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Tag: next governor

  • 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.

     

  • ‘Kwara North should produce next governor’

    Governorship aspirant under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Kwara state, Alhaji Shuaib Yaman has said that the formula for the party to win 2019 election is for APC to pick its candidate from Kwara north.

    Alhaji Yaman, a political associate of President Muhammadu Buhari, said the district’s numerical strength with other parts of the state is capable of giving APC victory at the poll.

    The aspirant told reporters yesterday in Ilorin, the state capital, adding that “the last election the central had 41 percent, the north is acknowledged to have done 20. By the way Ilorin should have the highest population as it is the state capital. It is made up of people from all parts of the state and even non indigenes.

    “As it is shown in the voting pattern in the last election that Ilorin had 41 percent, whether we like it or not Bukola Saraki will take a chunk out of that. Today go to Kwara North we are almost 95 percent APC.

    “We are coming together for the first time and the Emirs have announced that the people they represent are all APC. If you take our own 30 percent which is original. Bukola Saraki will take 50 percent of the 41 percent of the Kwara central leaving about 20.5 percent.

    Which reasonable political calculation would pick 20.5 percent instead of 30 percent that is assured.”

    He is confident that APC would pick its governorship candidate from the northerner part of the state.

    “The PDP short-changed this country for so long using autocratic means in selecting the candidates. This is precisely what APC has come to change.

    “APC is a party based on fairness and justice. I can not even dream it that APC will not give the slot to Kwara central,” he added.

    Justifying why the north whoud produce the next governor of the stat, he said: “I happen to come from Kwara North and we strongly believe that given the singular reason of giving every part of the state a sense of belonging, should be the one to produce the next governor of the state. And it is simple. Kwara central has had it for twelve good years. Late Admiral Mohammed Lawal for four years, Bukola Saraki had eight years making a total of twelve.

    “Now the Kwara South is almost completing its eight years. And it is significant here that one individual is aspiring from the south. It means that there must be a sense of fairness from this people from the south. It must be sense of justice that making any of them not to come out for the governorship seat for 2019 elections.

    “Every other part of this state must be given its own due place of recognition. And i say it all the time. How will Kwara central justify it that they have had it for twelve years? And they will now come and appropriate another eight years that belong to the north making theirs 20 and on what pedestal will anybody stand to say the northerners should not have. Are we sub-humans or we are not qualified to rule or that we are slaves? In whatever way we look at it, it is unjustifiable.

    “Take Nigeria as an instance, northerner Nigeria as it is constituted has got enough numerical strength to keep the presidency of the country in perpetuity.  But for every part of the nation a sense of belonging, the north has conceded that it should rotational and it has become a convention.

    “The other argument i hear that it is not in the constitution that we must rotate. There are even constitutions that are not written. The

    British Constitution is just a Charter. It is not written.

    “The foundation for peace is justice. In this stage we believe what is just is just and what is fair is fair. It is the turn of the Northerner Kwara to produce the governor. Anybody giving any other story is saying it on selfish stand.

  • Kogi’s next governor…

    The battle for the control of the seat of power in Kogi state began when Nigeria decided to make another trial at democratic rule in 1992, since then politics and race for Lord Lugard House has been characterised with tribal sentiments, ethnic chauvinism, clashes of interests, political scheming, manipulations and intra-tribal betrayals. The clamour for power to shift or rotated among the three senatorial districts of the state became more intense after the eastern part of the state who are predominantly Igala speaking were believed to have held on to power and ruled the state for too long at the expense and relegation of the predominantly Ebira speaking central senatorial district and Okun speaking west senatorial district. The mentality and thinking of the exponents of power rotation is that it will not only give a sense of belonging to the three districts but will also ensure and lead to an even and equitable development of all parts of the state.

    The atmosphere of distrust, mutual suspicion and disunity that prevails amidst the hues and cries of marginalisation and exclusion by successive administrations in the state even further gave steam and rigour to the agitation for power shift, with the proponents of rotation of governorship position holding consultations and round table discussions across the state. After several failed political calculations and fruitless attempts by a synergy of forces from the central and west districts to wrest the number one seat in the state from our eastern brethren, what was almost turning into an impossibility suddenly became a reality in 2015, after the leading gubernatorial aspirant, Prince Abubakar Audu died while votes were still being collated. His second runner up at the APC governorship primaries, Mr Yahaya Bello was later fielded by the party to conclude the process of an election that was initially declared inconclusive by INEC.

    To many people from the central and west districts, the dramatic shift of power away from the east district was a divine design and intervention to enable other parts of the state to also taste power. This was expected to translate into a new lease of life and usher in good things in terms of good governance, delivery of dividends of democracy and an unequalled human and infrastructural development.

    More than two years down the line, the hardship, torture and dehumanisation that kogites are suffering and being subjected to by the current state government shows that it is in order to conclude that the yearnings, aspirations and dreams of the proponents of power rotation have been betrayed and let down. Things are now worse than what they used to be before the present government was inaugurated. Infrastructural decay, dilapidation of state owned institutions and total neglect of public schools and hospitals have become the order of the day. Workers’ welfare has taken the back seat even as payment of salaries and allowances of pension are now done once in a blue moon.

    The Yahaya Bello administration started on a wrong footing by appointing miscreants, hooligans and intellectually deficient personalities into key positions. Being surrounded by individuals who have got absolutely nothing valuable to add to his government was his greatest undoing. From the more than two years workers’ screening exercise which reportedly is still ongoing, the inability to fix critical infrastructure and basic amenities like portable water supply or complete any major project since inception in the past two years, even as there has been virtually nothing to show for the huge allocations from the federation account, the Paris loan refund 1 and 2, and bailouts 1 and 2 received by the Yahaya Bello administration.

    As we gradually move closer to the next governorship election, the advocates of power shift/rotation should have learnt a key lesson. The executive rascality, official recklessness, financial mismanagement and administrative cluelessness of the Yahaya Bello government have shown that good leadership mentality, ample capacity and competence have nothing to do with tribe. Moving forward, our selection process of electing the next governor of the state should not be based on tribe, ethnic group, gender or religion in order to move our beloved state to an enviable height. No matter the senatorial district he/she comes from, we should rate, assess, accept and elect the next occupant of Lord Lugard House based on the aspirant’s level of competence, capacity, antecedence, ability to listen and accommodate diverse opinions, compassion and empathy towards the downtrodden.

    We need a governor who is humble and kind hearted, a personality who listens more than he talks and a mentally sound individual with an enviable past record of achievement. For the sake of progress, good governance and an overall development of our dear state let’s all eschew tribal sentiment or consideration and unite in one accord in electing the man or woman with the right mentality for the job, let commonsense prevail.

     

    • Obaro writes from Lokoja, Kogi state.

  • Ado should produce next governor, says Ojudu

    All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, has insisted that it is time Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, is given the opportunity to produce governor.

    Ojudu urged the party delegates to consider the fact that Ado-Ekiti has the highest concentration of voters in the state with the indigenes ready to vote their son at the July governorship election.

    The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters said he is fit for the job on the strength of his clean public service record, advocacy for good governance and human rights, good name, integrity and closeness to the people in the grassroots.

    The journalist-turned politician, who urged delegates to entrust him with their votes, spoke with our reporter on Monday in his Ado-Ekiti country home ahead of this Saturday’s APC governorship primary election.

    Ojudu, who represented Ekiti Central as a Senator in the National Assembly between 2011 and 2015 said his kinsmen don’t want Governor Ayo Fayose and his preferred candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, over alleged disrespect to the throne of the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti and demolition of houses which he alleged did not follow due process.

    He said: “Ado-Ekiti has registered voters of 180,000 plus, the next local government to it is Ikere with 65,000. In our party primary, we have 33 persons contesting across the state.

    “From that population of 180,000, I am the only one contesting from that local government; there is a reason for that. Ado people want their son to be governor this time around and they are backing him with their votes.

    “Oye Local Government Area where Dr. Kayode Fayemi comes from, there are five aspirants there and they are not pushovers. A former senator is there, a former member of House of Reps is there, former  chieftain of the PDP who actually won the primary of the party in 2007 and it was taken from him and given to Segun Oni is also from there.

    “In Segun Oni’s local government, there is (Muyiwa) Coker, in Emure with less than 40,000 voters, there are two aspirants from there. In Gbonyin, which does not have a large population of voters, there are two aspirants from there. Same goes for Efon.

    “I am the only one from a local government that has over 180,000 voters; if Ado supports you in any election, you have won. If Ado is against you in any election, you have lost. I don’t want us to lose this forthcoming election.”

    He added: “This man (Fayose) is ruining Ado-Ekiti, he has demolished several homes and rendered thousands of people homeless.

    “He has abused our traditional ruler. So, they are angry and they are poised to punish him by voting for their own son to become governor who will then redesign this state and make this state a good place to live in.”

  • Ikere should produce next governor, says Olanipekun

    Ikere should produce next governor, says Olanipekun

    Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Wole Olanipekun (SAN), has said it is the turn of his hometown, Ikere-Ekiti, to produce the governor of Ekiti State.

    Addressing reporters in the town, Chief Olanipekun advised the two major political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), to field Ikere indigenes as their candidates.

    Governor Ayo Fayose has set the ball rolling to have an Ikere indigene succeed him as he and his caucus in the PDP have adopted the Deputy Governor, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, as their preferred candidate.

    The last time an Ikere indigene had the opportunity of occupying the highest seat was between January 1992 and November 1993 when Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua was governor of old Ondo State. Olanipekun served as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice during the period.

    Since Ekiti State was created in 1996, Ikere had not produced the governor. But, it has produced three deputy governors in persons of Chief Abiodun Aluko, Chief Adebisi Omoyeni and Olusola.

    Olanipekun hinged his argument on the fact that Ikere is the biggest town in Ekiti South Senatorial District, a zone that has not produced a governor since 1999.

    He praised the Fayose-led PDP caucus  for adopting Olusola, an indigene of the town, as its “sole candidate,” urging the APC to follow suit. According to him, Ikere parades eminent aspirants in the party who can do the state proud.

    Olanipekun said: “I know some politicians may not like my position, but that is the truth, Ikere deserves it . As the President of Ikere Development Forum (IDF), I have to lead the course of Ikere people.

    “IDF of which I am the President, we are trying to meet all of them so that they have a consensus. We will be so lucky and thank our stars if the two major parties pick Ikere sons as their flag bearers.

    “We can’t have it better if PDP picks Ikere indigene as its candidate and if APC picks Ikere indigene too as candidate; head or tail, it is Ikere.

    “Let me tell you, I am not playing politics but I am being realistic and as a leader of tis town; it is not a question of whether you are supporting APC or whether you are supporting PDP.”

     

     

     

     

  • ‘Ekiti South should produce next governor’

    ‘Ekiti South should produce next governor’

    Australia-based medical doctor and investor Dr. Wole Oluyede has joined the list of governorship aspirants in the Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC). He recently unfolded his development blueprint for the state at Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports.

    A MEDICAL practitioner, Dr Wole Oluyede, has joined the governorship race in Ekiti State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
    He has visited the party office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, where he was received by the Acting Chairman, Mrs. Kemisola Olaleye.
    On zoning, Oluyede lent his voice to the agitation that the next governor should come from Ekiti South Senatorial District, which is yet to produce a governor.
    He said: “In Ekiti South Senatorial District, this party means business. The next governor must come from the South this time around. We have eminent sons and daughters who are qualified. Let us be fair to ourselves.
    “I want to plead with contestants, there must be love among us and the unity, stability and interest of this party should be paramount to us. I have spoken with our leaders and former Governors Adebayo, Oni and Fayemi and they are all united in seeing the party win.”
    A former member of the House of Assembly, Hon. Tope Agidi, who introduced the aspirant to the party leaders, said Oluyede, apart from his global exposure, identified with Ekiti by investing at home dismissing claims in some quarters that he is a “foreigner.”
    Agidi said: “He had his early education in Ekiti and worked as a doctor in Emure, Akure and Lagos. Can that person be referred to as a foreigner? Despite his exposure globally, he is not far from home.
    “He visits Ekiti frequently and has investments here; he served as a member of the Knowledge Zone Committee during the administration of Dr. Kayode Fayemi. The body was a think tank to Fayemi and he attends meetings all the way from his base.
    “Oluyede is ready to cooperate with progressive-minded people of Ekiti to take our state to greater heights. He has interests in hotel/hospitality, mining, farming, healthcare and other investments”
    The aspirant expressed sadness at the the alleged retrogression suffered by Ekiti under the PDP for about two-and-half years. He said had come to heal the state of its afflictions.
    The aspirant who was accompanied to the APC secretariat by his wife, Mrs. Olukemi, and his campaign team, hails from Ikere Ekiti in Ekiti South and has been in the progressives camp since his foray into politics.
    According to him, he was born into a political family as his father, the late Chief Folarin Oluyede, was a grassroots politician and an APC chieftain till he died in 2013. He said that he served as his father’s driver to various political meetings, rallies and campaigns in his younger days.
    After qualifying as a medical doctor in 1986, Oluyede worked in government hospitals in Emure Ekiti, Akure and Lagos. He said he was passionate about Ekiti development hence siting a hotel in his native Ikere and farms in a bid to provide employment for the people
    He said he had acquired experience and contacts in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Australia.
    Oluyede promised to use agriculture to drive Ekiti economy and halt the over-dependence on allocation from the Federation Account.
    He said the average allocation of N2.7 billion for a population of three million people translated to N900 per person. He described agriculture as the catalyst for developing the economy. He promised to be a “farmer-governor.”
    The aspirant said that Ekiti will benefit from an $18 million investment in oil palm by a Malaysian firm in Africa pledging that the palm tree project would be executed whether he realizes his governorship ambition or not adding that he sealed the deal with Malaysian investors during a recent trip to the country.
    He explained that 10,000 palm trees will be planted under the project to give employment opportunities to Ekiti indigenes and make the state depend less on the Federal Government for revenue.
    Oluyede, who pledged to use agriculture to drive the economy of the state, said he would cultivate a farm as a governor to encourage the youths, civil servants and artisans to take to farming.
    He said: “I will lay example on how we should all go back to the farm. I will be a governor who farms. I went to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia recently and I visited an oil palm plantation which was a 10,000 acre farmland.
    On education, Oluyede promised to reintroduce boarding system to enhance academic excellence. He lamented that parents sent their wards to Ghana and Dubai to acquire education.
    He recalled that when secondary schools ran boarding system, Ikere had about ten bakeries run by schools, which were producing bread.
    Oluyede explained that he had developed health policies and programmes for other countries and international community, promising to replicate them, if he becomes governor.
    He promised to make health facilities attractive to the people of the state by recruiting the best health personnel, equipping health centers with best medical equipment and make drugs available.
    Oluyede said now is the best time for APC to win the Ekiti governorship crown calling on members and leaders of the party to be focused and united to ensure that the goal is achieved.
    The aspirant expressed optimism that there would be no post-primary crisis in the party describing fellow contestants as one. He said the party would hold a thanksgiving service after the primary saying: “whether I win or lose, I will participate at the thanksgiving.”
    The wife of the aspirant, Mrs. Oluyede described women as very important in politics and governance promising that the administration led by her husband would empower women and give them a sense of belonging in decision-making.
    Mrs. Oluyede said: “Women are very important and that is why they say ‘train a woman an, train the nation.’ If we win by the grace of God, we will all sit down together and address all these issues together.
    “Women hold the aces if they know how to use the power and influence given to them by God. Women, this is our time, we are going to enhance the status of women in politics, governance and empowerment.”
    APC State Secretary, Paul Omotoso, said Oluyede is not strange to the state executive of the party praising him for assisting the party in picking the bill of payment of the secretariat staff and spending his resources to mobilize members for the party.
    But state Acting Chairman, Mrs. Olaleye said many people who are claiming to be aspirants of the party on Facebook and WhatsApp are unknown to party members and leaders and had not identified with the party.
    Mrs. Olaleye described Oluyede as a committed member who rescued the party when it was in a financial mess and had nobody to assist. She said the situation was so bad that party could not pay salaries of the staff but Oluyede assisted by sending money to pay all arrears owed secretariat staff.
    She also commended Oluyede for remembering party members during the last Christmas with the purchase of bags of rice which made the faithful had a memorable Yuletide despite the fact that the party is not in power at state level.
    The party boss described all aspirants wishing to contest for the ticket as “our children” advising their supporters to shun rumour mongering and setting the aspirants against one another.
    Mrs. Olaleye said: “All of us own the party but it is good to be good because you assisted the party in the past and your wife also assisted the party in the past. Dr. Oluyede is one of the best materials in the party and we appreciate what you have done.
    “By August this year, we will separate the boys from the men because some of those calling themselves aspirants want to use the title to negotiate and get other positions like commissioners, boards or even supervisors.
    “There is nothing like Tokunbo in our party; I want to urge our members to desist from pulling one another down. If you have faith in Oluyede, stand with him and if you don’t have faith in him, pull out.
    “It is not good to be doing something in his presence and doing another thing in his absence. This party is one, it belongs to us and we must work for the unity of all our aspirants showing interest to be our candidate and I believe our party will win the next governorship election.”