For some days now the question on the lips of every political conscious soul in Oyo state, especially in Ogbomoso, the second largest city after lbadan, is about Akinwole Akinwale’s movement into the Peoples Democratic Party, it was a mixed feelings of such, though but to many, it is a step taken at the right time while some especially people in APC sees it as a wrong step, because better days lies ahead in the party.
Before i write further, let me briefly introduce Wolekanle as he is fondly called, Born over four decades ago in Ogbomoso, his late father Olusami Akinwale from Seriki Compound Osupa, Ogbomoso was one of the brilliant legal luminaries in the state whose influenced spread across the country. Wolekanle attended Ogbomoso High School and Adeniran Memorial Grammar School and later moved to Teachers College Ejigbo after which he gained admission into St Andrew College of Education Oyo
Wolekanle lost his dad while about to graduate from the College and this posed a great challenge to him but as an adage says ‘a stumbling block is always a stepping stone to a determined mind” rather than allowing the situation to denied him of achieving his dreams of greatness in life, he accepted his fate and move with a strong determination and positive mind to succed in life
As a skillful footballer, luck was not on his side as he could not get a team to play ,this further dampened his morale but being a man with street sense he moved to Lagos and gain admission into Lagos State University LASU where he acquired his University Education.
While in Lagos, Akinwale experienced what a kitten usuall always suffer in the hand of big rats, there was no support coming from anywhere, the few ones were not enough to take him through but with his strong determination to succeed, he managed to scale through to the high pedestal of life and today, by the grace of God, the rest is now history .
Wolekanle is highlyblessed, his enterprising skills speaks volume of his bravery and courage and no doubt he is enjoying the fruits of his labour as today he is the Chief Executive Officer of Blackedge Nigeria LTD, a multidimensional company which has initiated and executed projects for Federal and State governments respectively and many other private individuals, He is the Initiator of Ajilete Carnival, an annual socio- cultural festival that promotes Unity amongst the youths in Ogbomoso. He is as well the Proprietor of Ogbomoso United Football Club, a feeder team, which according to him was established to develop and discover talents.
Wolekanle is an inspiring giver, a philantrophist per excellence, he is a pillar on which many souls are leaning on today, apart from rendering financial assistance to many, Akinwole do give annual schorlarships awards toboth the brilliant and indigent students within his community and beyond, he offers free JAMB coaching and paid for JAMB forms of some of the students who are willing to further their education.
He shares the view and ideology of an American writer Kate Reed about helping people, to him, he gives out arms to many people, not because he has enough or excesses to squander, but because he cares and detest poverty and having known how it feels to have nothing and wallowing in misery, such has has the reasons why he is being generous to people with the little one God Has given to him, saying, his act of kindness and generosity is being taken for something else as unfounded rumors is being spread about him in the name of maligning his reputation and good name but said he will never allow the vent and misinterpretations of his good action and act of generosity to deter him from helping people.
In an interview with journalists recently, Wolekanle was asked what influenced and spurred his interest in politics and his response was that;, “To serve my people and make them happy is my utmost concern” Obviously you cannot satisfy everybody but you have to do your best and let them feel your impacts very positively, the best of those that have been representing us has not not been good enough and his interest in taking our societies and people further reighs supreme in his mind. Saying his recent movement is beyond him. It’s about my people and like l said earlier, l want to serve, l wish to serve and l will serve better”.
Poltics is a dangerous game but we will inspite of that continue to to matching on undeterred, opined that, if the good people refuses to act and take over, evil people will continue to have their ways and cheats on the people with impunity. Wolekanle’s political journey has begun from former Governor Alao Akala to Senator Fatai Buhari under the two political gladiators, he learns and masters the real art of the game and he believes it his is time to act, to test his popularity and be deeply involved in influencing and contributing greatly to the development of Ogbomoso, Oyo state and Nigeria at large.
Wolekanle is an emergency force in Ogbomso politics. His decision to dumps the All Progressives Congress APC for the Peoples Democratic Party PDP is a step towards actualization of his dream, which no doubt, is a great minus to APC, he is not stopping at just moving into the party to form alliance with the existing party members, but to make it more stronger and reposition it for subsequent election, Wolekanle is also poised to complement the effort of Engineer Seyi Makinde’s government in taking Oyo state to a greater height and later joined Federal the race for House of Reps in 2023.
Gbenga Nathaniel Writes from Ogbomoso
