is nothing as pitiful as a public servant or an aide who is deficient in relaying untruths. This is because truth can come to liberate but not the truth that you were taught. This too is Akorede’s plight.

Most of us also learn at some point that a politician/public servant like former Governor Ahmed of Kwara State tells lies. We expect him, however, now that he has quit public office to face the consequences of his actions.

In the past, politicians and public officers who violated the public trust resigned. No longer. In office and out of office, public officers and their aides now deliberately lie about matters of importance to the citizenry. Misleading and incomplete conclusions on issues of government are used by some past governors in Kwara, to justify their unrefined and corrupt actions.

An insightful analysis of his press statement reveals Ahmed as a man who lies frequently. His admission that he truly sold some government property to civil servants and assembly men exposes him to complicity, right or wrong, in the illegal sale of government property.

His acceptance that he actually did sell some government property is also misleading enough but exposes his infantile expertise in trading lies for truth.

An honest government and honest former governor would inform the citizenry of his truths about his actions and lead open discussions about what should be done.

This is what Kwarans expected from Abdulfatah Ahmed about the 110 government property which he sold to himself and his cronies. Lying by public servants is what we expect from totalitarianism. A free society like our own dear Kwara, requires truth and honesty.

The sad thing is, former Governor Ahmed’s media aide had no idea how dumb he may sound when he repeated his boss’s lies about the sold government property, as if the lies were true. Let’s join hands with Governor AbdulRazaq to save this state of harmony from collapse.

Kwara Property Scam

Dr Muyideen Akorede..

Come and  defend this also…

CONFIRMED.

Former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed sold govt property at No.56 Simeon Sayomi Road, GRA Ilorin to himself without record of any payment.

Kwara Must Change