Let me say this without apology, Mr. Chairman: you are management material’s worst nightmare. You are what happens when someone refuses to learn the gentle art of looking busy while achieving nothing.
They trained us to expect certain things from people in your position. A little complacency here. A little procrastination there. The skillful avoidance of difficult decisions wrapped in the language of “consultations” and “due process.”
You clearly skipped those classes because you’re a “DANGEROUS MAN”.
I say this without mincing words, Mr. Chairman: you are a dangerous man. A threat to the old ways. A menace to mediocrity. A hazard to every excuse people like Mr. Peter Obi has ever used to explain why things cannot be done.
Do not misunderstand me. This is the highest compliment.
There are two kinds of leaders in this world: the CARETAKER and the TRANSFORMER. The Caretaker holds the keys, ensures nothing spoils on his watch, and passes them along unchanged. The Transformer arrives, breaks a few doors, disturbs the comfortable silence, and leaves the place positively unrecognizable.
WHICH ONE IS SULAIMON KAZEEM OLANREWAJU?
THE CARETAKER’S PROFILE
A Caretaker believes his job is to occupy space. He maintains, he preserves, he collects a salary. A Caretaker as seen in Gov. Adeleke of Osun State looks at a dilapidated primary school and says, “The roof fell before my time.” A Caretaker watches children fetch water from contaminated streams and says, “That is the community’s responsibility.” A Caretaker attends security meetings, takes minutes, and goes home to sleep.
A Caretaker is comfortable. Comfortable with mediocrity. Comfortable with half-measures. Comfortable with the way things have always been.
Sulaimon Kazeem Olanrewaju is profoundly uncomfortable. And thank God for that.
THE EVIDENCE OF THE DANGER
If being dangerous means refusing to let Ikorodu West remain the way you met it, then Mr. Chairman, you stand convicted. The evidence is overwhelming.
EDUCATION: You Refused to Let Children Learn in Ruins
While the Caretaker looks at UPE Primary School Ajaguro and calls it “heritage architecture,” the Transformer rebuilds it entirely.
While the Caretaker distributes notebooks when the cameras are rolling, fifty pieces here, one hundred there, the Transformer distributes over 350,000 notebooks to more than 7,000 learners across five years. Not for the cameras. For the children.
While the Caretaker installs one borehole and calls it a day, the Transformer installs boreholes across all wards, including at Azanat Tomori Primary School, builds new toilet facilities there, erects security walls, such as at Majidun Primary School and Ipakodo Special School and ensures that Azanat Tomori Primary School, Majidun Primary School, and Anglican Primary School Isawo (where he commissioned new blocks of classrooms facilitated by Senator Tokunbo Abiru) now look like places where actual learning can happen.
2,500 UTME forms. 3,000 GCE forms across 5 years. Not promises. Receipts.
But he didn’t stop at infrastructure. He promotes the very act of learning itself, organizing the SKO Scrabble Competition yearly to drive a high urge for literacy and hosting Quiz and Debate Competitions in partnership with the NYCN. He promotes sporting activities, providing facilities to selected schools and sponsoring competitions like the Believe Football Competition, because he knows a sound mind resides in a sound body. The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) took notice and adopted Asanat Tomori Primary School, Igbo Olomu, a testament to the standard set there.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Where He Refused to Let Roads Remain Myths
There is a special kind of danger required to look at Fola Hammed Road, that notorious destroyer of vehicles and dreams, and decide to fix it. You possess that danger.
While the Caretaker builds nothing that generates revenue, the Transformer builds the West-End Event Centre and a new Shopping Complex in Ogolonto within the secretariat, understanding that governance must generate its own resources. He completely reconstructed the Ikorodu West LCDA Secretariat, including the legislative building, landscaping and interlocking the premises, and completing a dedicated Administrative/Executive Staff Building.
While the Caretaker waits for federal government intervention, the Transformer constructs Abraham Oke Street. Dele Kuti Road. Taiwo Molajo Street. Bamidele Laditi Street. Fagbenro Area. Mabinuori Street in Ebute Iga. The Majidun Garage. The Ipakodo Shopping Complex. The Mechanic Village shopping complex.
While the Caretaker forgets the interior roads, the Transformer grades Afolabi Ekiyoyo Street, Sarah Olakunbi Street, and Abike Jokogbola Street in Sholebo when nobody is watching. The Transformer does palliative repairs at Ipakodo-Ibeshe roundabout and desilts drainages across the LCDA when the cameras are elsewhere.
And then there is the 4th Mainland Bridge, a project that will define Lagos for generations. While the Caretaker hopes to be included, the Transformer fights to ensure Ikorodu West appears on that map, just as he facilitated the Agric-Asolo-Isawo road construction and saw the Ibeshe-NBC Road-Ebute-Ogolonto completed and commissioned by the Governor. That is not the work of a man who wants to be liked. That is the work of a man who wants to be remembered.
SECURITY: Where He Refused to Let Crime Flourish
While the Caretaker holds security meetings and goes home to sleep, the Transformer establishes the Ikorodu Joint Task Force with fellow chairmen and gives them patrol buses, mobility tools, and reason to work.
While the Caretaker ignores the Naval Base at Majidun, the Transformer provides them a borehole water-tank.
While the Caretaker tells the Nigeria Civil Defence and Security Corps to find their own land, the Transformer gives them land for their office project. Curbing crime isn’t just about meetings; it’s about the improved infrastructure that lights up dark roads and the monthly security meetings that keep everyone on their toes.
HEALTH: Where He Refused to Let Mothers Deliver on Dirty Floors
While the Caretaker keeps health centres on paper only, the Transformer ensures Ori-Okuta Primary Health Centre now operates 24 hours. So does Igbo-Olomu PHC. That means when a woman goes into labour at midnight, she has somewhere to go. That means when a child runs a fever at 3 a.m., help is available.
While the Caretaker renovates only when funds are available, the Transformer totally renovates Majidun PHC. The Transformer ensures Ipakodo Health Centre receives a total renovation of its consulting and laboratory rooms (facilitated by the Dredgers Association), solar power, and prepaid meters, courtesy of partnerships he facilitated.
While the Caretaker talks about healthcare, the Transformer delivers free HPV vaccines at Ipakodo PHC. Free medical checkups. Free blood pressure self-test kits distributed across the LCDA. Free measles, rubella, and polio vaccinations for children. Yearly health talks and awareness programmes keep the community informed and healthy.
This is not caretaker work. This is the work of a man who understands that health is not a privilege but a right.
EMPOWERMENT: Where He Refused to Let Poverty Have the Last Word
While the Caretaker promises empowerment, the Transformer delivers 5,000 beneficiaries with work tools in 5 years. 10,000 households fed over five years. 1,500 traders empowered with cash.
While the Caretaker gives only what is convenient, the Transformer gives tricycles (Marwa). Motorcycles. Refrigerators. Generators. Sewing machines. Gas cylinders. POS umbrellas, Hair dryers, Grinding Machines etc. He facilitated job opportunities for Ikorodu West citizens in the Nigerian Army, LNSC, and Nigeria Police.
When fuel subsidy removal bit hard, while the Caretaker offered prayers, the Transformer fed 5,000 households. When December arrived, the Transformer fed another 5,000 households. Food items were also distributed to the Isawo Rehabilitation Centre.
While the Caretaker distributes to his cronies, the Transformer ensures 300 people across five wards receive ₦20,000 each. 40 Abiyamo members receive ₦50,000 each. 50 party members received ₦10,000 cash relief.
When a woman lost two children to a building collapse, while the Caretaker sent condolences, the Transformer sent ₦200,000, then later visited personally.
When the elderly needed help, the Transformer helped.
STAFF WELFARE: Where He Refused to Let Workers Suffer in Silence
While the Caretaker asks workers to manage, the Transformer builds them an administrative complex with a dedicated citizens’ feedback unit. Gives them official cars. Pays outstanding benefits for past political office holders debts he inherited, not incurred. Buys laptops, printers, and new furniture for all offices. Makes the workplace work.
YOUTH: Where He Refused to Let the Next Generation Wait
While the Caretaker tells youth to be patient, the Transformer gives motorcycles and tricycles for young entrepreneurs. Provides skills acquisition training, including digital business awareness leadership training in Epe. Partners with NYCN.
And now, while the Caretaker watches youth roam the streets, the Transformer launches an upcoming Under-14 football competition for boys and girls and hosts the Believe Football Competition, because he understands that the streets must offer something better than idleness.
TOURISM AND TRADITION: Where He Refused to Let Culture Die
While the Caretaker ignores culture, the Transformer hosts the Annual Picnic on Galilee Day. Sponsors Ipakodo Day. Upgrades stipends for traditional rulers and chiefs. Provides monthly support for Sekunmade-in-Council. Celebrates Isese Day.
A Caretaker ignores the traditional institutions. A Transformer honours them.
TRANSPARENCY: Where He Refused to Let Projects Be Rumours
While a Caretaker may hide behind opaqueness, the Transformer emphasizes accountability in project execution through constant stakeholder engagement, ensuring everyone sees the work being done.
THE VERDICT
Sulaimon Kazeem Olanrewaju is not a Caretaker. He is a Transformer. And transformers are never comfortable to have around. They demand more. They expect more. They deliver more, and then demand again.
You have disturbed the peace of underdevelopment.
You have troubled the comfort of mediocrity.
You have made Ikorodu West uncomfortable with anything less than progress.
If this is dangerous leadership, then may Ikorodu West never know safety.
A MESSAGE TO MR. CHAIRMAN
Mr. Chairman, this write-up is not flattery. It is documentation. It is evidence that someone is watching. That someone notices that while others are collecting salaries, you are collecting achievements.
The road you constructed may never bear your name. The child who passes through UPE Primary School’s new gates may never know you built them. The woman who delivers safely at Ori-Okuta PHC at midnight may never thank you personally.
But the records are kept. The evidence is gathered. The transformation is undeniable.
We do not need LEADERS who are COMFORTABLE. We need LEADERS who are DANGEROUS, DANGEROUS to POVERTY, DANGEROUS to BAD ROADS, DANGEROUS to DILAPIDATED SCHOOLS, DANGEROUS to ANYTHING less than PROGRESS.
YOU are that DANGEROUS LEADER. YOU are that TRANSFORMER.
And for that, Ikorodu West is grateful.
Continue being DANGEROUS, Mr. CHAIRMAN. We are watching. We are noting. We are proud.
Oluwatosin Arike Oyeniyi writes from Ori-Okuta, Ikorodu, Lagos State.
She’s a Media Aide to the Executive Chairman of Ikorodu West Local Council Development Area of Lagos State.
