By Kola Folorunso
For the electorate, the expectation after voting in their preferred candidate at the poll is to be showered with industrious and excellent performance by the office holders.
It isn’t an unreasonable hope, given the sacrifices of time, money, skills and other unquantifiable resources they exhaust to see their choice through.
They want to be paid back with selfless service by the political office holders.
It is a game of reciprocity that has stood the test of time in every clime worldwide.
Something of a similar hue plays out in the life of the elected politician. When he is put into office by the sacred ballot of the people, the politician exerts himself as much as he can to please the mandate-givers.
Just as the people look up to worthwhile and profitable service from the politicians they have sacrificed so much for, their leader has his own undeniable expectation: he wants to be rewarded with a constitutional encore if he’s enjoying a first term; he looks forward to a second term.
It amounts to being rewarded for service. It’s a sacrosanct quid pro quo affair which benefits all the parties in the long run.
The beauty of this inviolate political tradition is unfolding in Amuwo Odofin Local Government at the moment. The leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Amuwo Odofin Local Government have no objection in endorsing Engineer Valentine Oluwaseyi Buraimoh for a second term when his first tenure runs out in 2021.
At several fora, chieftains from Amuwo Odofin Local Government have always lent credence and supports to the Buraimoh-led administration and have announced their support for Engineer Valentine Buraimoh to continue in office as his wages for ‘’performing creditably in the local government’’, adding that ‘’the Executive Chairman deserves the support of the party leaders for the second term’’.
They spoke of Valentine’’s Administration ‘’magnanimously’’ building ‘’health facilities, especially the multi million naira Primary Health Center under construction at the council Secretariat and other visible projects dotting the lines across the local government.
They also alluded to the recommendation by the Governor of Lagos State and the APC Governing Advisory Council (GAC) in Lagos State, on their appraisal of Engineer Valentine as a workaholic and a performing enigma and an Ambassador of Peace who has enthrenched peace, tranquility and progress in his domain.
For the party leaders in Amuwo Odofin, they argued that although it is legitimate for any political aspirant in the local government to aim at the office of the Executive Chairman in 2021, they are waiving it in honour of the worthy accomplishments of Engineer Valentine.
Their intervention came in the wake of rumours going round that there is vacancy for the seat of the Executive Chairman of the local government come 2021 and political players in the local government clamouring for ‘’power shift in 2021.’’
The APC leaders in the local government dismissed this agitation as ‘’ridiculous’’ and a move to ‘’precipitate friction within the party.’’
Can there be a more enduring compensation than when your good political works trigger encomiums from others?
Sometimes, you can put away your trumpet and let others blow the horn for you. But only performing political leaders can afford to take such risks, with the full assurance that their feats can’t be controverted or distorted. That’s a lesson for us all in Amuwo Odofin: leave lasting legacies to speak for you.
KOLA FOLORUNSO, a journalist/ Special Adviser, Media to the Executive Chairman of Amuwo Odofin Local Government.