The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kwara State

  • ‘APC can’t dislodge PDP’

    ‘APC can’t dislodge PDP’

    How would you describe politics in Kwara State after the demise of Dr Olusola Saraki?

    Politics in Kwara State after the late Dr Olusala Saraki has been stable. We can attribute this to the fact that he laid a very sound foundation for politics in the state before his death. He bequeathed the state’s party politics to our great leader, which is his son, Dr Bukola Saraki. He instructed all his followers, who were in other parties to go back to PDP. I am happy to tell you that all followers of the late political icon have automatically become followers of his son and he has not failed us. Everybody is happy with him from Kwara South through Central to Kwara North. As a result, more and more people are flocking to our party. We are very grateful to God for making Dr Bukola Saraki follow the foot steps of his father.

    Do you think that with the death of baba Oloye, the opposition will make more impact than before?

    The recent judgment at the local government election petition tribunal, nullifying the January 2011 council election in Offa local government area seals the hope of opposition parties in the state. We know that most people who claim to be in opposition in the state are seasonal politicians. They come when the elections are around the corner. They are visiting opposition in the state, to be frank, there is no viable opposition in Kwara State.

    The PDP is crisis-ridden throughout the country. Don’t you think this will affect the fortune of the party in future elections?

    This is not the first time PDP will be enmeshed in one crisis or another. It goes to show how big the party is. You can’t rule out some differences here and there and at the end of the resolution PDP will emerge stronger. In any big party, there must be disagreement before agreement; then you forge ahead.

    To me, the crisis will not affect the chances of the party, both at the state and national levels. PDP is one family.

    Is the emergence of All Progressives Congress (APC) not a threat to the PDP?

    We in PDP are very happy for the emergence of such an opposition. It goes to tell you the intimidating stature of PDP, thus making all parties determined to fight it. We in PDP want formidable opposition so that at the end of the day, PDP will also trounce them.

    I can tell the APC will not stand test of time as it is an amalgam of strange bed fellow politicians. APC is a composition of position seeking politicians. If not because of that I wonder why a party that is controlling five states to condescend so low by bungling such goodwill and credentials by embracing a party with one governor or a party with two governors. I can liken the situation to devil dinning with the devil with long spoon.

    Most of them that claim to have fused with the new party will still come back to PDP after the APC has crumbled.

    What is your ssessment of the PDP government in the state?

    Kwara PDP is the pacesetter. It is the first state that practices what is called continuity. With that continuity, there is no abandoned project in the state. After the projects that were brought forward have been completed we are now starting another ones, i.e in building schools, provision of water, electricity, roads and many other. That why will have peace which the best rock of development in Kwara state.

     

  • Untitled post 92195

    The Chairman of the Kwara State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Kayode Olawepo, believes that the proposed All Progressives Congress (APC) will dislodge the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the next general elections. But the PDP chairman, Alhaji Ishola Balogun-Fulani, holds a contrary opinion. Both spoke with ADEKUNLE JIMOH on partisan issues.

    Why do you think the AbdulFatah Ahmed’s government is a continuation of Bukola Saraki in office?

    The reason is simple. It has been an appendage of the previous administration. Ordinarily, the buck should stop on the table of the governor. He is held responsible for every failure, just as he takes credit for every success. If truth must be told, this state has been in coma since the inception of this administration.

    How do you mean?

    In terms of infrastructural development, the state is zero. Talk of road development in rural areas, talk of sensitive areas of development like schools, talk of equipping hospitals with drugs, they are zero. Pension and gratuity very low, promotion not forthcoming; there is no landmark development that one can point to since the inception of this administration compared with other states. If you get to Imo, Oyo, Osun and Ekiti states you will see landmark developments. If two babies are born on the same day and one is already running and the other is yet to start crawling, then something is wrong with the one that is yet to crawl.

    This means there is a fundamental problem; the mantra of shared prosperity is actually shared acute poverty. Looking at the average Kwaran on the road, you can see acute poverty written all over his face. This is because the civil service, which is the engine room of the state, does not have the wherewithal to put smiles on peoples’ faces. Most of the contractors we have here do not reside here. As a result of that, there is heavy capital flight from the state. ractor is based.

    Considering the fact that the state is one of the least in the ladder of the monthly federal allocation, can you really blame the government?

    That is the popular alibi. But then, we all know that there is ecological fund; we all know that there is the excess crude, which if taken together are more in billions than the regular allocation. Nobody can say that this state is being run by only the regular allocation. In some other states where they take their people seriously, part of the security vote is used for development. The ecological fund can be used for infrastructural development like roads. What is the money from the excess crude account used for?I think the claim that the regular monthly allocation is meagre is untenable. Somebody must have to explain what the ecological fund is being used for because anytime there is a rainstorm about N30 million worth of materials would be bought and we know that ecological fund that comes into the state coffers runs into billions. Whatever project being executed ecologically in terms of drainages are largely sponsored by the federal government. The Asa Dam channelisa-tion project is one of such projects.

    Nobody can explain how the money donated by the federal government to flood ravaged state was utilised in krawa. We in the opposition do not know. So blaming government’s failure or none performance on irregular allocation is just an inexcusable explanation.

    How do you see the efforts by the state government on pipelines reticulation to ensure free flow of tap water?

    Since the inception of the current democracy, almost 60 percent of Kwara’s budgets are said to have been spent on water reticulation. Given the billions of naira that has been spent on water in this state, it is expected that every home and public place should have water taps and there are no public taps in Kwara. In fact, the project has become a huge drainpipe of whatever money we have in Kwara State.

    Are you saying the PDP government is a complete failure?

    Yes. But let me assure you that there will be a change if the opposition takes over because you cannot perform better than the material you are using. You cannot expect better performance because the same set of people that have been there since 1999 are still at the corridors of power today. So there has not been any change of system, no change of personnel. It is a familycum friend affairs in Kwara State.

    Do you think the people of Kwara South will be able to forge the unity to get the governorship in 2015?

    The perceived lack of unity among the people of Kwara South can be said to be sponsored. I say this because, other things being equal, the people know that only one candidate should come from the district. But if some people allowed themselves to be sponsored, that does not mean the people of the district are not united. It means some people are playing commercial politics; politics of the pocket to ensure the status quo remains and the evidence of that is the disappearance of such people immediately after the election. They resurface again when their masters need their services. For instance, the sustenance of the opposition in this state is only by one person with faithful loyalists, but during electioneering many of them will feign to be in opposition. Where are they now?

    Our people are now wiser. We have cautioned ourselves to ignore sponsored candidates that make Kwara Southerners look as if they are not united.

    What future awaits the proposed All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state?

    Yes, the only visible opposition in the state is the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), but we know that in the last election the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) presented a governorship candidate, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presented a governorship candidate. When ANPP candidate decamped the chairman of the party did not join him in decamping. So in Kwara north and central the CPC is well on the ground.

    The ACN is making waves because the leader of the party in the state is a renowned leader in the whole country and the impact of his effectiveness at the national level radiates to the state. And he has been up and doing in making sure that the ACN is doing well in the state with able, highly dedicated and sincere supporters.

    The CPC, too, is a virile party but their level of organization may be different. Since the discussion on this merger commenced at the national level we have been relating and we know that some decisions cannot be taken until the national merger give the go ahead order. They are meeting openly at the national level and we are meeting surreptitiously at the state level preparing us for the time the announcement would be made. By the time the announcement is made, we are not going to be new to each other.

    If there are states that need the merger, other than at the federal level, it is Kwara state and the reasons are obvious. It is, therefore, indubitable that Kwara will embrace the merger more than any other state. It is a prayer answered if the merger is successful. If succeeds at the national level, definitely, it will be successful in Kwara State.

    Can APC dislodge the PDP in Kwara State?

    Definitely, yes. I know the materials that are in CPC and there are some people that will come out when the merger comes to fruition. One unfortunate appellation that ACN is a south-western party would be gone. So, everybody who believes he is a northerner can now be fully accommodated. People that would not have openly identify with a Southwest party can now say APC is their party. So, we expect serious in-flow of highly placed Kwarans into the party.

  • Ahmed inspects projects

    Ahmed inspects projects

    Kwara State Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed has embarked on an inspection tour of projects which were initiated by him or by his predecessor.

    The tour was informed by the need to ensure that projects are executed according to specifications.

    Some of the projects inspected included the General Hospitals, Ilorin, Offa and Omu-Aran which are undergoing rehabilitation. Others are Amberi Water Booster Station, Erin-Ile-Ilemona Road and Irra Road, all in Kwara South Senatorial District.

    During the tour, he warned that contractors handling various state-owned projects should expedite action on them to ensure that they are completed on schedule, even as he said contractors who carry out shoddy jobs or finish behind schedule would have such contracts revoked.

    Ahmed said: ”At the beginning of every financial year, we have a budget which is an articulation of programmes that we intend to spend the people’s money on. Once these projects have been given out to contractors, they need to be taken to completion. We want to be sure that works are carried out the way they have been idealised for implementation.

    “On the strength of that, once projects are ongoing, there is a strong project monitoring team, a special adviser on infrastructure who also doubles as check and balance on developmental projects. We also need to see for ourselves the extent of progress made on such projects to ensure that we get value for our money.

    “That is what informed our recent visits to various projects that are ongoing to ensure that we get value for our money. Anywhere we go to, we expect that contractors should have gotten the job to a certain level to which we have funded them.

    “So far, we are happy with what we have seen. Our contractors are working accordingly and anywhere we expect to see things and they fall below our expectations, the contractor will be given a marching order.

    “The [new projects] we have inspected now are works that have been encapsulated into the budget. In other words, we have clearly outlined what we intend to do with the peoples’ money. Other projects like roads, water, energy, schools and health that are yet to start will be carried out as encapsulated in the budget.

    “We will ensure that these projects are carried out once the funds are available. We have the responsibility of working within the limited resources that we have. We are one of the states that receive the lowest in terms of revenue allocation from the Federal Government. Also, our revenue base is not very strong in terms of internally-generated revenue. This is largely because we have a public sector- driven environment.

    “We are just trying to create an enabling environment to bring in the private sector to drive the system and create additional taxable environment that will increase the taxes and generate more revenue so that we can do more projects for the people.

    “We also expect to see improvement in our health sector because a healthy society is a wealthy society. We must see, as part of our human capital development, a very strong healthcare delivery system put in place.

    “That is why we pursued the renovation of hospitals. Primary health, secondary and tertiary health institutions are being equipped with the human and material resources that will give us the necessary platform for a proper healthcare delivery system. These are all geared towards ensuring that we have a strong economic environment.

    “Education is not left out. Over 200 classrooms would soon be renovated at the basic and secondary levels to create additional infrastructure for our students. Additional textbooks and laboratory equipment would be supplied to schools and mega schools will be constructed.

    “These schools will create platforms to accommodate neighbouring schools in terms of infrastructure like laboratories and other training equipment for students.”

  • Kwara Police Commissioner killed in Enugu

    Kwara Police Commissioner killed in Enugu

    Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chinwike Asadu,  has been shot dead by unknown gunmen  while on a private visit to Enugu his home state.

    The police commissioner who was shot at about 9.50 pm Saturday was about entering his house at Amorji-Nike, near the densely populated Abakpa Enugu.

    His police orderly, Aloha Olaniyi and driver, Oliver Omeh, who were with him at the time of the incident sustained serious bullet wounds  and are said to be lying critically at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu.

    The Police Commissioner, who reportedly visited his home in Enugu at the weekend, was driving into his private residence when the assailants who  may have laid an ambush around his residence attacked him and his aides about 100 metres away from his house.

    CP Asadu, according to sources, had a visitor whom he escorted along with his driver and a police orderly posted to guard his residence from Abakpa Police Division, leaving behind the official escort team that came with him from Kwara State Police Command.

    They were returning to the house after dropping the visitor when they suddenly noticed a bus trailing them behind as they branched into his street only for the gunmen to start firing at the vehicle from the rear.

    The gunmen were said to have shot sporadically killing the CP and wounding the two policemen but before they escaped, they reportedly took away the rifle of the orderly whose body was riddled with bullets.

    The orderly was shot on the chest, stomach, hands and leg while the driver was shot on his legs.

    The Police spokesman in the state , Mr. Ebere Amaraizu confirmed the incident.

    He described the attack as very unfortunate.  He said that the CP was on a private visit to his home in Enugu when the incident occurred.

    A police source in Enugu said: “The CP was driving into his personal residence in Amorji Nike after dropping a visitor that night.  He was with a police orderly and his driver at the time of the incident. Just about 100 metres to his house they noticed that a bus was trailing them behind and before they could know what was happening the gunmen opened fire and killed the CP instantly. His orderly and driver were also shot and they were seriously wounded.

    “The gunmen ran away  in their bus before the CP’s escort team that was inside his compound noticed what was happening.  When the escort team and sympathizers rushed to the scene, they met CP Asadu and his orderlies in pool of blood.  They were rushed to the National Orthopaedic Hospital where doctors confirmed the CP dead.  The other two policemen are now on admission at the hospital. ”

    Police spokesman, Amaraizu said the police  would do everything possible to fish out the assailants as investigations into the bizarre incident have already commenced.

    The new Police Commissioner in Enugu State, Mr. Tonye Ebitibituwa, was said to have directed his men to conduct serious manhunt for the gunmen within and outside the state capital in order to track them down.

    Doctors at the National Orthopeadic Hospital, Enugu were yesterday battling to save the two wounded police officers.  The orderly who was seriously battered by bullets, according to doctors, was said to be in a stable condition after the surgeries conducted on him throughout Saturday night.  The driver was also said to be in a stable condition.

    CP Asadu, who was among newly appointed Police Commissioners for various state commands, assumed duty at Kwara State Command recently.

    Last week he embarked on familiarization visit during which he met with  Journalists at the correspondent’s chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists  in Ilorin.

    During the visit, Asadu expressed his desire for a good working relationship with newsmen in the state. According to him, “Kwara State is a state of harmony and my vision is to leave it better than I met it. It is on this note that I decided to pay you gentlemen of the press a courtesy visit, so as to ensure a robust and harmonious working relationship, so that we can work together in fighting crime in the society.

    Asadu who was the 27th Commissioner of Police in the State, urged media professionals and good people of the state to assist the police with useful information that could help transform the society to become a better place to live, and further ensure peaceful business transactions.

    He assured that the state command will continue to combat crimes and criminality among citizens of the state and its environs in order to ensure that the state remained harmonious.

    Asadu also noted that issues of security of lives and property in the state goes beyond the scope of men of the force alone, noting that support is highly needed from the media in the areas of information dissemination and sensitization of the public.

    But barely a week after the officer who is said to be very enthusiastic about policing and the need to eradicate crime in his state of posting was settling down to face the challenge of his new assignment, he decided to visit his Enugu home-state where he met his untimely death in the hands of gunmen in a very bizarre circumstance.

  • New infrastructure for Kwara flooded communities

    New infrastructure for Kwara flooded communities

    Kwara State has stated its resolve to help victims of flood by scaling up infrastructure in their communities.

    Already, Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed has drawn out a list of rural roads to be built in communities that were flooded.

    But as a way of preventing another flood, the governor has asked the Federal Government to establish the Hydro-electric Producing Areas Commission (HYPADEC), complete with a law backing it. If established, it is reckoned that the commission will help to manage the low-lying parts of the state better and prevent or mitigate such diasaters as flooding.

    Worried by the extent of damage done to infrastructure by the disaster, the governor said that the state government plans to expend a large chunk of the N300m intervention fund approved for the state by the Federal Government on infrastructural development in the affected communities.

    Kwara State, by its classification as a third-class in the index of the states ravaged by the flood, was given the sum of N300m by the Federal Government to cushion the effects of the natural disaster which swept across six local government areas of the state.

    Specifically, the fund would be used for the construction of rural roads and electrification projects in the flood-ravaged communities.

    It was gathered that rural roads that have been slated for construction in the flood-prone communities are Patigi-Esugi Ferry Road, Rogun-Koro Road, Patigi-Gbaradogi Road, Belle-Gbere Road, Kpatayiringi-Tada-Kusogi Road, Degeji-Gbajibo Road and Arrefunwe Street.

    “The rural electrification projects,” according to a government source “would be carried out in Moro, Edu and Patigi local government areas at the cost of N61m.”

    Some parts of Edu and Patigi local government areas have been in darkness since the disaster due to lack of transformers. It is therefore not surprising that government thought it wise to use part of the flood intervention fund to provide the much-needed electricity for the people of these councils.”

    Though, the state government had embarked on a large-scale rural road construction, spending over N2b in the process, it intends to use part of the flood intervention fund to construct more rural roads in the areas that have not been captured in the areas affected by flood in the northern axis of the state.

    The floods had displaced over 12,000 people in Edu, Patigi, Moro, Kaiama, Baruteen and Ilorin East local government areas of the state, even as large expanse of farm lands were washed away.

    During his recent visits to the affected communities, Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed had called for the removal of all bureaucratic and other bottlenecks hindering the take-off of the Hydro-electric Producing Areas Commission (HYPADEC) so that the pains of flood victims in the hydro-energy producing communities could be mitigated while impact of future flooding could be better managed.

    Ahmed made the call at the palaces of Etsu Patigi, Alhaji Ibrahim Chatta Umar and Emir of Lafiagi, Alhaji Saidu Kawu Haliru, just as the two paramount rulers called for the take off of the dredging of the River Niger up to Jebba in Kwara State to reduce the devastating effects of flooding.

    Ahmed, who presented relief materials procured from the over N340m Kwara State and Federal Government relief funds to the people of Patigi and Lafiagi in Patigi and Edu local government areas of the state,  noted that the flood disaster has thrown up a lot of challenges as fishing, farmlands and other sources of livelihood for  communities along the banks of River Niger and Kaduna were destroyed, adding that, “when the issue of HYPADEC was mentioned as a commission to be set up to take care of those communities, it was a very welcome development.

    “We have since been looking forward to its full take off so that communities can begin to see that they are also put into consideration and feel a sense of belonging on issues affecting their livelihood.”