Hajia Bilikisu, Rev Olusona: An Ode To Homegrown Politicians- Raheem Adedoyin

Congratulations to Hajia Bilikisu Sanni and Rev. Bunmi Olusona on their  appointment as Executive Director and Non- Executive Director of the newly established North Central Development Commission.

Congratulations to Kwara State APC under Governor AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq’s leadership.

And hearty Congratulations to the homegrown, house- based politicians on the appointment of two of their own to  elite national positions.

Appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for continuing to honour Kwara in the scheme of things  .

I don’t think we are  celebrating these appointments enough ; but  we should. 

It is not just that  two Kwarans  are appointed  to federal positions of political significance, the appointees belong to the genre of politicians often overlooked in national appointments. They are homegrown, active at home and well-grounded in community  development.

Their appointment came in the wake of similar recognition  for a prominent stakeholder and former member of Kwara State Executive Council, Hon. Abdullateef Gidado Alakawa  and  a  progressive  leader and Chairman of APC in Kwara State,  Prince Sunday Fagbemi as Chairmen of federal board and  federal agency. 

I’m  excited by the appointment of home- based politicians because it is in tandem with  the case I made to the then APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu when he came on a presidential campaign to Kwara in 2023. I had canvassed, at his parley  with Kwara APC stakeholders at the Banquet Hall ,Ilorin,  that  recognition and patronage should be given to stakeholders and  politicians who toil at home for the party’s political and electoral success.   Thank you, Mr. President.  

I know both  Hajia Bilikisu and Rev. Olusona very well. They are sound in intellect and political activism . 

Hajia Bilikisu, a retired permanent Secretary in Kwara State, worked closely with me on the Kwara  South Reconciliation Committee Gov. AbdulRazaq set up to resolve the acrimonies  that followed the APC Primaries for the 2023 elections in Kwara State. I chaired the committee while she served creditably as  member/ secretary. 

Hajia Bilikisu is an active member of  APC in Kwara State and a super active stakeholder in  her Offa Local Government. 

Rev. Olusona is a famous name in Kwara politics. Though religiously inclined, he is a fiery politician who was once critical of the reward system of the party 

Well, the party has answered him appropriately . And this is a lesson for all of us in party politics : we all cannot get political  appointments at the same time; yours will come in different ways.

 The home  leadership is unrelenting in its quest for a good  deal for Kwara State at the federal level. There are just so many interests at stake and fierce power play at work. 

To Hajia Bilikisu and Rev. Olusona: be different, be your fellow stakeholder’s keeper.

 Congratulations, once again, Kwara- Hon Raheem Adedoyin, a

Kwara State APC Chieftain, writes from Ilorin