OPINION: Aluko Must Return

By Ahmed Funsho Hadnan

Representation is supposed to be a sacred covenant between the people and their elected leaders. Leaders are elected to lighten the people’s burdens, not to compound them. But when a leader mistakes public office for a family inheritance and constituents for pawns in his self-serving chessboard, there’s only one solution: send him back home to the comfort of irrelevance.

In 2023, the people of Ilorin East and South Federal Constituency gambled with their destiny. They bypassed two tested hands—Hon. Wahab Issa of the PDP and Hon. Gani Cook Olododo of the SDP—and handed their mandate to Hon. Ahmed Yinka Aluko. The people, perhaps weary of the familiar, thought freshness might mean effectiveness. Unfortunately, freshness in Aluko’s case has meant cluelessness.

The Yoruba are never wrong when they say: “T’obinrin o badan ile ọkọ meji wo, bawo ni yóo ṣe mọ eyi tó dára?” (If a woman doesn’t try two husbands’ homes, how will she know which is better?). My people have now tasted Aluko’s house of emptiness and realized they bought a lemon wrapped in shiny paper.

Two years into his tenure, what do we have to show for our misplaced faith? Absolutely nothing. Aluko has turned our constituency into a barren landscape of abandoned promises. His apologists, with straight faces, tell us he’s still “on the drawing board.” Two years and still drawing? On what—parchment? Or maybe he’s sketching with disappearing ink so that only his cronies can see the masterpiece.

A legislator’s primary duty is to make laws and influence policies. Can anyone point to a single policy Aluko has midwifed that has benefited Ilorin East and South? Where is the Oke-Oyi College he promised? What happened to the Nigerian Army school he swore to upgrade? These promises have evaporated faster than harmattan dew.

And when he ventures outside lawmaking, his “achievements” are tragic comedies. The so-called “Aluko Temu Empowerment” was less empowerment and more embarrassment. It was the political equivalent of serving crumbs to starving men and calling it a banquet.

Then there was the rice palliative scandal of 2023. The Federal Government gave lawmakers rice to distribute to their constituents. Aluko, in his infinite wisdom, reportedly decided to use it as a loyalty test. Only his inner circle of sycophants got fed while the rest of the constituency was left to watch their elected representative turn charity into a private feast. Even the rice must have felt insulted to be weaponized for political favouritism.

So, let’s be clear: Aluko must return home. In 2027, our constituency has a moral obligation to reject him the way a healthy body rejects poison. We can’t afford another four years of political tourism where our representative merely warms a seat in Abuja while Ilorin East and South wallow in neglect.

Aluko has wasted two years doing nothing but cultivating mediocrity and distributing poverty with fanfare. In 2027, we must retire him permanently. Let him return home and face the constituency—not as a lawmaker, but as a cautionary tale.

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