What Has He Done Differently? By Yusuff Olatunji Akeem

As the race towards the 2023 General Elections gathered traction, those who, outside politics will spend hours at his gate as they do at his successor’s gate for their stipends began to throw tantrums at the Distinguished Senator Ajibola Basiru for erecting solar lights across Osun Central. They called him “Senator Solar”. That was the same they did when he was providing boreholes for his constituents.

They said Osun Central didn’t need water and light. SRJ knew water was life. He sunk boreholes. He lit up markets and motor parks where mothers and fathers of those who condemned the projects ply their trade till today. Basiru received prayers and accolades from elders.

He didn’t stop at that. He built blocks of classrooms at schools in Osun State. Kudos to the critics. They couldn’t condemn that. He supplied transformers to communities. The critics were tongue-tied. Some of the numskuls told the people of Osun Central that their own candidate would do better.

Their candidate came and his first set of projects were boreholes and solar lights. He followed that with transformers! These people are shameless. So, their candidate had no aliter plan. Had no blueprint. He came and started building on SRJ’s legacies. I learned he did some shaku empowerment. SRJ did his first in December 2019 at Ayetoro and was doing it twice every year till he exited the Senate holding his head high.

The records are there. SRJ trained hundreds of youths in entrepreneurial skills across Osun Central. He reached out to people during the lockdown and has continued to make people smile during the festivals.

Eyin Omoleyin, in awe, shows us the pictures of a single school he has built in Osogbo. SRJ built an Agriculture Entrepreneur Centre at Awosuru and a primary health care center at Kajola.

When you condemned SRJ’s solar, we thought your Senator would build mini-water schemes across the Senatorial Districts. When you bad-mouthed his solar lights, we thought your representative at the Senate would build a power plant in Osun Central. Awon ara ilu gan o gbadun ina ijoba rara.

In Communication, there is what is called critical thinking. Let your brain work faster than your hand and mouth otherwise, you give out trash. We have not insulted anybody. We have just set the records right. If we are wrong, tell us what your guy has done differently.