The Director-General of the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission, Mallam Is’haq Kawu Modibbo has revealed that a former Governor of Kwara State, Rear Admiral Muhammad Lawal did not attempt to sell off the state patrimony, but rather reclaim it.
Kawu while speaking during the Fresh Insight 5th Annual Summit today at the state banquet hall in Ilorin, disclosed that Lawal “made the conscious effort to empower people, including local contractors”.
“Governor Muhammed Lawal is now with hindsight, being appreciated better today, years after his death, as actually fighting the consolidating hegemony. I think it has taken the sixteen years, from 2003 to 2019, for most people to walk the shores of hindsight, to learn to appreciate the late Muhammed Lawal.
“And with that hindsight, we can now recall that Governor Lawal did not attempt to sell off our patrimony. On the contrary, he tried to reclaim what had been lost and also made the conscious effort to empower people, including local contractors. There was a trickle down which benefitted the local economy.
Kawu further said, “Unfortunately, the forces of history and their political manipulation, as well as some of Governor Lawal’s own mistakes, allowed the incipient hegemony, to mobilize historical emotions and the powers of the Nigerian state, to remove him to power.”