*Ibarapakan: A Lawmaker Who Deserves a Second Term by All Standards* By Hassan Adesodi Olaoniye

It is yet another election season where the electorate has the chance to choose who will run their affairs for another four years. It is a season of promises, alignment and realignment. It is not a time to sit on the fence but rather a period to discuss and weigh performances without emotion or any ulterior motive. For far too long, our region, Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North Federal Constituency, has dreamt of a better and prosperous constituency where opportunities are accessible without connection, voices are heard and governance is not rocket science.

Since the commencement of the Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, our federal constituency, just like every other constituency of the federation, has had the opportunity to elect representatives at the Green Chamber of the National Assembly of Nigeria. It is a democratic form of government and a transition that has resulted in the emergence of five distinguished individuals: Hon. Rafiu Oladeni (1999-2003), Hon. Adepegba Adegbenjo (2003-2007), Hon. Ajibola Muraina (2007-2015), Hon. Olugbenga Ojoawo (2015-2019), Hon. Ajibola Muraina (2019-2023) and now the incumbent lawmaker, Hon. Adebayo Adepoju (2023 till date).

Going by the above, since the return to democracy, an individual among the aforementioned has had the rare opportunity to represent our constituency for a duration equal to the total years served by all previous officeholders combined (12 years). Like I wrote in my viral publication in 2022, “Aja Raun-Raun in the Ibarapa Political Landscape”, beyond spending nearly half of our democratic era so far in office as a lawmaker, the individual has also sustained a consistent record of getting tickets from the two major political parties in Nigeria in the last 16 years, as he has never missed being on the ballot since 2007. While I understand that shrewdness and the ability to outmanoeuvre opponents largely define our electoral process in this part of the world, it is also worthy of note that achieving such a consistent record is no mean feat.

However, the focus of this piece is not on the number of years anybody has spent in office; it is on how the mandates given to each of these individuals commensurate with their performance levels. I think for the first time in our political journey as a people and for the sake of our progress, this is the best time for elders, community men and women, youths, residents in Igbo-Ora, Idere, Ayete, Tapa and Igangan to put aside their political differences and focus on the things that unite us by coming together to support the second-term ambition of Hon. Dr. Anthony Adebayo Adepoju. I am making this honest appeal in the interests of nobody but that of Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North Federal Constituency.

My reason for this appeal is not far-fetched; it is anchored on personal experience, observation and people’s testimonies. To the glory of God, in the last 34 months, I have been privileged to work closely with Hon. Adepoju at the apex lawmaking institution in Nigeria and I have seen firsthand the importance of having a lawmaker who knows his way no matter how difficult it is. Everyone should get the point correctly: you can be a ranking member of the National Assembly and still fail your people, but the important thing is that every lawmaker who has the interest of his community at heart must strive to be a ranking member and what it takes to become one is to secure a second term.

I have not come here to promise that when you reelect Hon. Adepoju in 2027, he will become Speaker of the House of Representatives, I have come to appeal that the only favour we can do for our constituency is to enable him to attain that status come 2027 to consolidate his lobbying skills, which have brought about unprecedented achievements to Igbo-Ora, Idere, Ayete, Tapa, Igangan, including numerous villages, under his stewardship. Even at the lowest rung, he has delivered meaningful achievements and opened doors many thought were impossible to unlock. If this is what he can do as a newcomer, imagine the life-changing opportunities he will attract for our constituency as a ranking member. The future is brighter if we stand with him.

Before now, without any iota of subterfuge, many of our communities struggled with limited access to opportunities, weak infrastructure and distant representation. Many of the projects executed by some honourables did not even outlive their tenure. Today, the narrative is changing; projects are visible and can stand as a legacy, opportunities are accessible regardless of constituents’ partisanship or non-partisanship and governance is closer to the people.

Working with him, Ibarapakan has displayed a rare quality that is difficult to find, especially in a highly dynamic and often volatile political environment like ours where resentment and personal grievances are easily harboured. He does not keep malice. He has extended numerous opportunities to people from whom he least expects any form of support.

To him, people’s public conduct, creed or belief system should never be used to deprive them of opportunities, as whatever is done for them ultimately contributes to the prosperity and growth of Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North Federal Constituency. That is why people come to share testimonies of a man who has made governance a public service and not an opportunity to settle personal scores. This is indeed a leader worthy of broad support and protection.

Since the inception of democracy in 1999, without mincing words, no lawmaker in our constituency has achieved half of what Hon. Adepoju has accomplished in terms of human capital and infrastructural development; evidence abounds. Not just that, no lawmaker has succeeded in putting our constituency on the global map as experienced in the last 34 months and our constituency has never been this celebrated as experienced since 2023.

Across Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North today, families are testifying to Ibarapakan’s wealth creation because opportunities have finally come home. Our youths are getting chances to build careers, not chase shadows. Our parents now sleep better, knowing their children have a future and that they don’t need to be somebody to unlock these opportunities. Communities are growing stronger because one man has made fair distribution of dividends of democracy a priority. Our students are getting new school buildings to bridge infrastructure gaps in our learning environment. Our road(s) are being constructed; access to clean water in our towns and villages has been improved; younger ones, for the first time in the history of our constituency, have a chance to preside and be involved in the decision-making process of the constituency; scholarships are being rolled out to outstanding students to encourage others; farmers are getting necessary support to increase their productivity; our people are getting healthcare support; access to sports facilities is being provided; exceptional graduates are being celebrated, meaningful facilities like libraries, ICT centres, mega cold rooms, processing plants, examination centres, well-equipped town hall and many others are being constructed across the constituency. People no longer see their lawmaker during election campaigns, but almost every two weeks, from the National Assembly to the constituency level, accessibility has never been this easy. Outsiders, home and abroad, now admire the ongoing progress in our constituency just because someone has chosen to serve his people with dedication and selflessness.

And that reminds me of a statement by Hon. Dhikrulahi Olajide (Odidiomo), representing Ibadan North-East/South-East Federal Constituency, when he came to the third edition of Ibarapakan’s Ramadan Lecture and Iftar in March this year and had a brief meeting with constituents and political leaders in the Igbo-Ora residence of Hon. Adepoju. The two-term member of the Nigerian House of Representatives, who is now a Governorship aspirant, acknowledged the growing popularity of Hon. Adepoju in the National Assembly and in Nigeria as a whole but expressed that for the greater interests of Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North, he should be re-elected in 2027. He referenced that most of what he struggled to achieve in his first term was what other members would have to wait for his clearance before such matters were to be decided today, simply because he is a ranking member. He declared publicly how he has leveraged his second term in the National Assembly to facilitate projects worth over N20 billion in his constituency in the last three years, saying it would have been more if the federal government had implemented the 2025 budget. He noted that such a feat would not have been possible if he were just a first-timer. The point here is not about the years in office but the need to attain that status of a ranking member for a first-timer who has paid his dues, considering what the people of Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North have witnessed over the past two years.

No society achieves meaningful development by relying on politicians alone, that is why all developed communities around the world believe strongly in synergy and collaboration. In the ageless words of Rt. Hon. Idris Wase, hardly will you see a graduate in his constituency who is hunting for a job in the federal service. According to him, it sometimes takes the service of a town crier to find those who are still looking for opportunities, as the joy of every graduate is to be gainfully employed. Today, in Wase Federal Constituency of Plateau State, these empowered constituents, according to available public information, have become directors and senior officers of various agencies and parastatals of the federal government. They are even executing projects as a way of giving back to their community without waiting for the government to do what they can accomplish using their own resources.

We can all say Hon. Wase is a fifth-term lawmaker, but how many of his contemporaries can boast of such remarkable achievements in Nigeria today? If the kind of seeds being sown by Hon. Adepoju had been planted consistently in our constituency since 1999, by now, we would be mentioning many names of our constituents at the top echelon of leadership in federal service who can also use their influence to bring meaningful development home and empower more people just to complement the efforts of our political leaders. As the Yoruba proverb goes, “Omo tí a fi owó ìlú tọ́, á lè di ọmọ rere tó máa fi ìmúlò owó ìlú ṣe àǹfààní fún gbogbo ènìyàn,” which literally means, “A child nurtured with public resources can grow into a responsible person who uses those resources for the benefit of everyone in the community.”

As we advance in the course of our political development, 2027 offers yet another opportunity to continue to build on the foundation laid by Hon. Adepoju to ensure that Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North do not remain a land of untapped potential but continue to be a constituency where opportunities are real, accessible and transformative. This is a chance to reward purposeful leadership, to consolidate progress and to empower more youths, families and communities to rise through merit, hard work and access to meaningful resources. A support for Ibarapakan in 2027 is a support for growth, visible achievements, sustainable development, prosperity and genuine investment in the future of our beloved constituency. History, they say, will always be on the side of the just.

Hassan Adesodi Olaoniye
Special Adviser to Hon. Adebayo Adepoju
(Media and Publicity)
April 9, 2026