Tribute to Distinguished Sen. Dr. Abdul-Fatai Omotayo Buhari on His Birthday
pannigeriannews
4 min read
By Sunday Adepoju
Ibapon Royal Family, Ogbomoso, Oyo State and Nigeria are entities blessed with the birth of Young Abdulfatai Omotayo Buhari many years ago, even without silver spoon in his mouth.
The various social media platforms are, today, awash with with greetings, wishes and tributes widely crafted to celebrate the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation and Aerospace Development, Prince (Dr.) Abdulfatai Omotayo Buhari, the lawmaker representing Oyo North senatorial district in the Senate. The Prince of Ibapon kingdom in Ogbomoso had represented Ogbomoso North/Ogbomoso South/Oriire federal constituency in the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007 before pausing to win the senatorial seat of Oyo North on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from 2015 till date.
Prince Dr Buhari, who had surfed through the wilderness of life, was interestingly an apprentice trainee of automobile mechanics in the ‘good’ old days.
At tender age, even beyond his family background, destiny was cakling his name. In fact, he is an alumnus of the University of Ilorin (graduating with a BSc. in Business Administration in 1985); Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (Master in Business Administration in 1993); University of Abuja, Abuja (Doctor of Philosophy Degree, Ph.D, in Public Policy in 2009. He is, therefore, the first PhD holder to represent us, if not in the entire Oyo State, in the National Assembly. No wonder his erudition in contributing to matters in the hallowed chamber is laudable. He is, indeed, a business man, scholar and politician of high repute. He was also educated in the prestigous Harvard University, specialising in leadership and governance.
As his style, upon assumption of office, Dr.Fatai Buhari deliberately made his phone contact public for people; this is rare. So many times, I have missed his phone calls and this stresses how humble he is. Whenever the Omoluabi is with his political family, especially at his family house in Ibapon, Ogbomoso, you hardly notice any leader-follower relationship or scenario. He is the only politician I have seen walk around without security operatives, at least here in Ogbomoso. He usually walks from Ibapon to Osupa, Aaje, Sekooni, Okeelerin, Oja’gbo and other axes of the legendary city of Ogbomoso, the land of the valiant. Buhari is intelligent, brilliant and humourous in excellence. A good story teller, you don’t have a dull moment in Buhari’s presence.
His impactful representation has earned him the strings of best in terms of performance, projects and legislative duties.
According to a ranking sometime ago, Dr Buhari came 5th out of 109 senators in bills progression (productivity index). What a laudable feat!
As his primary responsibility, Buhari has contributed meaningfully in both the House and the Senate by sponsoring bills, moving motions, raising issues that are germane to the progress of the nation. He has blatantly agitated for location of Federal Government’s establishments in his district and Oyo State like the Federal University of Agriculture, Federal Medical Centre, among others. I watched one of his contributions on health facility when he was bombarding the Senate with data of health of his constituents and the agonising condition of the people to get health facility, especially the Oke-Ogun axis of the district.
He has done a lot in facilitating Federal Government jobs for a number of graduates in his district, I mean juicy ones. Beyond partisanship, he has variously extended the gestures to youths generally, youths in the APC, PDP, Christians, Muslims, traditionalists without discrimination. The joy is that when a leader gives a youth a good job, that employee can perform wonders in his community in future. So also will be the cases of our young men and women in various government ministries, agencies, commissions and so on who have benefited through BAF and others leadersfrom Ogbomoso.
Beyond these and his excellence in accessibility/availability, Senator Buhari has facilitated a myriad of projects too numerous to mention to his district. He has facilitated trainings and empowerments. He never forgot the physically challenged as he recently donated about 150 wheelchairs to them in a colour ceremony in Iseyin, the headquarters of Oyo North. Is it on charity? He is super good as testimonies of this abound; maybe because he was not born with silver spoon in his mouth. If a child lives a life in which things are not rosy, he becomes wise later and understands what it means to help. ‘Omo o jiya o ni oun gbon, tani tisa to koo?’
To close this tribute and in all honesty, I charge Dr Buhari to consistently continue in his performance in the Red Chamber and not relent for posterity because of the quote by Mark Anthony in Julius Caesar: “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bone” after the Caesar had been killed.
Congratulations on your birthday, Sir.
And many happy returns, Sir.
