Olurode recounts Awolowo’s ethics on Akande’s 85th birthday
‘Bis Akande is an exceptional politician’
A former National Commissioner with the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Lai Olurode, has extolling the starling qualities of an ex-Osun State governor, Chief Bisi Akande, as he turns 85.
In a statement, Olurode paid tribute to Akande, saying he belongs to the Chief Obafemi Awolowo political school of thought with the core values of being blunt and uncompromising.
“This school of thought is not after power or political office for personal aggrandisement or power for its own sake. Power is only pursued as long as it can serve the purpose of alleviating human sufferings,” he stated.
Olurode, a retired professor of Sociology at the university of Lagos, also remarked that central to the political philosophy of the school is education used as a social good, which all must have access to regardless of placement within the social structure.
According to him, health, shelter, rural development and provision of employment opportunities deserve utmost attention, if governance must be purposive and responsible.’
A third element which Olurode alluded to is his disdain for flamboyance and political jamboree.
He said, “For Awolowo political school of thought, political campaigns shouldn’t be driven by money but by the efficacy and sophistication of policies and ideas placed before the electorates.
“The school of thought believes strongly that in the market of political goods, it would corner the most market, if not all, except it is cheated by corrupt people.
“And when Chief Bisi Akande had the opportunity to serve as first, Secretary to the government of old Oyo State under Chief Bola and later as the deputy governor, he was guided by those political ethics which gave more attention to governance and substantive issues in place of the type of cars that officials of the state ride in.
“When he was elected as the governor of Osun State in 1999, this ethical approach to governance blossomed.
“Akande, in the course of the political campaign for election as governor didn’t spend up to two hundred thousand naira. He drastically cut down on the cost of governance.
“For him, the office of the first lady had no place in Nigeria’s and he didn’t allow this constitutional aberration. No wonder, Akande, in just four years as the governor of Osun State built a colossal state secretariat which eradicated the practice of hiring apartments all over the state to accommodate government officials.
“During the commissioning of the architectural masterpiece, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, marvelled as to how Akande was able to achieve the feat without borrowing.
“Had Akande been desperate for political office, he would have secured a ministerial post under President Muhammadu Buhari for free.”
According to Olurode, ‘”Akande is loyal to his political associates. Through thick and thin, and even after the death of Bola Ige, his loyalty to him didn’t whither.
“And throughout the hectic and marathon campaign travels and travails of the then Senator Bola Tinubu, Bisi Akande, in spite of advanced age, stood by him.
“This man is an exceptional politician, indeed, out of the run of the mill. He deserves all the encomiums in a country where politics isn’t really about principle and service but centres around a rapacious money culture.”