Devastated was I when I learned that death, in a rather speedy riddance has taken the former Governor of Oyo state, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala to his final home. The death of this ebullient politician is so sudden, so shocking, so sobering, and so sad! This is because there was no sign that he would leave us so soon. Little wonder they say no one is so old that he cannot live yet another year, and no one that is so young that he cannot die today!
Apart from seeing him through the media, I never met Otunba Akala personally, for I am not a politician, nor hail from Ogbomoso, his hometown. But I directly benefited from his pragmatic leadership while he was the Oyo State Governor in 2007.
I had a daughter in Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, Odo Ona Apata road in Ibadan. It was during one of my engagements with my daughter that she told me that there was no Mathematics Teacher for her class. I had to visit the school myself. My findings were unbelievable!
The school was like a market with students running up and down in their frenzy and exuberance. The teachers seemed overwhelmed. The available teachers were disenchanted with the job, complaining that their subtle protest against poor conditions of service and inadequate manpower was always being rebuffed by the government officials.
This was where I deployed my journalism training. I petitioned Otunba Akala through some national newspapers in a piece entitled “Gov. Akala, save these girls.”
Two days after, during his media chat called E PADE GOMINA (Meet The Governor), I was so excited when Akala made reference to my letter to the editor piece and promised to take action.
The following week, Otunba Akala did not only deploy Mathematics Teacher to the school, he also sent a powerful investigative panel to the school, which later brought much-needed sanity to the school. While a few teachers were cursing me for exposing them to the scrutiny of the government, a majority of them were praying for me for taking their plight to the Governor with positive results.
I will forever admire Otunba Akala for his sensitivity to the crying of the masses. The question is how many leaders in the public offices take time to read newspapers? Even when they read newspapers and they know what people are going through many of them can’t take prompt action as Akala did in this context? The jaded standard response of many of the public office holders has always been “we will address the problem soon.” But Akala addressed it immediately, not ‘soon’ that will never see the light of the day.
Dear Otunba Akala, though death is inevitable for all mortals, it is so disheartening that we are saying goodnight, much earlier than we had hoped for you! You came, you saw and you conquered. You have done your best. Oyo State will not forget you. Your good work will continue to speak after you. Sleep well, Action Governor of ATM fame.
*Saanu is the Media Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State.
