HOW TO BE A NIGERIAN POLITICIAN: Oyo State PDP Governorship Candidate Removes Transformer Donated To Community After Losing To Rival

Senator Teslim Folarin (Image source: whatsupibadan.com)

GRAPHITTI NEWS could not resist re-posting this news.

Now the Senator in question is considered by many as one of the “leading lights” of the PDP in the southwest even though he hails from Oyo State. He is a two-term senator in the current dispensation and has served Nigeria as a whole in several sensitive capacities. You can therefore imagine the surprise over this story. However we are still hoping the senator was misrepresented.

According to his profile, Senator Teslim Folarin was elected Senator for the Oyo Central constituency of Oyo State, Nigeria, taking office on 29 May 2003, and was reelected in 2007. He is a member of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).

Folarin obtained a BSc. in Political Science from the University of Ibadan and an MCSE from Elite College, London. He is a protégé of Chief Lamidi Adedibu, a power broker in Oyo state. After resuming his seat in the Senate in 2007 he was appointed Senate Leader, and was appointed to committees on Selection, Rules & Business and Marine Transport. 

In a mid-term evaluation of Senators in May 2009, THISDAY said he sponsored a bill to amend the Insurance Act and led the debate on all executive bills in the Senate. In February 2010 he was reported to be a candidate for the PDP nomination for Oyo State governor in the 2011 elections.

MojiDelano Blog reports:

Residents of Sabo community in Ibadan, Oyo State capital in the early hours of Sunday 12th April were left stunned beyond compare as they woke up  to see a Transformer donated to the community few days ago by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Senator Teslim Folarin, being carted away by some aides of the former Senate Leader.
The PDP governorship candidate who came fourth in the Oyo State Gubernatorial election had conceded defeat on Saturday night and apparently thought it was no longer necessary for the members of the community to benefit from his largesse aimed at securing their votes.

Members of the Sabo community on sighting those removing the Transformer in the early hours of Sunday raised alarm before storming to the palace of the Sarkin Hausawa, Alhaji Ahmed Dahiru Zungeru where they expressed their distaste on Folarin's actions. The Sarki then waded into the matter by calling on Folarin’s political associate within the community, Alhaji Bashiru Maiborno, for clarification.

Maiborno intervention resulted in the return of the transformer to Sabo community, but he was rebuffed as the Sabo community vowed not to take back the transformer from Senator Folarin.
Maiborno insisted that the transformer was removed with a view to keeping it in a safer place. “Senator Folarin is a man of his words,” Maiborno told inquisitive journalists.

Senator Folarin’s is yet to react to the development.

Culled from Mojidelano blog