The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kwara South

  • ‘Minority will not lead next Senate’

    Kwara South All Progressives Congress (APC) senator-elect Lola Ashiru yesterday said the Ninth National Assembly will not make the mistake of the Eighth Senate in its choice of leadership.

    He added that a minority party would not be allowed to lead the majority, saying political abnormalities that characterised the election of leaders in the outgoing National Assembly would not happen in the new legislative assembly.

    Ashiru, an architect, spoke with reporters in Offa, Offa local government, saying, the new National Assembly would witness a cohesive and acceptable leadership to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts.

    The senator-elect said: “With my interactions with other senators-elect in APC, they have common mind of one Nigeria devoid of parochial interest to make the nation move ahead.

    “ Few of our members have signified intention to take a slot at the Senate presidency and they are credible members to take the leadership.

    “I believe that politics is about competition and I know that this Ninth Assembly would not be like that of the Eighth Assembly because there is no more room for political  abnormalities as experienced during the Eighth assembly.

    “During the period, a lot of abnormalities happened where minority party emerged as the leadership of the National Assembly and I am saying it now that such act will never happen in the Ninth Assembly because APC is in majority and more united now than ever  to provide a good leadership and to make laws for the good governance of the country.”

    Ashiru also said the struggle for political freedom in the state, which lasted 40 years, would not be wasted.

    “We went through political hell in the last 20 years and thank God we are finally out of it. We will never go back to that era, we won’t return to Egypt,”he said.

    Speaking about his plans, he  said in the first three months in office, he would bring about a political rebirth in the political nomenclature of Kwara South.

    He added that the political rebirth would ensure continuous development and provide opportunity for people to remove any non-performing elected officers as was done through O to ge movement in the last election.

    He added that the rebirth would bring about unprecedented developments in the senatorial district and would also provide a sound  leadership platform that would outlive him.

    Ashiru. added that the traditional rulers in the area would be engaged to effectively perform their traditional obligations to the people of their domain.

  • ‘No room for APC in Kwara South’

    A group, the ‘Kwara South G70,’ has said it will give 70,000 votes to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the elections.

    The group directed its members, numbering about 700, to garner 10,000 votes from each of the seven local government areas of Kwara South Senatorial District.

    The Coordinator, Kwara South G70, Salahudeen Lukman, spoke in Ajase-Ipo, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, during the inauguration of G70 neighbour-to-neighbour campaign volunteers.

    Lukman said the team was specifically set up to mobilise support for the re-election of Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim, who he said, had surpassed the achievements of his predecessors in Kwara South.

    He said the group had taken stock of the representation of the legislator in the upper chamber of the National Assembly with a verdict that failure to return him in the February 16, 2019 election may retard the progress already recorded.

    Lukman said young people deemed it fit to canvass votes for Dr. Ibrahim, because his representation had changed the political narrative of the area.

    He appealed to the people of Kwara South not to be swayed by what he described as the “campaign of calumny” of the opposition, saying the incumbent senator deserved re-election with his track record of performance.

    He said Senator Ibrahim, who chairs the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, sponsored some bills on the floor of the Senate, one of which attracted national honour and made Nigeria a ranking nation in the enabling business environment.

    Lukman pointed out that the legislator had also facilitated projects to the seven local government areas of Kwara South, adding he had since endeared himself into the warmth embrace of the people.

    He said: “As an independent youth platform, who is more concerned about the betterment of Kwara, we assembled here to kick start our neighbor-to-neighbour campaign for Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, who is a serving senator of Kwara South, and he is contesting again for the second term.

    “This is a decision we unanimously took independently for obvious reasons, which are not far-fetched. For almost 20 years that democracy has returned to Nigeria, Kwara South has equally elected representatives to the National Assembly. But the one we elected in 2015, he is one of the best we have ever had.

    “For the fact that we are also a living witness to what has happened in the past and what has happened recently, we also foresee what good could happen in the future, that is why we decided to join Let’s Do More Together Team.

    Lukman added: “We are inaugurating this neighbor-to-neighbour campaign to go to households, every neighbour, to let them know what Senator Rafiu Ibrahim has achieved in three and a half years at the upper chamber. For the fact that we have witnessed two or three people already in the chamber before now, who have no impact, we see reason why we must strive to ensure that for the progress of Kwara State and Kwara South in particular to continue steadily the way it has started, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim must be re-elected.

    “That is why we the young people of Kwara South have taken it upon ourselves. Let us go out there to sensitise our people. They should not be blindfolded by the campaign of calumny that is going round.”

    He urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to precipitate controversy on the standard bearer of the PDP for Kwara South Senatorial District

  • Kwara South students hail senator

    Students, under the aegis of Federation of Kwara South Students Union (FEKSSU), have hailed the Senator representing Kwara South senatorial district at the National Assembly, Rafiu Ibrahim, for active representation.

    National President, FEKSSU, Ibrahim Oriola, also praised Ibr\ahim for assisting youths in his constituency.

    He said: “We are pleased to express our satisfaction with the current level of representation we are getting at the upper chamber in the last two years.

    “Based on this, we use this opportunity to urge the Senate President Bukola Saraki, who is also the political leader of the state,  to give us Senator Ibrahim for one more term because he has achieved over 50 percent of his campaign promises with less than two years in office.”

    Oriola revealed that the union had “set machinery in motion to help the indigent students by giving out free JAMB scratch cards to over 100 students across the senatorial district.

    ‘’We are also planning to establish 10 chapters across four northern states. We shall remain focused on the primary aims and objectives of the union.’’

    He said that FEKSSU recently concluded its Unity week with special church services, Christmas carol programme, a talk show and inter campus games. Others were visitation to traditional rulers, awareness rally, leadership and entreprenurship summit.

  • APC hails Kwara South indigenes on registration

    APC hails Kwara South indigenes on registration

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), Kwara South Stakeholders’ Forum, Lagos State chapter, has hailed Kwara South indigenes for travelling home to participate in the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) registration.

    It urged them to vote during the coming general elections so that their efforts would not be in vain.

    The group said the people of the senatorial district should support the second term bid of Governor AbdulFattah Ahmed.

    At a meetingat the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos,theforum deliberated on governance in Kwara State and on the 2015 general elections.

    The participants resolved that Kwara South people should prepare for the general elections by creating an awareness and mobilising their people in Kwara, Lagos and other states.

    They said individuals’ financial contributionsý and corporate sponsorship were necessary for the mobilisation.

    It was suggested that zonal committees should be constituted to organise mobilisation for the poll.

    The people lauded Governor Ahmed for his achievements not only in Kwara South, but also in all parts of the state.

    They said Kwara South indigenes should be actively politically to take their destinies in their hands.

    “Our people resident in Lagos should be closer to their communities and be well informed about the activities going on there.”