By: Habeeb Olokooba
Photo Credit: Facebook/ Abdullahi Muheeb
“When we pursue but cannot catch up, we are akin to retreating,” goes the Yoruba adage, “tí abá léni tí áàbá báni àádèyì.” Abdullahi Mujeeb, an aspirant for the Deputy Senate President of the National Association of Kwara State Students, holds a contrary view. As the erstwhile Food Director in the dissolved 2023 Students Union Government, he sees politics as a game of passion.
But after a third trial, who will tell ‘Baba English’ to retreat? Perhaps, power is not for him at this stage. This is evident from the fact that he had enough chances to take a series of shots to the throne. However after three misses, I presume he should cease. At least he had his flowers in the erstwhile Students Union administration.
Away from the vituperative and bantered manifesto session, politics is math. I might not be a politician; but it has many calculations which must be done by heart and carefully. But where did Baba English go wrong? He should have figured out power is against him. Or perhaps, he is battling with the big boys. He should have long retreated since he lost in the ELSA ––English and Literary Studies Association –– presidential race. However, he went ahead in giving a third shot to the NAKSS DSP. But after trying and losing three times, who will tell English to resign to fate?
A victory it was, at the very beginning. Emerging as the food director of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto students’ Union, was no child’s play. However, the center could not hold for him when he mounted that new pedestal. Dissolved. The administration was cutted off untimely by a foreseeable coup. The man of the moment ––in a jiffy–– became a common man again. Life happened.
Mujeeb, seeking solace after his ELSA election defeat, returned to his roots in Kwara and entered the NAKSS arena, challenging Dasuki Ibrahim for the Deputy Senate presidential race. Despite his aspirations, the elusive victory remained out of Mujeeb’s grasp, leaving him once again on the sidelines of power.
But after this, what next?