14 years after I moved to this community, our road is finally tarred

By Sanya Adejokun
For many years, all we heard was that it is a pipeline and so, it cannot be tarred. But we wondered why FCT will create a community layout when there won’t be road infrastructure. We continued to hope and pray.
We really suffered especially during rainy season. Vehicle bumpers and absorbers bore the brunt. People thought twice before embarking on visitation. The communities contributed monies to repair the earth roads and construct culverts. There was little respite in dry seasons but what about the dust? It was a menace.
And then suddenly towards the end of 2022, signposts were erected to announce that a contractor had been awarded the road to construct by Federal Ministry of Works as constituency project of Senator Philip Aduda.
Most residents didn’t believe it was real. With 2023 elections just a few months away, we believed that it was one of the ways to deceive us into voting for them. But drainage works commenced immediately and executed with speed. Shortly before election, there was increased frenzy, with Aduda making several visits to the site and urging contractors to expedite work.
However, work stopped shortly after election. In December, contractors returned and by the last week of the year, the work was concluded. Wow!
Just because of this road project, I decided to vote for Aduda in the last election and I did. Incidentally, he lost the election and I was happy. Why should I be happy that someone I voted for lost the election? Immediately he lost the election, I was sad for him until a few days later.
About a week after he lost the election, my mechanic, a Gbagyi man came to the house and we got talking about what happened. In anger, he retorted that Gbagyi and the Labour Party had an agreement. They were playing the religious card. Gbagyi people would vote for Peter Obi in the presidential ballot while labour people would vote for Aduda in the senatorial election. As it happened, while the Gbagyi people fulfilled their part of the bargain, Labour people did not. And so, Aduda, their son lost while Ireti Kingibe, a Kanuri of the Labour Party won. It was then that I felt happy that he lost.

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