If there is hunger in the land, don’t look any further. Someone just stole the communal pot of soup and grains in the barn.
If there is homelessness in the land, don’t look any further. Someone just uprooted the community shelter and gifted, not his children for they have mansions, but his poultry.
If there is joblessness in the land, don’t look any further. If the roads are impassable, someone’s hedonistic desires create the potholes on the road and deplete the hospital of its supplies.
These mindless acquisitions, in the midst of want, poverty and disease, is the reason Nigeria is poor, and will continue to be poor, until a revolution rises. In a normal clime with an active citizenry, each of these guy’s children appropriating these commonwealth and seeking court protection, ought to have gone hiding for being offspring of a thief, a task master and a terrorist. Yes, terrorist, or what do you call someone who stole the community pot of soup and triggered famine? Yet, in the short space of time, you’ll see these offspring engage in a political round robin, going into the government house or the legislature unruffled, and cheered on by an ignorant constituency.
Now, multiply these one-man heist by the total number of Nigeria’s politicians, past, present (and future) – from the topmost level to the shop floor of mere counselors – and do the math. Not forgetting all the assets stashed away in the UK, Switzerland, US and several other safe havens, that are lost forever the moment the kleptomaniacs are deceased.
How do you explain the below acquisitions by a police officer-turned governor of a state reeking of so much underdevelopment? Difficult to rationalise!
1.Residence at No. 1, Oba Akinyele Avenue, off Rotimi Williams Street, Old Bodija Estate, Ibadan
2.A five-star hotel in Ghana
3.Bungalow at Randa, Ogbomoso
4.Property at Opadoyin Lodge, Ogbomoso
5.Building at 32, Oba Adebimpe Road, Ile Itesiwaju, Dugbe, Ibadan
6.Property at No. 8, Samora Machel Street, Asokoro, Abuja
7.Property in Games Village, Abuja
8.Twin duplex in Ikeja, Lagos
9.No. 4, George Street, Ikoyi, Lagos
10.Duplex beside Iponri Barracks, Surulere, Lagos
11.Plot at Water Corporation Drive, Oniru, Lagos
12.Guest house in Agodi GRA, Ibadan
13.Plots 1–4, Aerodrome GRA, Samonda, Ibadan
14.7,000 acres of land beside Ibadan Golf Club
15.No. 29, Osuntokun Avenue, Bodija Estate, Ibadan
16.Five-bedroom bungalow at Cele Bus Stop, Ologuneru, Ibadan
17.Property at Old UAC Building, Dugbe, Ibadan
18.Guest house at YOACO, Ogbomoso
19.Destiny House, Oremeji, Mokola, Ibadan
20.Destiny House, Ogbomoso
21.Deborah House, Sabo, Ogbomoso
22.Storey building at Starlight, Ogbomoso
23.Eternal Mega Filling Station, Ogbomoso
24.TDB Filling Station, Ogbomoso
25.Building beside Eternal Filling Station, Ogbomoso
26.NIPCO Filling Station beside A.K. Bello, Ogbomoso
27.TDB Gas Plant, Aroje, Ogbomoso
28.Land opposite LAUTECH, Ogbomoso
29.Parrot FM, Oke Bebi, Ogbomoso
30.Warehouse and farm in Ogbomoso
31.Land in GRA, Ogbomoso (held in care of Demola Alao)
32.140-23 160th Street, Jamaica, Queens, New York, USA
33.19 San Juan Drive, Chafford Hundred, Grays, Essex, England
34.1,000 acres of land at Ikoyi, Ogbomoso (including proposed site of Alao-Akala College of Health Sciences and Umera Farms)
35.Olowolagba Microfinance Bank
By Sanya Onayoade