Abdulwahab Oba
The attention of the campaign office of the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Kwara State has been drawn to a statement purportedly made by the colonized Director-General of the ruling All Progressive Congress’ campaign council, Amb. Yahaya Seriki while assuaging APC’s members during a parley with the press.
Seriki was reported to have told the press “not to be surprised by tomorrow morning if the PDP Guber Candidate in Kwara, Alhaji Shuaib Yaman calls for a press conference and tells you that on behalf of PDP he is withdrawing for Gov AbdulRazaq”. The statement not only exposes the fair of Yaman as the only real threat to AbdulRahman’s second term ambition, but also uncovers the shallowness of the APC’s campaign council.
It is incredible that a baby politician like Yahaya Seriki who was incapable of convincing any PDP stakeholder in his Zango ward to defect with him to the APC, with all the resources at the disposal of the ruling party, could ever imagine that an astute politician like Alh. Shuaibu Yaman would withdraw for a novice like AbdulRahman.
If Seriki suffers amnesia, it might be necessary to remind him that even though the APC’s 2019 primary election in the state was only awarded to AbdulRahman, Alh. Yaman, as a man who believes in God, but oblivious of AbdulRahman’s deceptive mien, took him across the entire Kwara North for endorsement thinking the then-candidate was an honest, trustworthy and reliable politician who would fulfil his promises to the people.
Alh. Yaman left the APC with others of impeccable integrity because of AbdulRahman’s deceit and profligacy. Yaman left APC because AbdulRahman’s so-called legacy projects can not account for 10% of the state’s resources. Yaman decamped to the PDP because AbdulRahman has not accounted for more than N500b that had accrued to the state in less than four years. Yaman left the APC because the governor is running an exclusive government.
In the 55 years’ history of Kwara State, no governor has treated the state’s civil servants with such disdain and disgrace as AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. This is the same governor who not only sued the labour unions for legitimately demanding their rights, but sacked innocent youths employed by the state far away from the election that brought him in as governor.
Kwarans now know that AbdulRahman is only waiting for February 2023 to formally sack the Kwara Hotel workers for asking for arrears of their salaries. Seriki must stop acting the “nice boy”, but advise his boss to reinstate the so-called Sunset teachers, promote qualified civil servants to vacant permanent secretary positions and stop playing kites with the future of carrier officials.
We implore Yahaya Seriki to tell his boss to speak with Kwarans about what he has done with the humongous resources that accrued to the state in less than four years of his uneventful administration. AbdulRahman must talk with Kwarans about what has happened to the unspent N17.9b he said he kept in the bank and the N18.6b federal government grant to the state.
If elected, Alh. Shuaibu Yaman shall run an open, transparent, accountable and inclusive government that consults and dialogues with the people. A Yaman/Makanjuola administration shall assemble a crack team of progressive-minded Kwarans that will ensure equitable distribution and allocation of our commonwealth, and bail our state out of the current doldrums.
The main focus of Alh. Shuaibu Yaman will be massive but sustainable wealth creation through agricultural revolution across the state. The civil servants, youths, women and artisans, among others, shall be the centrepieces of a Yaman/Makanjuola administration.
The statement credited to Yahaya Seriki only re-enacts the Yaman-phobia and nostalgia that permeate the rank and file of the APC, even as the possibility of an electoral failure dawns on the party. Never again, will Yaman support a governor who violates the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by refusing to conduct local government election despite a subsisting Supreme Court ruling against his action. Never again would Yaman support a governor whose own community in Adeta suffers an acute shortage of potable water.
Abdulwahab Oba
23/12/2023
