The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Abdulrazaq

  • I’m next governor of Kwara, says Abdulrazaq

    Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State. His campaign slogan is O’ to ge (Enough is enough). In this interview with reporters, he speaks on his manifesto and preparations for the March 2 election. Excerpts:

    You are coming from the private sector. What are your plans for the Kwara State?

    It is a moot point to ask why we want to end the current political status quo in our state. The facts about Kwara speak for themselves. As somebody from the private sector, I see the running of Kwara as is being done as an anomaly. You can never have development that way. We have a government and functionaries that are only interested in being in charge of public funds and privileges of public office without any commensurate delivery of services to the public.

    Between January 2011 and August 2018,  the Kwara State government has received roughly N300bn in federal allocations. In the same period, the 16 local governments have received more than N500bn. This means that this state has received an average of 40bn naira annually from the federal accounts while the local councils have taken over 27bn naira annually between 2011 and 2017. Yet Kwara has one of the worst social infrastructure in this country even though it is one of the frontline states. Teachers and pensioners are owed, local government teachers are not paid, civil servants at the state level are not properly remunerated and often have their pay slashed for dubious reasons without being able to protest same.

    In Kwara, public funds are invested in projects which are then converted to private estates. There is no other state in Nigeria where this impunity happens.  There are several anomalies going on in our state to the extent that people outside Kwara often regard our people as second-class people. Among the six states created in 1967, Kwara has the second lowest internally generated revenue and this speaks to lack of creativity and economic activities in the state.

    Despite the obsolete state of infrastructure, low development and non-payment of workers and pensioners their dues, this state is indebted to the tune of N56bn as at December 2017, 30 per cent of it being external debt and 70 owed to local financial institutions. By this figure, and in spite of absence of commensurate development to justify it, per capital debt of the state stands  at N18,000  per indigene of the state who are already impoverished.

    What would you do differently?

    We will do everything differently from the current system. We will end a culture of converting public funds to private wealth and then dispensing some percentage of the same funds through a very dehumanising political patronage. We will use public funds to serve the public in manners that restore the dignity of our people in the area of infrastructure, including road and other basic amenities.

    For instance, you will find that  Kwara has repeatedly prioritised recurrent expenditure at the expense of capital spendings and the result is clear in its infrastructure deficit. Worst still, there is hardly any diligent implementation of the capital expenditure over the years. In 2016, out of N67.4b capital expenditure, only N24bn was disbursed, representing just 35.6% of capital budget for that year. Similarly, capital budget performance for the education was just 19%! This has to change. Most parts of Kwara are ungoverned as the only time our people feel any semblance of governance is during election period. Many schools and hospitals have been taken over by the respective communities to ensure the rest of the world doesn’t live them behind. But there is little these communities can do. There are communities where just one teacher takes all the subjects in a primary school. Most hospitals don’t have doctors.

    When we assume office, by the Grace of God and the good people of Kwara, we will spread development to all parts of the state. We will ensure that our mothers have access to qualitative maternal care. At the moment, Kwara has one of the highest cases of maternal deaths in the country.

    The state is poor in terms of industrialisation and infrastructural facilities, especially in education and health. How do you intend to tackle this?

    Industries or businesses cannot thrive where you don’t have basic infrastructure. Kwara has a comparative advantage in agriculture. But our farming communities don’t have facilities that will encourage investment. So we will concentrate, basically, on building infrastructure such as roads, health facilities, schools and opening up our communities to the world through stable electricity and internet connectivity. If you have basic infrastructure and amenities, investors will naturally come in because businesses succeed where the cost of running them is friendly and they have easy access to markets.

    What are your plans to combat youth unrest, high crime rate and drug abuse?

    If you provide basic infrastructure which then encourages investment,  there will be jobs and our youths will be productively engaged.  The idle mind, as it is said, is the devil’s workshop. We promise to show good examples to the youth by ensuring transparency and accountability. We will provide our youths with 21st century opportunities for a  better life. Measures will also be taken to address drug abuse which I agree is a problem. In tackling it, we will look at the root causes which include frustration, peer pressure and other social crises.

    There are insinuations that, if your party comes to power, it will be controlled by some godfathers from Lagos. How do you react to that?

    Who in Kwara doesn’t want our state to be as developed as Lagos State? Lagos State collaborated very successfully with Kebbi State in agriculture and today Kebbi is the largest producer of rice in Nigeria. Lagos is cooperating with a few other states successfully too.The Kwara government of Saraki went all the way to Zimbabwe for white farmers and allegedly invested billions but  there is nothing to show for it today . So cooperation with Lagos is a good thing.

    That allegation came from those who, just a few years ago, were always seen with the same Lagos politicians in APC. Were they actually taking instructions from Lagos then? They said we want to take Kwara to the Southwest if elected. It was a wild and yet funny allegation.  But it shows they lack any sense of history. Everybody knows the roles my  father played to keep Ilorin in the Northern region. The facts are there. All in all, I think they were trying to incite the people against us but the plan has failed. People have seen through their desperation. The destiny of Kwara will be determined only by Kwarans. Unlike them, we won’t give slots belonging to Kwara people to anybody else.

    What are your priority programmes, if you are voted into office?

    Our priority programmes will revolve around providing basic infrastructure, reorienting our people on lost values and lifting Kwara from poverty.

    If you become governor, what is the first thing you will do?

    What we will do first will be determined by what resources are available. We will also be guided by available records on the state of things we meet on the ground, but I can assure you that we will mobilise every resources at our disposal, including from private investors, to fulfil our campaign promises to our people across all the senatorial zones; in all corners of the state. And we promise to ensure fair, just and equitable development, having the fear of God at the back of our mind at all times.

     

  • Abdulrazaq, Pategi leaders parley on River Niger bridge

    The Kwara State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has promised to build a bridge linking Pategi to Bida Emirate in Niger State.

    He said this would deepen cultural and trade relations between the two states.

    “River Niger is, for us, not a dividing line but an area of convergence between Kwara and Niger states. We will link Pategi and Bida Emirate in Niger State with a bridge, even if by public private arrangement,” Abdulrazaq told community leaders at the Etsu of Nupe’s palace at the weekend.

    The APC candidate was in the area during his campaign tour of the northern part of the state.

    He added: “We, therefore, urge you to vote massively for the President (Muhammadu Buhari), all our candidates for the National and State Assembly and for me as your governor. Once you do this, we will collaborate with the administration of the President to build a bridge to link the two states and end the agony of losing our people to incessant boat accidents.

    “We will provide jobs for our youths. We will make sure that you have infrastructure, which will not only boost trade but will also generate jobs. We will revive local industries, especially agro-processing factories. Importantly, our administration will accord proper respect to the traditional institutions.”

    Abdulrazaq also promised to end the diversion of local government funds through the so-called joint accounts, a practice he blamed on lack of development and rising poverty at the grassroots.

    Pategi community leaders pledged to support Abdulrazaq in exchange for his promise to ensure the construction of a bridge linking the area across the River Niger.

    “Your aspiration has our blessings in view of your pledge to guarantee the construction of a bridge across the River Niger,” said Alhaji Ibrahim Abubakar, the Akimi of Chegban, a community under the Etsu Nupe.

    Abubakar urged the APC candidate to activate the long-abandoned Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) facilities in the town.

    In Kpada, Abdulrazaq pledged to build the long-abandoned Pategi-Kpada road, if elected.

    Sadiq Umar, the APC senatorial candidate for Kwara North, said the area would not remain the same if they support the president and all APC candidates in the general elections.

    Abdulrazaq was accompanied on the tour by top party chieftains, elder statesmen, all the APC candidates from the northern senatorial district, and former APC governorship aspirant Abdullahi Yamman.

    The tour has taken Abdulrazaq to several towns and villages in Pategi and Edu local government areas, including Pategi, Kpada, Lade, Tsaragi, Lafiagi and others.

  • Abdulrazaq slams Ahmed over comments on local govt administration

    The Kwara State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, yesterday faulted the claims by Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed that President Muhammadu Buhari was responsible for the poverty and underdevelopment at the grassroots.

    He blamed the poverty and underdevelopment at the grassroots in the state on what he called diversion of local government funds by the state government.

    At a campaign stopover in Isin Local Government Area last weekend, Ahmed blamed widespread poverty at the grassroots on the Buhari administration.

    But the media aide to Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq Governorship Campaign Organisation, Rafiu Ajakaye, said poverty and underdevelopment in Kwara State were the result of constant diversion of local government funds by the state government under Ahmed.

    In a statement in Ilorin, the state capital, Ajakaye said: “The truth is that the governor and his political leader, Bukola Saraki, conditioned our people to poverty and underdevelopment, not President Buhari. They crippled the local government with repeated diversion of local government funds to some questionable joint accounts.

    “We recall that protests by some local government chairmen, including Dele Abiodun of Ekiti and Ajimati of Oyun local government areas, against this evil diversion of council funds was met with unlawful, Gestapo-like dismissal and it took the erudition of their Lordships of the Appeal and Supreme courts to reverse this ‘gangsterism’.

    “Today, our local councils are unable to serve the grassroots, execute any project or pay salary because of this continued diversion of their funds by the Kwara State government. How is President Buhari guilty of this? Has the President ever withheld funds to any of these councils? If not, on what basis can anyone accuse him of impoverishing the grassroots?

    “The governor’s statement was a dubious yet a failed attempt to deceive the public on the true state of the situation, and this is both irresponsible and devilish. It exposes the governor and his bosses as politicians who exploit people’s lack of access to basic education and information, which they systematically perpetuate, to lie over issues of governance.

    “We assure the governor that there is nothing he or his party will say to save them from imminent defeat at the polls because Nigerians are aware that the P resident is a man who has not discriminated against any state in the running of his government, unlike one of their patrons who ran his administration based on vendetta and childish politicking of allocation of state resources.”

  • Saraki’s political model killing Kwara, says Abdulrazaq

    THE Kwara State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has said the current political model in the state stifles development and impoverishes the people.

    Abdulrazaq spoke yesterday in Lagos at a media briefing cum reception in his honour.

    Dignitaries at the event include House of Representatives member Tunji Olawuyi, Muhammad Dele Belgore (SAN), Kunle Suleiman, Senator Khairat Gwadabe, former Information Commissioner Raheem Adedoyin, former House of Assembly member Saheed Popoola, ace musicians Wasiu Sodiq, Ibrahim Labaeka, top politician Musibau Eshinrogunjo and popular actor Saheed Balogun.

    The APC candidate said the current political model controlled by Senate President Bukoka Saraki had impoverished the people.

    He said: “It has no answer to the challenges faced by our people. Nothing is happening anywhere in terms of development.”

    Abdulrazaq challenged the Saraki dynasty to showcase what it achieved in the last 16 years in its campaign rather than the current intimidation, name-calling and the doling out of money to the electorate.

    The APC flagbearer, who addressed the gathering in Yoruba, said the authorities in Kwara were using state machineries to intimidate the APC and prevent it from campaigning.

    He said: “Those who have been there in the last 16 years did not do anything; we have not seen what they have done. As a result, they have nothing to campaign with. That is why they are preventing us from campaigning too.

    “They are arming our youths, who are destroying our billboards and attacking us everywhere we go. They say they have banned campaigns in Kwara State. But we would not be intimidated. As the Yoruba say, O To Ge! (enough is enough). We will continue to campaign.”

    Abdulrazaq promised that, if voted to power, the APC has programmes that would create jobs for the teeming youth.

    The APC candidate said he is from a private sector background and that he would not wait for federal allocations to implement his programmes but would work towards shoring up the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR), which currently stands at N2 billion monthly.

    He said Lagos State, which has an IGR of N34 billion monthly, does not depend on federal allocations to implement its budget.

    Abdulrazaq said the Kwara APC adopted O To Ge! or enough is enough, as its campaign slogan because it believes it is high time the state turned a new leave in education, health, infrastructure, enterprise, among other vital sectors.

    He said there was a cordial relationship between him and other former aspirants in the party’s primary because everyone recognised the fact that only one person would win a contest.

    The APC candidate noted that the presence of one of the contestants, Mr. Dele Belgore, at the reception attested to the fact that he carried them along in his campaign.

    The event was organised by Kwarans in Lagos, an ad hoc amalgam body of all indigenes of the state in Lagos and its environs.

    It was attended by top businessmen and women, musicians, academicians, politicians and artisans from the state.

    Belgore urged all APC supporters to mobilise their friends, families and communities to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari, Abdulrazaq and other APC candidates.

  • I’m Kwara APC candidate known to INEC, says Abdulrazaq

    The Kwara State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, yesterday said he is the authentic candidate of the party in the state.

    He said the dismissal of the Ishola Balogun-Fulani-led state executive from the peace accord signing ceremony laid to rest the rumour about the real candidate of the party.

    Abdulrazaq spoke at APC stakeholders’ meeting in Ilorin, the state capital.

    He said: “Balogun-Fulani came to the peace accord but he was sent away. This reaffirms our position that we are the true members of the APC. The other ones are just doing the bidding of their masters in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    “The whole world now knows who the authentic candidate is. We are the only one known to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as that event shows.”

    Adbulrazaq also announced the appointment of three directors-general (DGs) to coordinate his campaign.

    “We have decided to do things differently by appointing three DGs, each representing each of the senatorial districts. We hereby announce Ambassador Yahaya Seriki as the director general for Kwara Central,” he said.

    The APC candidate said the other DGs would be unveiled at stakeholders’ meetings to be held in their zones.

    Also, Abdulrazaq urged party members and leaders to work as one team to wrest power from the PDP.

    He hailed Kwara residents for giving his massive acceptance to his aspiration and messages.

    “Our campaigns have been peaceful and our people have bought into our O To Ge! movement. The response of our opponents has been to attack our rallies. But we will not fall for their bait. We will not derail because we are bona fides of Kwara,” he added.

     

     

     

  • Abdulrazaq: ban on political rallies, processions attempt to frustrate APC

    The Kwara State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has described the reported ban by the state government on political rallies and processions on the streets as undemocratic.

    Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, on Tuesday, banned political street rallies and processions across the state.

    Ahmed said: “As an additional security measure, political street rallies and processions are hereby banned across the state.

    “Only political rallies in designated areas and with prior notification to the state police command will be allowed henceforth.”

    The governor’s action followed last weekend’s attacks on political rallies of major political parties in the state.

    But Adbulrazaq noted that the governor’s pronouncement was an attempt to frustrate APC’s campaigns.

    The APC candidate addressed reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, while visiting victims of the last Sunday’s attack on party members by suspected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs.

    On the entourage of the governorship candidate were Kwara Central senatorial candidate of the APC, Dr Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe, and other party stalwarts.

    Abdulrazaq said: “They have made all efforts to frustrate our campaigns. They started by attacking our rallies. You know that they have had so many rallies and there has not been violence in any of their rallies. But the moment we stepped out to campaign, they attacked us.

    “We mounted our billboards, they used the Kwara State Signage and Advertising Agency (KWASAA) to bring them down. Yet, they have not succeeded in silencing us. It means our message is resonating. It is not about APC candidates any more; it is a movement in Kwara.

    “Now, they don’t want us to get there. But we will get there, by the grace of God, and stop all this nonsense going on in the state. The governor’s statement is a case of someone hiding behind a finger. In a democracy, how can you ban a rally?

    “We are victims of their violence. It must stop. I met with the police commissioner and he assured me that the police are up to the task of getting to the bottom of the violence. We must stop this.

    “We have told the victims and our supporters not to retaliate. Our opponents don’t have anything to lose. They (perpetrators) want to discourage our supporters from going out to vote. They want to discourage them from going out to campaign.

    “No, we are going to campaign vigorously and our supporters will come out to vote en mass on the days of elections. The President is coming here next week and they cannot stop him from campaigning. They cannot also stop us from campaigning.”

  • ‘Abdulrazaq remains Kwara APC’s guber candidate’

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq remains the valid candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, dismissing the rumour that his election in the party’s primaries has been quashed by a Kwara court. The Minister, who is the leader of the APC in Kwara, said this on Friday after meeting with the state executives of the party to access the level of preparations for the 2019 elections.

    “I read the court judgement and there is nowhere in the judgement that spoke about our candidate not being the valid candidate. Of course we have already appealed the judgement for other reasons but as of today our candidate, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, remains the authentic candidate of the party and that is the situation today with INEC,” Alhaji Mohammed said. He described the rumour as the handiwork of the dissolved party executives, who are working extra time to spread falsehood.

    “The ‘shaku-shaku’ faction of the APC in Kwara State will try everything and we hear they are saying everywhere that INEC has disqualified Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. No! It’s absolutely false. There is only one candidate of the APC and that candidate is Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, and as we speak today he is in Uyo with Mr. President to launch the presidential campaign of the party,” the Minister said.

    He also dismissed the allegation that he deliberately sponsored the live coverage of the annual meeting of the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Union on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in order to embarrass the Emir. Mohammed distanced himself from the allegation, saying he was not even aware that the event would hold. “The PDP in Kwara State is in panic mode. They are in total disarray. They know they have lost this (forthcoming) election so they have resorted to blackmail and outright lies.

    “How could I have arranged a live coverage for a programme I was not even aware was taking place. It’s a lie. I was not aware there was a meeting so how could I arrange the (live) coverage. I challenge anybody who has any proof to come out and say that I was responsible for the live coverage,” Alhaji Mohammed said. He disclosed that already, 10 persons have appeared in court in connection with the mayhem that disrupted the event at the Emir’s place, along with some miscreants who destroyed the billboards of the APC in Ilorin.