How I originated “O To Ge’’ campaign slogan that overthrow Saraki – Alhaji Jimoh LAK

79 year old Alhaji LAK Jimoh, who is the originator of the three word campaign slogan of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State “O to Ge” which means "Enough is Enough" in English has been described by election observers as an eloquent and effectively used to end decades of political supremacy of a dynasty in Kwara.

Alhaji LAK whose LAK acronyms stand for Lazeez Ayinla Kolawole a renowned politician in Kwara, in ilorin said “Every revolution like a seed, it grows to become an oak tree,’’ he also talked about how he came about the wild fire Campaign slogan for the All Progressive Congress(APC) in Kwara State.

The election observers saw the APC’s victory in the the Feb. 23 Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state as an upset and a final blow for the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara politics.

The PDP was massively defeated in the presidential election and the entire three Senatorial and six House of Representatives seats to the APC.

The defeat of the senate president in his stronghold, Kwara Central Senatorial zone by the APC candidate, Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe. Oloriegbe polled a total of 123,808 votes to defeat the Senate President who scored 68,994 votes in the four Local Governments Areas of Kwara Central Senatorial District was the main loss.

Alhaji LAK said the "O to Ge’’ movement actually started when he was an aspirant for the Kwara Central Senatorial seat under the PDP in 2010 preparatory to the 2011 general elections.

And that he had also used a similar slogan in 2003, “It Is Time For Change’’ when he lost the Kwara Governorship Primaries of the PDP to Bukola Saraki.

“This movement did not just start in 2018. Every revolution starts like a seed and with time it grows to become an oak tree.

“When I foresaw the revolution that will end the era of bad governance in Kwara, majority of the people did not see it.

“People did not see it then and I was accused of being too revolutionary but I assured them that we will ultimately get there. “Gradually, the revolution assumed the spine and magnitude that we just saw in this year’s election, when the people used the power of vote to dethrone decades of political dynasty that had impoverished Kwara,’’ he said.

He explained: “Kwara is not an industrial state, it is an agrarian state but today we do not have even a Ministry of Agriculture. We do not have any thriving agricultural project at all.

"All the agric nurseries and training schools and even the land of the Ministry of Agriculture were sold out.’’

He said the media hyped multi-billion Naira Shonga Farm project by Bukola Saraki as governor of Kwara was a sham. “Billons of Naira were pumped into the project but till today no single farm product came out of the farm till it got Moribund.

"It is all fraud. What they called Zimbabwe farmers were just farm workers who did not bring a dime to the state for investment yet they called them investors. “It was the state government that borrowed billions of Naira from the defunct Intercontinental Bank and gave it to these people but we have nothing to show for it,’’ he said.

Jimoh also emphasis that Kwara inherited some employment creating establishments like the Jebba Paper Mill, Tate and Lyle Sugar manufacturing company in Bacita and the British Morris Tobacco Company, which had all collapsed because of hostile economic atmosphere.

He alleged that the state owned Trade Bank, was liquidated simply because the management was not cooperating with political authority to use the Bank for looting of resources. Jimoh said under the watchful eyes of the past administrations also, state owned Gateway Insurance Company, Kwara Express and Kwara Hotels folded up. He said the state had witnessed a total decay of infrastructure, ranging from bad roads, poor health delivery system, collapse of environmental sanitation and educational system.

"When I saw all these, I said we must not continue in that way and allow these people to destroy the state. “Then, I said, “O to Ge, Enough is Enough. We must rise against the misrule and slavery,’’ he said.