ON MY KNEES EXPLAINING WHAT WE HAVE DONE AND WHY! I have read comments of everyone here and received several more across the constituency verbally. I want to first of all thank everyone for the golden opportunity you have freely given to me to serve you in the last three and half years. I acknowledge the support and candid counsels from all of us. I equally want to appreciate everyone for expressing views about expectations and my performances. I want to state without any hesitation in my heart that you have reasons to be angry with me for quite number of reasons. Please accept my unreserved apology. I am human like every other mortal and cannot be said to be perfect. I have my shortcomings and these may form the basis of grievances and a bit of perception about my performances. In all fairness, I have served you with sincerity, fear of God and recourse to the fact that posterity will write our story. My representation has been a huge departure from the past. I said for a number of reasons. Yes,communication gap has put my performance in bad light. I feel this huge gap should have been bridged to really exhibit what I have put in, in the last 3 1/2 years. Also, I found out that my disposition to the life and the church mind approach to governance, wherein we do not come out trumpeting what the left hand has done for the right hand to know, has not helped projecting my representation too, this makes people think I have not delivered as a Representative sent to Abuja to churn out bills and raise motion. I equally find out some of my aids, have not been alive to their duties,interacting with people and projecting what we have brought in and the serious change we have brought into how evenly, we can affect life of the entire constituents without fear or favour. Every Ijesa North constituent is important and the Constituency belongs to all of us,I am just a servant! I said above, it has been departure from the past. I meant this in all sincerity, when I got elected; I was faced with a constituency where a very tiny fraction of the constituency has a touch of representation with so much noise. I make bold to state it here that, I ,Bar. Agunbiade Nathaniel,in conjunction with my 8 other colleagues and 3 Senators, agreed to be pulling our allowances together as a support mechanism and interventionist approach to the good unusual administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, with the overall goal of synergy and altruistic mindset of jointly identifying common project in each constituency to be executed each quarter from the pool. These are evidential in the arrays of projects across the state and of course our constituency! These projects include road constructions, modern learning facilities, classrooms, mega schools,water projects, security and other mega interventions. Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has not hidden this fact and at every gathering or fora, he ensures he gives this credit to the support received from all of us.I am sure, there no community that has not benefitted from any of the listed interventions. These are projects that run into millions of naira. I am faced with 22 wards of two local governments of vast number of urban,rural-urban, towns, villages and farm settlements. I know the expectations can be huge and I have not come here to cry hue or state that it is impossible to make our Representation counts. Yes, if in all, I have offered to be giving, let us say, a car in the region of N600,000 each year to the twenty-two (22) wards in three years. I am sure, I would have given 66 cars totalling roughly (N40,000,000) Forty Million Naira, touching about 66 families and leaving over 200,000 constituents unaffected. Hence our resolve to pull these resources together for interventions and infrastructural development of our state and of course, our constituency. There is no town, I affirm that cannot point to a project running in fifty of millions in her territory, I charge anyone to refute this to my derision. This couldnt have been possible for the state Government to achieve without this novel paradigm shift from old way of unilateral pocketing of such funds. One of these hubs of the constituency project is the Ipetu – Ijesa Water Project. This is a project in the region of a billion naira, that when completed is capable of serving the entire Oriade/Obokun Local Governments and infact,Ijesaland with drinkable water at their doorsteps. Esa-Odo Dam is also under revamping with pipe-laying down to Ilesa.This is a PPP project in partnership with International Breweries ,Ilesa. When completed,as it is also in 70% stage,will cater for Esa-Oke,Esa-Odo,Ere,Iwoye,Ibokun,Ijebu-Jesa,Ijeda,Iloko and other towns at the stretch of that axis. There is no ward, in both Obokun and Oriade that does not have a touch of at least 4km road interventions. Ipetu-Ijesa, Ijebu-jesa, Ibokun, Ijeda,Iloko, Erinmo, Ikeji(s), Ilare, Esa-oke, Esa-odo,Ilase,Ilahun,Idoka,Iwoye, Ere, Erin-Oke,Erin-Ijesa and all other communities have their shares. You can all imagine what it takes to tar one good km asphaltic road, with sound stone-base with flood channels. Ogbeni Aregbesola’s unusual government has brought a paradigm shift in the old orders wherein a few people cornered the funds and the Rep live larger than earth life,oppressing you with our collective fortunes and give token back to his Constituency as if he is doing them favour. Permit me to state now that, if ours have been theirs and those old days of selfish representation.Agunbiade will be a billion naira unduly rich at the expense of the entire constituents and it won’t be difficult coming back to you coughing out N200,000,000 and begin to pay voters in thousand. One thing is sacrosanct, our people are no fools and giving money to seduce people to vote is not our party’s way of getting reelection but respecting the sanctity of human need, addressing them evenly without recourse to party affinity or affiliations. This is not to tell you that we have not affected lives paying school fees, health bills, giving empowerments to people and interventions in water scheme to town villages and farm settlement according. Yes, as a green-horn in the chamber, you cannot but face some challenges,in a contemporary Nigeria Society where lobby and favoritism top thevalue. I came in to the assembly with high hope that things will be done with recourse to rule of law and equality with my background in legal system and as a lawyer. I found out that, the ranking officers get juicy committees and the ruling party corners most. So, with this in mind, I have gained the experience and I can vouch this time that I have learnt the rope and better prepared to deliver on more promises. Even with the current political outlook and impending change at the federal/Presidency, it means our constituency is better placed to get her due shares and representation under my party-APC. Please, I promise to improve further on my performances, deliveries and representation. There shall be less or no pressure on us coming dispensation and it is clear we shall do more. I want to state without mincing words that I seek for your understanding, please accept my apology and be ready to give me your support once again. Those who promise 2 million naira worth of intervention,are only here to take your votes and go away. Imagine the worth of about 16km length of road in Erin-Oke / Erin-Ijesa towns of Ward 1and 2,or network of roads criscrossing Iwaraja,Oke-Ana,Ijeda,Iloko to Ijebu-Jesa,in Oriade and everywhere you go! Conclusively, I have not come here to trade or engage in blame game, I accept both responsibility and blames. I seek for your understanding and forgiveness. To err is human. We can do better,even more better and upon those areas of lapses we have jointly identified, I have already started effecting change even before election. May we all live to enjoy the real dividends that will outlive us! Thanks and please,give me your audience and find a large heart to show empathy! Bar. Agunbiade Nathaniel.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 09:10:07 +0000
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